“That Grapefruit must be dog-tired at night,” a club player said to me. “After all, he growls all day.”
Grapefruit owns and operates an acid tongue; he berates his partners mercilessly. He was East in a penny game, and against four hearts, West led the king of spades.
South took the ace and passed the jack of trumps to West’s queen. West cashed his queen of spades and ace of trumps and led a third spade, and South ruffed and drew the missing trump. He made his game when West’s queen of clubs succumbed, and Grapefruit said that West deserved to have the fleas of a hundred camels infest his nose.
TWO SPADES
West could infer that South had only two spades, else he would have ducked the first trick to keep control. West can see a spade trick and two trumps, but he needs a diamond. To stop South from using dummy’s clubs for a discard, West leads a club at Trick Four.
South can win and lead a trump to West’s ace, but then a second club kills dummy. South loses another trick.
DAILY QUESTION
You hold: S K Q 10 4 H A Q 3 D 9 7 4 2 C Q 6. Your partner opens one spade, and you respond 2NT, a conventional forcing raise. He bids three diamonds. What do you say?
ANSWER: After your 2NT, partner’s bid of a new suit shows a singleton there. The idea is to help you judge the fit. If you held KQ104,J64,KQ42,Q6, with “wasted” diamond honors, you would sign off at four spades. With your actual hand, you can encourage slam. Cue-bid three hearts.
North dealer
Both sides vulnerable
NORTH
S A 9
H J 4
D 8 5 3
C A K J 9 5 3
WEST
S K Q 10 4
H A Q 3
D 9 7 4 2
C Q 6
EAST
S J 7 6 5 2
H 6 5
D Q J 10
C 10 7 4
SOUTH
S 8 3
H K 10 9 8 7 2
D A K 6
C 8 2
North East South West
1 C Pass 1 H Pass
2 C Pass 3 H Pass
4 H All Pass
Opening lead — S K
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