June 2003

FOR THE DEFENSE

South is the declarer in four spades and you, West, must make the opening lead. Your best suit is hearts, so you decide to lead this suit. What card do you lead?

YOU
H) A K x x x

Standard practice is to lead the king from an ace + king. The reason: when declarer (South) does not overtake with the ace, East knows that you have it. At times this can be a key piece of information.

BID BYTES

You have made a reverse bid when your second bid skips over your first suit.

For example:

YOU                PARTNER
1 diamond        1 spade
2 hearts

If partner wants to return to you to diamonds, he can only do so at the three level. Instead if you had bid hearts first then diamonds, partner could return to your hearts without going to a higher level. It should be apparent here that you have more than a minimum opener to make this reverse bid.

The minimum range is usually 13 to 15 points, so the reverse bid should be made only when you have 16 or more points, and it is forcing for one round, of course. The first-bid suit should contain at least five cards, and the second-bid suit at least four cards.

So in this instance, your 1 diamond - - 2 heart sequence tells partner that you have 16 or more points, five diamonds, four hearts and four or less cards in the other two suits.

WHY THE CLEANING LADY IS LOOKING FOR A NEW JOB

When asked why she left her last employment she replied, "Well they paid good wages, but they played this game called bridge. As I was going in with refreshments, I heard a man say, "lay down and let's see what you've got." Another man said, "I've got strength but no length." Then at another table the man said to the lady, "Take your hand off my trick."

(More reasons to come.)

BridgeSnaps newsletter is produced by John S. Thomas, author of Standard American 21.