Rose, our club member whose kindness toward her fellow players is worth emulating, is more tolerant of bad play than most of us. Rose says that mistakes are OK; if you don’t make them, you don’t make anything.
At four hearts, South took the ace of spades and cashed the A-K of trumps hopefully. Alas for him, East discarded. South then fiddled around for a while — he took the A-K of diamonds and ruffed some diamonds in dummy and some spades in his hand — but at the end he lost a trump to West plus three clubs.
SECOND TRICK
South made a subtle error, and many players would have done the same. At Trick Two South loses nothing by ruffing a spade. He then takes the top trumps.
When East discards, South cashes the A-K of diamonds, ruffs a diamond in dummy, ruffs a spade and ruffs a diamond. South then ruffs a spade for his 10th trick. The defenders’ high trump and high clubs clash on the last three tricks.
Rose would say it’s a mistake only if we learn nothing from it.
DAILY QUESTION
You hold: S K 8 4 H 6 D Q 9 8 4 3 C A K 9 8. You open one diamond, and your partner bids one spade. What do you say?
ANSWER: To bid two clubs looks normal, but suppose partner next jumped to three diamonds (invitational) or bid 2NT. Then you would want to show your spade tolerance, but you couldn’t afford to bid a third time with such minimum high-card values. If an expert panel considered the problem, many would choose a direct raise to two spades.
South dealer
Both sides vulnerable
NORTH
S A 10 5 3
H 10 7 4 2
D 5
C J 6 5 2
WEST
S Q 9 7 6 2
H Q 8 3
D J 7 2
C Q 4
EAST
S K 8 4
H 6
D Q 9 8 4 3
C A K 9 8
SOUTH
S J
H A K J 9 5
D A K 10 6
C 10 7 3
South West North East
1 H Pass 2 H Pass
4 H All Pass
Opening lead — S 6
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