Logical Play

Dealer: South
N-S vulnerable

North

A K 9 3

A J 10

7 6 4

K 7 5

West

8 6 5 4

K 9 8

A J 8 5 3

East

Q 7 2

7 5 3 2

Q 10 9 2

10 3

South

J 10

Q 6 4

A Q J 8 6 4 2

South	West	North	East
1�	Pass	1�	Pass
2�	Pass	4�	Pass
4�	Pass	6�	All Pass

Opening Lead:� A

Reading the cards — my topic this week — assumes that you can rely on your opponents to play logically. Always assume that they have. If you make a well reasoned play that fails because an opponent did something silly — well, you can have a good laugh.Against today’s slam, West led the ace of diamonds and switched to the nine of hearts. South was reluctant to finesse — the lead of the nine looked ominous — so he took the ace, drew trumps and let the jack of spades ride. He went down two when East won and led a heart to West’s king.

“The spade finesse might have won,” South shrugged. Did he miss a clue?

LOW HEARTS
South should have asked himself why West would switch to a heart if he had only low hearts. If South held a hand such as 2, K 6 4 2, K, A Q J 8 6 4 2, West would guess the queen of hearts for him, giving away the slam.South should judge that West is trying to dissuade him from taking a finesse that will win. South should play a low heart from dummy at Trick Two.

DAILY QUESTION�

You hold:
A K 9 3
A J 10
7 6 4
K 7 5
. Your partner opens one diamond, you bid one spade and he raises to three spades. What do you say?

ANSWER�
Partner has four-card support and a hand worth about 17 points in support of spades. A direct jump to six spades might get you to a good contract in a hurry. If you prefer to go slowly, cue-bid four hearts to show your side ace. Then if partner encourages by cue-bidding five clubs, bid six spades.