bridge

June 18, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

bridge

East-West vulnerable. West deals.

NORTH

xA 9 8

u10 9 3 2

vK 10 8 4

w9 6

WEST EAST

xQ 10 3 x7 6 4

uA 8 7 uK 6 5

v6 2 vJ 9 7 5

wK Q J 8 7 w5 4 3

SOUTH

xK J 5 2

uQ J 4

vA Q 3

wA 10 2

The bidding:

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

1w Pass Pass Dbl

Pass 1u Pass1NT

Pass Pass Pass

Opening lead: King of w

Here is another deal from Eddie Kantar’s excellent series “Thinking Bridge,” designed for players desirous of improving their game.

“West has a mandatory opening with 12 high-card points and a five-card suit. A reopening bid of 1 NT in the passout seat shows 11-14 high-card points. South is too strong. To show 15-17 hcp, South doubles and then bids 1 NT.

“West leads the king of clubs and continues with high clubs until South wins the ace.

“South has six top tricks with chances for more in three suits. If diamonds break or the jack drops, an extra trick is available there. If the spade finesse works, an extra trick or two is available there. In hearts, if you are willing to give up the lead twice, two certain extra tricks are available there. Mirror, mirror on the wall, which is the best suit of all?

“As South, ask yourself how many tricks they can take once they get the lead. The answer is that you are in danger of losing four clubs, max, and the ace and king of hearts for six. The idea is not to increase that count, if possible. If you can establish tricks in a suit or suits where tricks have to be lost anyway, that’s the suit for you. The mirror says: ‘Attack hearts. Don’t worry about diamonds or spades, just drive out the two top hearts.’ Why increase their trick count when you don’t have to? However, in a contract of 2 NT or 3 NT you can’t afford to let them in even once! You have to bring in diamonds and spades for the desired number of tricks. The last suit to attack is hearts!”

2010 Tribune Media Services