NEW CANADIAN BRIDGE

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Declarer won the second club and drove out the ace of diamonds in two rounds. West exited safely with the ten of diamonds but the ace of hearts was followed by the jack overtaken by the queen. An advance of the queen of spades fetched the king and ace resulting in eleven tricks.

South was quite fortunate that East did not own the diamond ace or defeat would have been inevitable.

The lead-directing double had yielded a second defensive trick since declarer will score an easy twelve tricks versus another beginning (likely a fourth best spade).

A diamond slam is a lock with the spade king onside even when West leads a club. Declarer wins the ace and plays three rounds of hearts discarding a club and then advances the queen of spades for a finesse where he loses only the ace of diamonds.

South had three options as an opening bid since he could choose one diamond, 2NT or even a demand two bid.

The decision to open 2NT backfired when East was able to offer a lead-directing double of the Stayman response restricting South to eleven tricks.

Author: Dave Willis - visit his website at www.insidebridge.ca

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