Don’t stray from the textbook way

John Hope Franklin, a historian and author, said ,“We must get beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths... and tell the world the glories of our journey.” At the bridge table, though, it rarely pays to stray far from the textbook. In today’s deal, for example, what do you think of the given auction? How should South play in seven — yes, seven — clubs after West leads the heart king? The auction was awful! South should have made a takeout double, not overcalled four clubs. Then, North would have cue-bid four hearts to show a strong hand. If South had continued with five clubs, North would have wondered if they had two immediate heart losers, but given South’s double, he probably would have raised to six clubs. Looking at only the North-South hands, you would be happy with six clubs; seven is a tad ambitious. But if it makes, only East-West will be unhappy. In seven clubs, South starts with 10 top tricks: two spades, three diamonds and five clubs. Assuming trumps are not 4-0, if diamonds are splitting 4-2 or worse, declarer can ruff his last diamond on the board. But then he will need four spade tricks. South ruffs the heart ace, draws trumps and plays off his diamonds, discarding a heart from dummy when they divide 3-3. Now it’s time for spades. How do they lie? Assuming West has seven hearts, East started with three clubs, three diamonds, three hearts and, therefore, four spades. He is twice as likely as West to have the queen. So, declarer should play a spade to the ace and finesse through East.