ACES ON BRIDGE
“What I tell you three times is true.” — Lewis Carroll
South opens two clubs and can conventionally rebid three hearts at his second turn to show four hearts and longer diamonds. Rebidding three diamonds on hands like this one would make it hard to find 4-4 major-suit fits, since responder’s three-heart or three-spade advance would tend to promise five, or a good four-card suit.Against three no-trump, West’s lead of the unbid suit goes to East’s ace. It seems natural simply to return a club now, but if he does, declarer wins and tests diamonds. Upon seeing the foul split, South turns to hearts and discovers all is well there, racking up his ninth trick with the aid of the 13th heart.
None of this is impossible to predict. West has room for only one high card, and that is probably a spade since South did not support the suit. In that case, East can see four black-suit tricks, and he has a diamond stopper. The way to get declarer to fall on his own sword is to force him to commit prematurely to the red-suit break he is hoping for.
There is nothing to lose by cashing a top spade at trick two. When South follows low, East continues with the spade king. If South were to drop the queen now, he would have no entry to the long spades in dummy, holding only two clubs. When he follows low, East continues with a third spade. What does South discard? He will surely play for diamonds to split 3-3 or 4-2 rather than banking on a heart split. When he jettisons a heart, he throws his contract overboard with it.
ANSWER:
Some would rebid one no-trump to show the hand type, but with powerful three-card support, a ruffing value and lots of control cards, I prefer to raise spades. Partner will look more favorably on an unbalanced hand with five spades now. This does not come with a guarantee, but the idea that three trumps and a ruffing value equates to four trumps is a sound one.
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at bobbywolff@mindspring.com. Copyright 2023, Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS