The bidding: South, with 15 HCP’s and five Spades, cannot open One No Trump because of his singleton Heart. So he opens One Spade. As was the case last week, North bids Two Hearts showing 10 HCP’s and promising a rebid. South, knowing they have enough for game, can bid his four-card Club Suit at the three-level, forcing to game.
Should South just leap to 3NT? No, that would send the wrong message about his Heart holding. If he had a doubleton Heart, then Three No Trump not Three Clubs is his rebid.
North cannot bid Three No Trump because he does not have a Diamond stopper. Therefore, he lies and rebids his Heart suit. The suit quality does not need to be as good as it is. One can lie about length, not about strength and certainly not about a stopper.
South can now bid Three No Trump.
The Play: West is on opening lead, and he thinks about the bidding. North had not bid No Trump after Three Clubs, so he may not have a Diamond stopper. South has five Spades and four Clubs with one or two Diamond stoppers. West do not want to lead a Spade, a Heart or a Club. One tends not to lead a suit bid by RHO unless it is fairly solid. West leads the Diamond Jack.
East knows South has the Diamond King and Queen, rises with the Ace and switches to the Club Jack. West without the Diamond Ten denies an honour higher than the Jack. East does not pursue Diamonds because he has no entry to cash his long Diamonds.
South is forced to cover the Jack with the ace and then plays the Spade Eight to the board. West is likely to duck but should not duck, looking at the running Hearts. Declarer will get one Spade, five Hearts, two Diamonds and a Club making his contract for +400.
Note: The Trail Sectional is July 3rd to 5th at the Trail Curling Rink. First session is this Friday at 1:00pm. Saturday, July 4th, at 1:00pm is a Rookie game with two of my drawings (watsongallery.ca) as prizes to the winning pair.
