DAILY QUESTION

SUSPICION

West must have been suspicious, but he took the queen. But then West had to guess, and he led ... a club. South won, drew trumps and ran the clubs, making five. Concealing his second suit had worked to his advantage.

The deal appeared in my predecessor Alfred Sheinwold’s “Sheinwold on Bridge” column in 1964, and dates from many years earlier. Pierre Albarran died in 1960.

You hold: 6 AQJ1072

AQJ J 8 4. Your partner opens one spade, you bid two hearts and he raises to three hearts. What do you say?

ANSWER: Even if your partner has minimum opening values, you may have a slam. His hand might be A Q 7 5 2, K 6 5, K 7 6 4, 9, so you could cue-bid four diamonds to suggest slam. The downside is that you may encourage a club opening lead that may be damaging, so to bid four hearts and settle for game would be reasonable.

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