Bridge: March 7, 2024

The essence of bridge is drawing inferences. Some are valid against learning players, some only against experts. Some inferences are delicate, so that only an experienced player can act on them “in tempo.”

At today’s 3NT, declarer won the first spade with the ace and led the deuce of diamonds. West played the five. South knew that if he played the king from dummy, it would win whether East had the ace or not. Then if South came back to his hand to lead a second diamond, he might face a nasty guess and would surely go down if East had A-J-x.

So South played the ten from dummy. He would gain if West had, say, J-8-7-5.

LOW DIAMONDS

East was an expert. He had to play quickly. He inferred that South had two low diamonds; with three, he would have played dummy’s king. So East followed smoothly with the three!

Declarer led a heart to his king and a second diamond to the nine. East produced the jack, and since South couldn’t use dummy’s diamonds, he took only seven tricks.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: S A Q 4 H A K 5 4 D 6 2 C A 9 8 2. The dealer, at your right, opens one diamond. You double, and your partner responds (“advances”) one spade. What do you say?

ANSWER: This is a tough problem. Partner has at most nine points — with more, he would have jumped or cue-bid — and he may have none. With 17 points, you would often act again, but you have onny three-card spade support. I would pass but would accept a raise to two spades.

South dealer

N-S vulnerable

NORTH

S K 6 3

H 6 2

D K Q 10 9 4

C 10 5 3

WEST

S J 10 9 8 2

H J 8 3

D A 7 5

C K J

EAST

S 7 5

H Q 10 9 7

D J 8 3

C Q 7 6 4

SOUTH

S A Q 4

H A K 5 4

D 6 2

C A 9 8 2

South West North East
1 NT Pass 2 NT Pass
3 NT All Pass
Opening lead — S J

©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.