You are South and have landed in a delicate 4S in a teams match. West leads the jack of clubs.
Dealer E All Vul
Would you have reached 4S if you had doubled the 1C opening? Or if you had overcalled with 1S or even 1NT? I would like to hear from some of the people who would have doubled the 1C opening bid, and how their bidding sequence would then have proceeded. I would also like to hear from our ‘losing trick count’ fans as to how the bidding should have proceeded and how the losing tricks are calculated. That would be interesting for those who want to add that theory to their bidding knowledge. Me, I just take a look and then guess about possible losers, that works for me!
Now that you see the full deal the way it was at the time, you will agree that 4S is a very good contract IF declarer manages to make it. The play has a number of possible pitfalls, even seeing all the hands it is not obvious what to do and what not to, but an able declarer should get there in the end.
I would like you to now do the bidding exercise, how would you and your current partner have bid this hand; then, given that you are in 4S and West leads the jack of clubs, work through how YOU would play the hand. We’ll take a further look at this in No.25
J74
K842
KQ94
84