LEARNING CENTER

Pass. At any colors (here you are vulnerable against not), so even thinking of bidding would be an overbid. A two-level overcall shows a better hand and/or suit.

South has a lot of spades and North has a lot of clubs. South's rebid showed at least six spades. North's rebid shows good long clubs. South's third bid in spades might even mean he has seven or more of them.

Choices 1 & 2 are clearly wrong. Game forcing means game forcing. Nobody can pass below game.

4NT was Blackwood and if it was keycard, South has shown 2 keycards and NO Q.

If you don't know what Keycard Blackwood is, you can click here.

A jump to 4NT when there is no "agreed" trump suit is presumed to be Keycard (assuming the pair uses Keycard) in the last-bid suit, in this case Spades. The 5 answer (third step) shows 2 keycards (aces or K) but denies the Q.

4. This auction screamed for aggression. Dummy must have running clubs. If you go passive, declarer will almost surely draw trump and knock out your A. After that, he can throw things on dummy's clubs.

Cashing the A at trick one serves no purpose -- you'll always get that trick. Taking it now will set up dummy's clubs.

While a diamond lead might set up a trick, it is a long shot. You'd not only need partner to have something very good in diamonds, but you would need both declarer and dummy to have more than a singleton. Given that you have 6 of them, this isn't a great shot.

The best hope is that partner has the Q and you can set up a heart trick. From Kxx, we lead low, not the king.

After the heart lead, declarer has no chance. Declarer can win the heart and draw trump, but when he plays a club, you can win and cash your K.

What if declarer (and not your partner had the Q)? Then they would have made it on any lead; nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Click here for the final Deal, #4.