English letter writer and novelist Horace Walpole, who died in 1797, wrote, "Mystery is the wisdom of blockheads."
This week we are trying not to look like blockheads, which we will if we fail to find a way to cash a blocked suit — like the clubs in this deal.
You are South, in three no-trump. West leads the spade 10. What would be your plan?
Although North has only nine high-card points, his excellent six-card club suit makes his hand worth a game-invitational sequence of two clubs followed by three clubs.
Your two-heart rebid is called a reverse. (This is the definition of a reverse: In an uncontested auction, whenever the opener rebids in a second suit without a jump and the responder must bid at the three-level if he wishes to support the opener's first-named suit, the opener has made a reverse.) If the opener reverses after a one-level response, it promises at least 17 high-card points. After a two-over-one response, though, this may be shaded to 15 points, and the auction is then game-forcing.
Over three clubs, bidding three no-trump with the blocking singleton club ace is hardly ideal, but what else can you do?
You seem to have 10 tricks via three spades, one heart and six clubs. However, you need a dummy entry once the club ace has been unblocked. At trick one, carefully overtake dummy's spade jack with your king (or ace). Then, cash the club ace, cross to the spade queen, and run the clubs. Finally, return to your heart ace to collect the spade ace (or king) and claim that overtrick.
This week we are trying not to look like blockheads, which we will if we fail to find a way to cash a blocked suit — like the clubs in this deal.
You are South, in three no-trump. West leads the spade 10. What would be your plan?
Although North has only nine high-card points, his excellent six-card club suit makes his hand worth a game-invitational sequence of two clubs followed by three clubs.
Your two-heart rebid is called a reverse. (This is the definition of a reverse: In an uncontested auction, whenever the opener rebids in a second suit without a jump and the responder must bid at the three-level if he wishes to support the opener's first-named suit, the opener has made a reverse.) If the opener reverses after a one-level response, it promises at least 17 high-card points. After a two-over-one response, though, this may be shaded to 15 points, and the auction is then game-forcing.
Over three clubs, bidding three no-trump with the blocking singleton club ace is hardly ideal, but what else can you do?
You seem to have 10 tricks via three spades, one heart and six clubs. However, you need a dummy entry once the club ace has been unblocked. At trick one, carefully overtake dummy's spade jack with your king (or ace). Then, cash the club ace, cross to the spade queen, and run the clubs. Finally, return to your heart ace to collect the spade ace (or king) and claim that overtrick.