Not Sure

16th January – Board 23: Game All. Dealer South.

I’m not sure about some of the bids in the suggested sequence shown below but the outcome isn’t that unreasonable.

	North: S 10 8 4 2 H 9 5 3 D A Q J 5 2 C K
West: S 7 3 H A D 9 7 4 3 C A 10 9 6 5 4		East: S A J 9 H K Q 8 6 D K C J 8 7 3 2
	South: S K Q 6 5 H J 10 7 4 2 D 10 8 6 C Q

West	North	East	South
			No
No	No	1C	No
3H	No	3NT	End

Once East opens 1C that West hand becomes huge, certainly much better than a seven-loser as you can take one loser off at least for the six-card support. It’s not normal to splinter with a singleton ace but the alternative of 1D hardly appeals either, and over 3H the likelihood is that East will terminate proceedings with 3NT. The singleton diamond should not be too much of a worry as West is marked with length there – remember he won’t have as many as three spades and he only has one heart – so 3NT looks a reasonable shot. Of course this would be disastrous if South could ever find a diamond lead but that is unlikely to happen on his actual holding. So 3NT will roll home with an overtrick with the nice club split but sadly that is all that is required for 6C to be laydown! Some hands are just too hard.