Red Alert

12th May – Board 9. East/West Game. Dealer North.

It was not easy to defend well on the following hand: -

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

West	North	East	South
	1D	No	1NT
No	3NT	End

I’m not sure if the bidding went as described but it certainly should, with nine tricks much more likely than eleven. In any event the normal lead from West would be a low heart and East would gobble up the first two tricks eagerly with the king and ace. On the ace his partner should realise that a third round would be fateful and play the ten – an unusual card which is an attempt to draw his partner’s attention to the fact than a switch is required. So West could have the ace and queen of spades or the king and jack of clubs or the ace of spades and just the king of clubs! Poor East. Maybe the best bet is to take the ace of clubs and see if partner can signal his pleasure or otherwise. But I wouldn’t mind betting that 3NT would make much more often than it failed.