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Invitational stayman in competition

Play Bridge: Tips and tricks for bridge players, new to experienced.
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Both vulnerable

Stayman is a cuebid of opponent’s bid or implied suit.

The bidding:

South, with 17 high card points, opens one notrump. West makes a transfer bid of two hearts. North can now bid two spades or three spades as nonforcing and forcing Stayman respectively.

North chooses to treat his ten points as eight or nine because of the singleton king of spades and makes an invitational bid. South accepts the invite and bids 3NT.

The contract: Three notrump by South

The opening lead: The queen of spades

The play:

Dummy wins the opening lead and plays a diamond towards his hand. East jumps up with the ace while he still has his second spade and puts this spade on the table.

Declarer will only get eight tricks before West runs his spades. However, if by chance, declarer drives out the ace of hearts first, he will make eleven tricks.

The result: Three notrump by South either down one or making plus two.

Notes:

-Two spades is a risky contract vulnerable. It goes down two for -200. West is not strong enough for a vulnerable overcall. KQJxxx of trump would be a wiser overcall.

-Do you have a question or a hand of note that occurred at your bridge table?

If yes, send it to me at wt.watson@yahoo.ca and I will answer it. The questions may appear in a future column.