Thinking Bridge
By Eddie Kantar
kantarbridge.com
Consider this deal as East:
| West | North | East | South |
| 1♠ | |||
| Pass | 2♦ | Pass | 2♥ |
| Pass | 2NT | Pass | 3♥ |
| Pass | 4♥ | All Pass |
West leads the ♣3
Bidding Commentary: North has a choice of nonforcing rebids (unless 2♦ is played as a game force): 2NT, or 3♦. Given the weakness of the diamonds, 2NT is superior. Notice that one choice is not 3♥. To raise a secondary suit directly, four-card support is required – an important bidding principle. As it happens, it matters little whether North rebids 2NT or 3♦, as South will rebid 3♥ to show a fifth heart. Responder happily raises to game.
Lead Commentary: West’s spade holding suggests a trump lead to stop spade ruffs in dummy, but his diamond holding (honor-third in dummy’s long suit) suggests the more attacking club lead.
Defensive Commentary: When dummy plays low at trick one, East should play the jack. The lead of a low card suggests an honor, and the only honor not visible is the king. After the defense cashes three clubs, both defenders should know that South, who has shown 10 major-suit cards during the bidding, has a diamond void. Furthermore, whoever winds up on lead after three clubs have been cashed should shift to a trump to stop spade ruffs. A trump switch combined with East not playing the ♦A when a low diamond is led from dummy, defeats 4♥.
Play Commentary: If the defenders do not shift to a trump after winning three clubs, declarer gets home on a crossruff but must cash the two top spades before crossruffing.
Eddie Kantar (1932–2022) was an accomplished player with two world championships and 17 NABC titles. Kantar is probably best known as a teacher and author of over 35 bridge books. He wrote his first article for The Bridge World in 1954 and was a longtime contributor to the ACBL’s Bridge Bulletin.
