24th March – Board 13: Game All. Dealer North.
Whose side would you put your money on if East declared a contract of 5D and South decided to lead the ace of spades and follow up with a trump? Winning in hand declarer would lead his singleton heart and South has to pass the test and duck! This may look far-fetched but in reality it is not so hard to find. It is true that South will never make a heart trick but by playing the ace he would give declarer two discards for his losing clubs. So your money is on N/S right? Wrong! Declarer would win the heart and ruff a heart back to hand. The spade queen is ruffed and dummy’s last heart ruffed before a club is led to the ten and North’s queen – who is now hopelessly endplayed. A major suit return would give a ruff and discard while a club would be up to dummy’s tenace. So E/W triumph after all. Of course in reality N/S would almost certainly compete to the five level and the following auction would not be too far-fetched:
 |
West
|
North
|
East
|
South
|
No
|
1D
|
4D
| |
5D
|
No
|
No
|
5H
|
Dbl
|
5S
|
No
|
No
|
Dbl
|
End
|
4D might seem a funny bid but is just really a sort of super-Michaels showing the majors and a desire to play at the four-level in either spades or hearts. West will almost certainly support his partner but when South has one more West should get the maximum penalty from the save by doubling. The ensuing reward for all this would be +500 to E/W as opposed to +600 if they were allowed to play peacefully in their game.
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