BRIDGE

The “Simple Saturday” column focuses on basic technique and strategy.

The defenders have the advantage of knowing whether declarer’s key suits will break well and whether his finesses will win. A tenet of deceptive defense is to let declarer win his first try at a repeatable finesse (unless a compelling reason exists to win immediately).

Against 3NT, East takes the ace of spades and returns the three. South wins and leads a diamond to dummy’s jack. If East takes the king, the defense can cash two spades, but South will win the club shift, lead a heart to his king and finesse with the jack to win nine tricks.

The result will be different if East ducks the first diamond (with no revealing pause). Declarer could still succeed, but in practice he will come to his king of hearts for a second diamond finesse.

Then East wins, and the defense takes two spades and leads a club. South has no more entries to his hand and loses a heart to West’s queen at the end.

Question: You hold: ♠ A7 63 ♥ 1075 ♦ K104 ♣ K72.The dealer, at your left, opens one heart. Your partner doubles, and the next player passes. What do you say?

Answer: Partner asked you to bid, no matter how weak your hand. You would bid one spade with this same pattern but no points. Since you actually have 10 points, game is likely. Jump to two spades to invite. Partner’s double implied spade length; what you are doing is raising his suit.