Making a mountain
“MY partner is always looking for molehills to make mountains out of,” a club player grumbled to me. “If I find a play that will work 90 percent of the time, he’ll find one that’s better.”
My friend was declarer at today’s 3NT. He won the first heart with dummy’s queen, pondered and cashed the A-K of diamonds. When the queen didn’t fall, he led a second heart.
West took the ace and shifted astutely to the THREE of spades. Declarer played the king from dummy – to play low would work only if West had both the queen and jack – and East took the ace, cashed the queen of diamonds and led another spade for down one.
UNBEATABLE
“Partner was all over me,” South sighed. “He said I shouldn’t have taken the A-K of diamonds. If I lead a second heart at Trick Two, the contract is unbeatable.”
North was looking for a molehill. South’s play was reasonable. The result was mostly attributable to West, who found a good defence. If he leads a spade honour at Trick Five, South succeeds. DAILY QUESTION: You hold: ♠ A87 62 ♥ 762 ♦ Q83 ♣ 9 3. The dealer, at your left, opens three hearts. Your partner doubles, and the next player passes. What do you say? ANSWER: Much depends on your partner’s temperament. If he is willing to act over a three-level preempt with good distribution but minimum high- card values, you might respond only three spades. With most partners, jump to four spades. A typical hand for a sound partner would be KQ 9 4, 3, A J 10 6, A J 6 5.