FRANK STEWART BRIDGE

OPEN-AND-SHUT CASE

“Opening games make me nervous. To tell the truth, I’d rather open with our second game.” — the late football coach John McKay.

It would be nice if declarer could play to the opening trick automatically and defer any thinking until later. But the fate of many contracts is decided ... guess when.

Today’s South opened four spades after two passes, shutting out everybody. (East-West would have been down only one at five clubs.) When West led the ace of clubs, South ruffed, drew trumps and tried a heart to dummy’s ten. East won and shifted to the jack of diamonds, and the defense took three diamonds for down one.

Discard

This was an open-and-shut case. South lost his contract at Trick One: He must pitch a heart instead of ruffing.

If West exits with a trump, South wins, takes the A-K of hearts and leads the jack for a ruffing finesse, planning to discard a diamond if East doesn’t play the queen. No matter how the cards lie, South loses at most three tricks in all.

Daily Question

You hold: ♠ 6 ♥ 63 ♦ A Q 9 8 ♣ A J 7 6 5 2. Your partner opens one spade, you respond two clubs and he rebids two spades. The opponents pass. What do you say?

Answer: This situation is awkward. Since a dangerous misfit is possible, you could make a battlefield decision to pass. Still, partner isn’t expecting you to drop the auction after you responded at the two level. Rebid three clubs, showing long clubs but minimum values for your initial response.

North dealer

Both sides vulnerable