Complimentary Issue of Better Bridge Magazine March / April 2020 | Page 14

THE REAL DEAL
BY LARRY COHEN
What’s the
“Right”
Answer?
Larry Cohen, a best-selling author and 25-time National
Champion, lives in Delray Beach, Florida. One of Larry’s
favorite teaching methods is to analyze random deals. He
feels that any time you deal out a deck of cards, there are
numerous lessons that can be learned.
This deal comes from Betsy Thumann of Reno, Nevada.
T he A uction
Dlr: South
Vul: Both
Contract: 3NT
♠
♥
♦
♣
K 7
K Q 10 8 6 4
Q 9
J 6 3
3♥ Pass
1♥
♠
♥
♦
♣
9 5 3 2
A J 7
5
A 9 7 5 4
n
w
e
s
♠
♥
♦
♣
8 6 4
5 3 2
J 10 8 6 3
K 10
Pass Pass Pass
Pass Pass Pass
♠
♥
♦
♣
1♦
A Q J 10
9
A K 7 4 2
Q 8 2
1♠ 3NT
T he O pening L ead A gainst 3NT
With clubs being the unbid suit and also West’s best
South has a routine 1♦ opening bid. Should West suit, the opening lead is the ♣5, fourth from longest and
overcall? I must be joking. Not even close! A two-level strongest.
overcall, especially vulnerable, should be made only with T he P lay in 3NT
a decent suit and roughly opening bid values. So, West In notrump, declarer counts sure tricks. There are seven
passes and North has a normal 1♥ response. East and off the top – four spades and three diamonds. This club
West continue to pass throughout.
lead will eventually result in an eighth trick. Declarer
South’s rebid is definitely 1♠, not 1NT. South shouldn’t might get more tricks from diamonds if the missing
reason: “My partner has hearts and I have everything diamonds split well, and can certainly play hearts to
else, so I’ll bid notrump.” A 1NT rebid shows a balanced promote at least a ninth trick.
hand with no singletons or voids. South has more than T he D efense to 3NT
a minimum, but not even close to enough to make a The big moment on this deal comes at trick one. Declarer
jump shift to 2♠. That would show something like 19- plays low from dummy and the spotlight is on East.
21 points and be forcing to game.
Normally, with an honor in dummy East can beat, third-
After South’s 1♠ rebid, what is North’s second bid?
hand saves a high card for dummy’s high card. Especially
with the ♣10 to insert, that is what I would expect most
Responder’s Jump
On responder's rebid, a jump in a suit previously bid by East players to do. Unfortunately, on this layout, that is
either opener or responder is invitational. In this case, the losing play. Declarer wins the ♣10 with the ♣Q and,
the jump would be in a suit North has already bid, so it perhaps after trying some diamonds and seeing the bad
would show at least a six-card suit – and the suit should split, plays a heart. West has the ♥A, but the clubs can’t
be decent. Since North has invitational strength – not be run – they are blocked. Even if West guesses to win
quite enough to insist on game, but too much for only the ♥A and lead a low club to East’s ♣K, East has no
more clubs to lead. The contract makes easily, possibly
2♥ – the correct rebid is an invitational 3♥.
with overtricks.
Should South go on? The singleton heart is a deterrent
but, overall, the hand is more than minimum. South has What if East plays the ♣K at trick one? Now the contract
is defeated. East returns a club to the ♣A, and West plays
a nice-looking 16-count with two good suits, spades and
a third club. Now the defenders’ clubs are ready to run.
diamonds. Clubs are kind-of stopped, so let’s go with On winning the ♥A, West has two winning clubs for
3NT. North has already described the hand, so North down one.
passes and 3NT becomes the final contract.
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A udrey G rant ’ s B etter B ridge | M arch -A pril 2020