Page 21 - ABF Newsletter February 2025

I picked up one of the better hands I’ve held recently:
] A [ A K J 5 3 } A K Q J 4 3 { 10
and was very pleasantly surprised when partner opened 1]. How do you plan to bid this monster?
Whilst I could bid diamonds, then hearts, I could see quite a few rebid problems (especially if my second suit were to become fourth suit forcing). Eventually I decided to respond 2[ because, if partner couldn’t support hearts, I could then trump them in dummy. It seemed like a good solution!
WEST NORTH EAST 1{ 1] Double
pass pass 3}
SOUTH pass 2]
all pass
Our auction:
How long is it since I’ve talked about counting?
South led the [A then switched (wisely) to a trump, won with the Ace as North played the Jack. I tried to sneak a spade through North, hoping to embark on a cross-ruff. North alertly won her ]A and led a second diamond, the }Q, won with the King, trumps being 2-2.
I could trump only one heart in dummy and I could discard one loser (club or heart) on the ]K, so it was time to stop and count. South clearly held the [A and [K but was a passed hand and had not made a cue raise. It seemed that North held the {K. It seemed like the hearts were 4-4, so North held 5 spades, 4 hearts, 2 diamonds and therefore {K-x.
That provided various options for 10 tricks. Mine was to cross to the {A, cash the ]K discarding my club loser, then I played a small club – King – trump- ing. I led the [Q – King – trump, cashed the {Q discarding a heart loser, and lost one more heart at the end, losing the [A, ]A and trick 13. Taking the club finesse would result in only nine tricks though.
1]
3{ overbid
2[ 7} !
I guess my bid of my second suit was fourth suit (forcing?). I just had to hope that partner didn’t try to put me back to hearts. He didn’t, holding:
] K J 10 7 3 [ — } 10 7 5 { A Q 9 8 2 Perfect!
]K852 ]Q
[ 9 [ Q 10 6 2
} A 10 6 } K 7 5 4 3 2 {AQ843 {96