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Bridge 5/17
Two no-trump can invite game
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    This is a Swedish proverb: "One should go invited to a friend in good fortune, and uninvited in misfortune."
    At the bridge table, you should invite game when you have the good fortune to hold sufficient points, and settle for a partscore when you have the misfortune to hold a weaker hand.
    Look at the South hand. Your partner opens one diamond, you respond one heart, and he rebids one spade. What would you do now?
    With 11 high-card points and a good five-card suit, you must invite game. And you are fortunate to have a stopper in the unbid suit. So jump to two no-trump. Do not worry about missing a 5-3 heart fit, because North can next bid three hearts with three hearts, en route to three no-trump.
    Here, North raises to three no-trump. And after West leads the club queen, how would you plan the play?
    As always, start by counting your top tricks. You should see six: two hearts, two diamonds and two clubs. Where will you turn for the other three winners? There are two candidates: spades and hearts. But which is right?
    I hope you saw that it is spades, where three more tricks are guaranteed. You will get three extra tricks in hearts only if the finesse wins, which is a 50-50 shot. If you take the heart finesse, you go down, losing one spade, one heart and three clubs.
    After winning the first or second club trick, immediately play on spades, establishing nine tricks.
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