ACES ON BRIDGE
Continuing with our round-up of the 2022 Junior USBC, this deal from the final of the under-26 selection for USA1 was played well in both rooms.
Brent Xiao declared four spades after an aggressive fit-jump from West and received the club king lead. He won in dummy and gave up a heart, paving the way for a ruff. East won with the heart ace and then played a club to West for a second heart, surely pinpointing the heart king in the East hand. Xiao ruffed and then started trumps with the queen and ace.
When West showed out on the second round, declarer took stock. He knew from the bidding that West had five clubs and at least four hearts. Was West’s shape 1=4=3=5 or 1=5=2=5? His four-level jump suggested more shape, but it appeared as though East held both top hearts. Would West bid four clubs with only a 6-count?
Xiao bet against it. He figured West for the diamond queen and ran the diamond jack on the first round in case there was queen-10-low onside. That picked off the suit nicely.
West ducked the jack, but even if he had covered, declarer would have been able to come back to hand and repeat the diamond finesse against the 10.
In the other room, Kevin Rosenberg was declarer in four spades after a weak jump-overcall from East. Here Rosenberg was more confident of the heart position. Once East had shown up with two clubs and four spades, declarer knew to advance the diamond jack as well. West did cover here, and Rosenberg came back to hand to repeat the finesse and flatten the board.
ANSWER: Playing two-over-one, you are already in a game-force, so you can bid two no-trump, natural, to show your hand-type with stoppers in the unbid suits. After partner’s two-heart rebid, three clubs should show either 10 cards in the minors or a better club suit. On this sequence, the more space you leave your partner to describe their hand, the better.