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Bridge 6/5
Take heed of a different warning
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In yesterday's deal, East made a Lightner slam double of six spades, asking for a diamond lead, the first suit bid by the dummy. When West did as requested, the slam was defeated. But South should have taken heed of East's warning and run to six no-trump, which would have been unbeatable.
    In this deal, South needs to heed a different warning -- what is it? South is in four hearts. West leads the club king to declarer's bare ace. How should South continue?
    In the modern game, when the opponents come into the auction, jump raises of opener's suit by responder are pre-emptive, denying the values for a game-invitational limit raise. So, some would bid three hearts with that North hand. But at the table North sensibly decided -- paradoxical as it sounds -- that his hand was too strong for this bid. He knew that he would jump to three hearts without the diamond king. North planned, if given the chance, to bid three hearts on the next round to show a decent single raise with four-card support. Here, though, South had enough to jump to game.
    South, thinking that West would have the heart king for his overcall, ran the heart queen at trick two. Disaster! East won with his king and shifted to his singleton spade. West took two tricks in the suit, then gave his partner a spade ruff for down one.
    The heart finesse was an unnecessary risk. After West does not cover the heart queen, declarer should rise with dummy's ace and play another round. Even if West has all four hearts (which is very unlikely), the contract will still succeed.
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