This deal occurred in a team-of-four match. North bid one notrump, and South responded two clubs (Stayman), asking North if he had a four-card major.

West, attempting to direct a club lead if North became declarer in notrump or a major suit, doubled. But North, taking advantage of the opportunity to deny a four-card major, and also to show he had good clubs, redoubled.

After East passed, South decided to take his chances at two clubs redoubled even though he had only a doubleton in the suit. So he passed, reasoning that he had sufficient high-card strength to produce eight tricks, despite West’s marked trump length. West had no place to go and also passed, though by now he was beset with doubts.

West led a heart, and declarer finessed the jack. He then cashed the Q-A of spades, finessed the queen of hearts and cashed the ace. After playing the K-A of diamonds, he ruffed a spade in dummy, on which West elected to discard a heart.

By now eight tricks had been played, and South had won them all. West still had the five clubs he had started with. When declarer next led a diamond, West was forced to ruff, and when he then returned a low trump, South won with the queen. Dummy still had the A-J of clubs and had to score them both, so South wound up making two clubs redoubled with three overtricks.

This came to a tidy 1960 points, which goes to show that you must be on firm ground (a whole lot firmer than West was here) whenever you double a low-level contract for a lead. Sometimes it’s better to just keep quiet.

Tomorrow: >> Famous Hand.

Steve Becker