Bridge By Phillip Alder

DESCRIBE STRENGTH AND FIT CORRECTLY

Double fits — at least eight cards combined in each of two suits — do not give bridge players fits. Quite the opposite — they love them because they provide more tricks than the base point-count suggests. Then the hard part can be deciding which of the two fits to make the trump suit.

Today’s deal, of course, is an example. How would you and your partner bid the North-South hands? South opens one spade, and North raises to two spades. (Yes, North has a maximum, and the Losing Trick Count says that he is worth a game-invitational raise, but unless that club suit is useful, the hand will prove disappointing to partner. Starting with two spades seems right.) What should happen after that?

South might jump to four spades, but that is unnecessarily precipitate. It is better to rebid three clubs. Yes, North will think that that is a help-suit game-try, which might be made with a weaker suit, but South is interested in his partner’s club holding.

Typically, North would either sign off in three spades or jump to four spades. Here, though, his hand could not be better. He should raise to four clubs, announcing the delicious double fit. South should then see the expediency in bidding six clubs, not six spades, because the diamond ruff(s) will be in the shorter trump hand.

In six clubs, South takes five spades, one heart, five clubs and one diamond ruff in his hand. Even if North has only four clubs, a second diamond ruff will provide a 12th trick.

Note, though, that there are only 11 tricks with spades as trumps after West leads a high diamond.