Late in the second quarter of the Vanderbilt Teams final at the ACBL Spring Championships in Memphis, Marty FLEISHER’s formidable squad held a decent but not insurmountable lead over Jeffrey WOLFSON, partly because a WOLFSON pair had bid two poor slams. WOLFSON had fought to reduce their deficit, but then came today’s deal, the last of the quarter.

Both North-South pairs reached 3NT. At one table, West for WOLFSON led the three of spades; dummy’s ten held. Declarer had a sure route home after that, but at Trick Two he chose to lead the king of clubs from dummy!

Unless South had lost his marbles, he was certain to have J-x or J-x-x in clubs, hence East would have done well to play low, establishing some club tricks while keeping communication with his partner. Declarer would have failed. But East took his ace, after which South managed four heart tricks, two spades, two diamonds and one club.

In the replay, Chip Martel for FLEISHER found the good opening lead of a heart against 3NT and defended accurately thereafter. Declarer ended a trick short, losing 10 IMPs and giving FLEISHER a significant halftime lead.

Daily question >> You hold: ? 8 2 ? 10 2 ? Q 8 7 4 ? A Q 8 5 2. Your partner opens one spade, you respond 1NT and he bids two hearts. The opponents pass. What do you say?

Answer >> To return to two spades is correct. Your partner has five or more spades but may have only four hearts. A preference is no stronger than a pass, so partner should not assume you have any extra strength because you bid a second time. With Q 2, 10 2, Q 10 9 4, A Q 8 5 2, you might try 2NT, but your actual hand is too weak for that call.

East dealer

Neither side vulnerable

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