Play with an Expert

After two passes North has a straighforward opening bid of 1S. East will make a take-out double and South can bid 2S (6-9 4 card support) or 3S (preemptive raises). In either case North will not be deterred with such a fine hand from pushing on to 4S.

East will lead the Ace or King of Clubs. It is always a good idea to count your losers when declarer in a suit contract. Here declarer can see one Club loser, one Diamond loser and perhaps two Heart losers depending on the location of either the King or Jack of Hearts. If East tries to cash a second Club declarer will ruff it and use the Queen of Clubs in dummy to discard one of the Heart losers in her own hand. The safest lead for East at trick two is a trump. This makes it quite a difficult hand for North to play and many will be defeated.
There is a certain, but quite difficult, way of making ten tricks on any defence.

If you would like to read a full analysis go read on. Declarer’s plan should be to put East back on lead at a point where any card East returns will present declarer with her tenth trick. Declarer should win the trump lead in dummy with the Ace making sure she plays one of her own high trumps under the Ace in order to ensure she can use a small trump later to get to dummy if she needs to. At trick three declarer should lead a Diamond from dummy and if West plays low she should play the Jack from her own hand allowing East to win the trick. (If West cleverly plays the Queen declarer should win with the Ace and get off lead with the Jack forcing East to win the trick). East can do no harm to declarer at this point and will get off lead with another Diamond. North wins this with the Ace, cashes one high trump in her own hand, noting that the defenders have no trumps left, then ruffs a Diamond in dummy. Only now will declarer lead the Ten of Hearts and let in run to East. Although East can win this with the Jack, thereby making the third trick for the defence, she must concede the tenth trick for declarer with her next lead. Suppose East plays her second high Club now, declarer ruffs in hand with a high trump then goes to dummy with a small trump to the 9 and cashes the Queen of Clubs discarding the Queen of Hearts from her own hand. If instead East returns a Diamond declarer ruffs with the 9 of trumps in dummy and again can discard the Queen of Hearts from hand. Finally if East returns a Heart declarer makes two Heart tricks with the Queen and Ace. A complicated hand but one which rewards a little study, there are a number of technical points which occur many times in Bridge.

After West opens 1C, North should overcall 1H. It is usually the best move to overcall with a decent five card suit, then show a second later if the auction permits. Overcalling 1H also has the advantage that East may Pass and when South raises to 2H West has no obvious bid. It is likely that NS will go one down in 2H but this will be a good pairs score as EW can make ten tricks in diamonds. Notice if North starts with a take-out double East can bid 1D and may eventually play in a diamond part score for a good result to EW.

Notice the effect of the pressure put on by the 1H overcall and raise. East is required to make an uncomfortable balancing bid with only 5HCP. Bid quickly to find a fit, raise it to the level of your side's fit, and watch your opponents squirm!

Although North has only 11HCP, shape, good intermediate cards and a ready rebid make it an easy 1H opening bid. Correctly East should pass but may stretch to 1 NT. East will score well if allowed to play there, probably just making seven tricks for +90, but won't as partner will raise to 2 NT or even 3 NT. If East passes South will bid 1S and North will rebid 2C. South should go back to 2H (a known 5-2 fit). This caters for when partner has bid 2C with a very good hand and scores more than making the same number of tricks in clubs.

Although the computer says EW can make 3 NT no-one will bid it with only 23 high card points. It is what we might call a lucky or a double dummy make. South may now pass as he has already bid his hand and his partner’s 2C bid did not show any strength, just the suit he wanted to play in at a low level. South should pass 2S - partner likely has very few values, and might have spades. XX suggests penalties are available to EW. The spotlight will fall on North who has to decide whether to defend or declare clubs. Always trust partner first. South's first double was for take-out. This means partner does not want to defend spades and is happy with whatever partner bids. Points schmoints - please up the anti by bidding 3C. You will probably get to defend 3S, and might even make 3C if left to play there.