The Star E-dition

FRANK STEWART BRIDGE

PROCRASTINATION PAYS

“You must be the world’s worst procrastinator,” I said to Cy the Cynic. “I’m dealing with those issues,” Cy told me with a touch of indignation.

“Really?” I asked doubtfully.

“Sure,” Cy said. “Just wait and see.”

I must admit that Cy’s habit of putting things off can work well for him as declarer: He knows when to wait to draw trumps. When Cy was declarer at today’s four hearts, West led the jack of spades, and the Cynic took the ace and seemed to have four losers: a spade, a diamond and two high trumps.

Swindle

Cy could have tried a swindle by leading a club to dummy and returning the jack of trumps, hoping East would foolishly cover with K-6. Instead, Cy didn’t lead trumps at all.

He took three high clubs and led his last club. If West ruffed with the ace, Cy would discard dummy’s spade loser. So West discarded, dummy threw the spade and East ruffed. East then led a low diamond, and when Cy won, he led a trump. The A-K fell together, and Cy was home.

Daily Question

You hold: ♠ A3 ♥ Q 10 9 5 2 ♦ KQ♣

A Q J 9. You open one heart, and your partner bids one spade. What do you say?

Answer: This problem is awkward in “Standard” methods. A jump-shift to three clubs would force to game, and partner may have only six points. Bid two clubs, hoping he will find another bid. If you absolutely can’t accept bidding two clubs (not forcing) with this much strength, you might try 2NT, showing 18 or 19 points, balanced.

South dealer

N-S vulnerable

THE XFILES

en-za

2021-10-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thestar.pressreader.com/article/282406992551495

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