Bridge Deal of the Week (Jul 28 2006)

Problem:

The Auction:
West  North  East  South
2♠*   dbl      pass    3♠
pass   3NT    pass    4♦
pass   6♦       all pass

* Weak Two Bid

West's preempt created a difficult problem for you. You play the Lebensohl convention, and a bid of 3♥ would be constructive. However, in spite of the fact that you have only 8 high card points, the singleton spade, two bullets, and support for at least one of partner's suits make this hand very powerful. Game is a favorite to make. Bidding 4♥ is dangerous if partner has a strong hand, with no heart support (as in this hand). Therefore, you choose to bid a game forcing 3♠, an overbid, but arguably the least of the evils.

Partner's 3NT posed another problem. Can the takeout doubler really have 2 or more spade stoppers? Is partner bidding based on the strength of your 3♠ bid? It doesn't seem right to pass 3NT, so you pull to 4♦, still searching for the right game. Partner, who has a monster of a hand, jumps to 6♦ and ends the auction. The final contract is quite reasonable. West leads the ♠K, captured by dummy's Ace. You play a club to the Ace, in order to lead a diamond to dummy's Queen. East wins the King, and returns a diamond, west pitching a spade. If trumps split 2-2, the hand would have been cold, as you would have been able to ruff dummy's spades in hand (or ruff your heart losers in dummy). Now, if you attempt either of those lines, you will fail (East can overruff if you try to ruff a spade in hand. If you ruff hearts in dummy, you will promote East's ♦10 into the setting trick). Is this the end of the road?

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Bridge Baron deal No: 08649743802294954933272426410

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Deal Of The Week