Hand of the day #442
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This conundrum was written by Guy Lasserre & Norbert Lébely and was originally published in the magazine Bridgerama+ No. 62 - you can find out all about it further down the page.
When we started learning bridge, counting high card points and additional points for distribution and added length in the trump suit helped us all considerably. However, it quickly becomes apparent that this is not enough and that we should go further than that.
Dealer North – All Vul.
After this start:
What do you bid as South?
4NT. By showing his 3-card support in Hearts, together with a jump to 3♥, opener has revealed that his hand may provide you with a substantial number of tricks due to its unbalanced distribution.
Can you visualize them?
First of all, he is short in Diamonds which is (almost) perfect opposite Jack-third. Then, he necessarily holds both major-suit Aces and King-fifth in Clubs, probably accompanied by the Queen. If not, he will have the Queen of Spades instead (with or without the Jack) for a “small” total of 14–15 HCP. In any case, you can see twelve tricks and no more than one loser, in Diamonds, which will be confirmed by the 5♥ response (two keycards without the Queen of Trumps) to your RKCB.
Here as well, your partner was absolutely right to show all his strength by jumping to 3♥ over 2♦. There are twelve top tricks in 6 Hearts.
When your hand is well equipped, remember to “speed up”.
Norbert Lébély writes a clever defensive hand where one player sets up a beautiful smokescreen to mislead the declarer — and it works brilliantly. That’s just one of the featured plays in the latest issue of Bridgerama+, alongside fresh stories and insights from the world of bridge.
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