East-west vulnerable, South deals

In days gone by, a player who was a passed hand would jump in a new suit to show a hand of near opening bid strength. That was always a poor idea, but people played that way for many decades. Today, “FitShowing Jumps” by a passed hand are commonplace among tournament players. The jump shows a suit at least five-cards long plus a fit for partner’s suit. Note the effect in today’s deal. Had South bid only one spade, West would have eked out a raise to two hearts, enabling East to compete to three hearts. Nine tricks in hearts are readily available.

Eight tricks in spades looked easy for North-south, even after the defense finds their diamond ruff. When this deal was played in Chicago recently, American expert Peter Weichsel was sitting West, and he found the only lead to give the defense a chance. Weichsel led a low heart! Declarer, naturally, played low from dummy and East won with the queen. East returned the 10 of hearts as a suit-preference signal for diamonds. Weichsel won with the ace of hearts and shifted to the seven of diamonds. The defense got two diamonds and a diamond ruff, plus the ace of clubs, for down one. Yeoman work just to get a routine score.

(Bob Jones welcomes readers’ responses sent in care this newspaper or to Tribune Content Agency, LLC., 16650 Westgrovce Dr., Suite 175, Addison, TX 75001.)