BRIDGE

It’s amazing the lengths some players will go to to avoid having to watch an opposing declarer romp home (maybe with overtricks) thanks to an unsuccessful opening lead from partner.

When West’s one notrump opening came round to South, he just hated the thought of his partner tabling a small club lead that would help no one more than West. (Murphy’s Law 173-B: in an uncontested auction ending in an enemy notrump contract, partner will most often lead the suit you’re void in!).

Indeed, clubs was North’s longest suit but this time the card gods had been kind enough to deal him an automatic diamond lead that was going to make it quite difficult (but not impossible) for West to find seven tricks before conceding seven.

To avoid that hypothetical club lead, South put his vulnerable neck on the block by bidding: two clubs was an artificial takeout bid showing at least nine cards in the majors with 5-4 either way being possible. This wasn’t quite as scary as it might seem as East’s failure to respond meant North would have some high-cards sitting over the opening bid where they could be of value to a North-South declaration.

Temporarily, North’s response had his side in their best strain but two diamonds was an artificial response asking South to bid his longer major (if there was a disparity) and two hearts was the final contract.

The play was quite complex but eventually South ran out of horses to end down one. And although he had feared his partner’s possible opening lead, even against that diamond lead, South’s teammate bailed him out by making one notrump for a tied result.