DAILY BRIDGE CLUB

Two players brought me today’s deal from a team match at my club.

“We were lucky not to lose a pile of points,” they said.

“What happened?”

“I opened one club,” the player who had been North told me. “You would have opened one spade.”

“That’s my style with 5-5 in the black suits,” I said. “I get the major suit mentioned quickly and make it harder for the opponents to come in. But many experts would open one club.”

“I jumped to two diamonds,” South said, “and showed my club support next.”

“And I bid six clubs,” North shrugged. “The trumps lay unluckily, and I went down one. We were fortunate because at the other table, North-South got to six diamonds, and declarer also lost two clubs there.”

Were North-South lucky or unlucky?

As to the bidding, six clubs was an unlucky contract, but South’s bid of three clubs was wrong. It said that his jump-shift to two diamonds — a try for slam — was based on a great club fit. South should have rebid three diamonds; his solid six-card suit needed to be trumps. Then North-South might reach the best contract of six diamonds.

North-South were luckier than they knew since six diamonds was cold. After South takes the ace of hearts, he comes to the king of spades, leads a trump to dummy’s nine, discards a club on the ace of spades and ruffs a spade. When East-West follow, South ruffs his king of hearts in dummy and ruffs another spade. He can draw trumps, go to the ace of clubs and take the good fifth spade for his 12th trick. North dealer

N-S vulnerable