IMPOSSIBLE SWITCH

North’s two-club bid is sometimes called Checkback Stayman. It asks opener if there is anything about his major suits that he hasn’t had

WITH BOB JONES a chance to show yet. It will find a 4-4 or a 5-3 major suit fit that was missed at the one level.

The queen of clubs opening lead held the trick as South, withheld dummy’s king. South played low from dummy again on the jack of clubs continuation, and then ruffed the third round of the suit. The contract would be easy if the missing hearts split 3-3, but South did not want to rely on that. South led a diamond to dummy’s king and East’s ace. East shifted to a trump, won by South in hand with the ace.

Declarer led a diamond to the queen and ruffed a diamond with the king of spades. He led the nine of spades to dummy’s 10, pleased to see both opponents follow, and ruffed dummy’s last diamond with the jack of spades. He crossed back to dummy with the king of hearts, drew the last trump, and claimed. A pretty dummy reversal!

A deep analysis reveals that the contract could have been defeated had West switched to a heart at trick two. Continuing clubs seemed like the most natural play in the world, and no one would fault West for his defense. Bridge is hard sometimes.

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