Advanced Movie 3C76 by Richard Pavlicek

Diamonds Are Forever

	4 K Q 7 4 A K Q 7 6 A J 7

What is your opening bid? _____

You have a strong hand, but it is quite short of a 2  bid, so just start with one of your longest suit. Your opponents pass throughout, but you can tell they are just itching to set whatever you bid. Partner responds 1 . What is your rebid? _____

It is unnecessary to crowd the bidding with a jump. This is a reverse bid and forces partner to bid again. Surprisingly, partner next jumps to 4 ! What do you bid now? _____

Partner’s jump makes a slam very likely, so with every suit controlled you should use Blackwood. Partner answers 5 . What next? _____

You might as well ask for kings (which also guarantees all the aces) as partner’s hand is unlimited and there could be a grand slam. Partner answers 6 . Now what? _____

Stop the presses! Partner next bids 7 ! (You will later discover you actually have three opponents and they intend to split the money you lose.) So there you are, needing all the tricks for a cool $144,000.

West leads the  10, and partner lays down nothing to justify such a brash 7  bid:

	A J 7 2 A 6 3 J 10 9 8 5 3
	4 K Q 7 4 A K Q 7 6 A J 7

East plays the  Q and you win the ace (good play). How many top tricks do you count? _____

How many extra tricks can you gain by ruffing spades? _____

If you ruff three spades you will not gain three tricks since the first ruff comes in the hand with longer trumps. Each subsequent ruff will gain a trick, which brings you up to 12 tricks. Which suit do you hope will provide the 13th? _____

Which card will you lead first? _____

It would be wrong to draw trumps first because you need that suit for entries. After taking the  A, which card will you lead next? _____

Which card will you ruff with? _____

All your trumps are equal, but it is necessary to ruff high to save your lower trumps to return to dummy. You lead the  6 to dummy’s eight and East shows out, tossing a club. What do you lead next? _____

Of course! West’s trump length does not affect your plan since you can draw them all later. Which card will you ruff with? _____

An instant replay! You next lead a heart to the ace, and this is what you see with dummy on lead:

	J 6 3 J 10 9 5
	— K Q 7 Q 7 J 7

Which card do you lead? _____

And which card do you play from your hand? _____

Terrific! You can smell those big bucks already. Which card do you lead next? _____

You will now draw all of West’s trumps. When you lead North’s last trump you notice that East begins to squirm. He is squeezed! He can’t keep both his heart stopper and the  K, so you win them all. Wow!

The only thing that bothers you is wondering how you will get out of this game alive. But of course you will; otherwise they couldn’t make any more movies.

The E-W hands:

K 10 8 3 9 2 5 4 3 2 10 9 8		Q 9 6 5 J 10 8 5 — K Q 6 4 2

Answers