Unlucky Louie has raised nine children. He says 80 percent of parenting involves moving your kid’s glass away from the edge of the table.
You would think Louie knew about playing safe as declarer. When he was today’s South, West led a heart against 6NT, and in the blink of an eye, Louie captured East’s queen and took the A-K of diamonds. Unlucky! East discarded, and Louie had to lose two diamonds.
Careful play succeeds. A safety play is available in diamonds, but Louie needs entries to his hand. On the first heart, he should play dummy’s jack: queen, king.
PLAYS LOW
Louie then leads a diamond to dummy’s ace, returns a heart to his ten and leads the eight of diamonds. If West plays low — playing the ten won’t help him — Louie lets the eight ride.
If East won, Louie would be sure of four diamonds and 12 tricks in all. When the eight wins, Louie takes the king, returns a club to his king and concedes a diamond. He has four diamonds, four clubs, three hearts and a spade.
DAILY QUESTION
You hold: S 6 5 2 H A J 7 D A K 2 C A Q J 10. You open one club, your partner responds one spade, you jump to 2NT and he next bids three hearts. What do you say?
ANSWER: You showed a balanced hand with about 19 points, so you need not bid 3NT and tell partner the same thing twice. Bid three spades, showing three cards in his first suit. He may continue to four spades, but if his pattern is 5-4-2-2, he can bid 3NT himself to let you choose a game.
South dealer
N-S vulnerable
NORTH
S 6 5 2
H A J 7
D A K 2
C A Q J 10
WEST
S K J 7
H 9 6 5 3 2
D Q 10 7 3
C 5
EAST
S 9 8 4 3
H Q 8 4
D 5
C 9 7 6 4 2
SOUTH
S A Q 10
H K 10
D J 9 8 6 4
C K 8 3
South West North East
1 D Pass 2 C Pass
2 NT Pass 6 NT All Pass
Opening lead — H 3
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Originally published at Frank Stewart