Sleeping on the Couch


frs1016@centurylink.net
“I made the mistake of telling my wife that I was tired of her having a monopoly on being right,” a reader writes. “Now she has a monopoly on sleeping in our bed, plus what we watch on TV.”
My fan says he was today’s East. He intervened over North’s 1NT, but South zoomed into a slam.

Dlr: North ♠ 10 5 2
Vul: none K J 8 5 2
A Q
♣ K Q J
♠ Q ♠ A 9 8 7 6 4 3
4 10
J 10 8 6 4 2
♣ A 10 8 7 6 5 ♣ 9 4 3 2
♠ K J
A Q 9 7 6 3
K 9 7 5 3
♣ —
North East South West
1NT 2♠ 6(!) All Pass

Opening lead — ♠Q
“My wife led the ♠Q,” my fan writes, “I took the ace, and declarer dropped the king. I mulled that over and led a club. If South held K, A Q 9 7 6 3, K J 10 5 3, 5, we wouldn’t get the ♣A if we didn’t cash it. But South ruffed and claimed.

Horrible

“I guess it could have been worse. The contract could have been 6X. But my wife said my defense was horrible, and I’m still sleeping on the couch.”
East’s winning defense was indicated. If South held a hand with two black singletons, as East envisioned, he would have found a way to use an ace-asking bid to make sure two aces weren’t missing. South’s actual leap to slam suggested a void somewhere — almost surely in clubs.

Daily Question

You hold:
♠ 10 5 2
K J 8 5 2
A Q
♣ K Q J
Your partner opens 1♣, you respond 1 and he bids 1♠. What do you say?

ANSWER
Your hand is a little too heavy to jump to 3NT. Your partner would pass with a hand such as K Q 9 4, None, K 8 7, A 10 9 6 5 3 when 6♣ would be quite a good contract. You can jump to 3♣ if that bid would be forcing. Many experts would stall with a “fourth-suit” bid of 2 to get more information from partner.

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