Bridge - The Scotsman 22/08/2012

Published on 22/08/2012 02:37

Wednesday’s puzzle...

Sometimes the most important information you can impart with a discard is how many cards you hold in a suit of particular interest. Here East opened 1S, South overcalled 1NT and North made a sporting raise to 3NT. West led his three of spades to partner’s jack, third hand lowest of touching honours. Declarer ducked and East continued with the king, confirming a holding of KQJ. South took the ace and West had the opportunity to discard. Which card should he throw?

You could tell partner about your solid club holding by discarding the queen, but there is something more important to do first. It looks as if declarer has a second spade stopper since partner has denied holding the ten. So the game will surely make unless partner has the ace of diamonds. If he has, you want him to win it at the right time, not allowing declarer to make more diamond tricks than he deserves. Seize the opportunity to throw the five of diamonds, the start of a count signal. When declarer leads a diamond to the king, your two tells partner you have just two diamonds, and he knows to win the second round of the suit.

If you do not give partner this information he may hold up twice in case you have a singleton. With two diamonds in the bag declarer can take the heart finesse and establish his second spade trick to make his game with two spades, three hearts, two diamonds and ace-king of clubs.