Let them find her for you

Ambrose Bierce defined a reporter as “a writer who guesses his way to the truth and dispels it with a tempest of words.”

In a bridge column, the scribe shouldn’t be guessing at the right line of play or defense. However, he might use a torrent of words.

In this deal, South is in six spades. How should he play after West leads the diamond queen?

North responded with the Jacoby Forcing Raise. South’s three-club rebid showed a singleton or void in that suit. Then, after North made a three-heart control-bid expressing slam interest, South used Blackwood. (Note that if you employ Roman Key Card Blackwood, North should answer five spades, two key cards and the trump queen, because he knows of at least a 10-card fit.) If you do not wish to use the textbook Jacoby rebids, keep it simple with natural. Here, South would rebid three spades, showing extra values but no side suit. North would control-bid four clubs, and again South would ask for aces or key cards.

With the trump ace to lose, apparently South must guess who holds the heart queen. But, instead, he can get the opponent with the spade ace to help him out. Declarer wins with the diamond ace, plays a club to dummy’s ace, ruffs the club two in his hand, crosses to the diamond king, trumps the last diamond and casts adrift with a spade.

What can East do? If he shifts to a heart, that solves South’s problem. Alternatively, if East returns a minorsuit card, declarer ruffs in one hand and sluffs a heart from the other.