Opening Lead: C4
This is one of those hands where you will rarely get anyone to agree on the "right" way to bid it. Some will open the North hand with a one no trump bid; others may opt for one club. After East passes, South must evaluate his holding based on what North decided to do. The South hand is not worth much in no trump and there are not enough high card points to bid two clubs (the Stayman convention) asking for a major suit. It is very likely that North will wind up playing one no trump, or that South will arrange an auction that will get the partnership to two spades.
If North opens four card majors and makes a bid of one heart, South can reevaluate his hand as being worth six points in support of hearts and raise to two hearts. North, holding 18 high card points, should raise to four hearts.
The real problem for South is when North opens one club. I think many players would choose to pass and while this contract may make, it will not be a good result. I have an agreement with most of my partners that if I can find a reason to justify keeping the bidding open for them, I will do so. Here, the justification is that I have both majors and we will be better off finding our major suit fit than playing one club. With that in mind, one spade is the obvious response.
The two no trump call shows 18 or 19 high card points and a fairly balanced hand. Depending on the location of his values, we are probably close to having enough overall strength for game. A three heart call will show him that the South hand has five spades and at least four hearts. Here is the logic: If I was willing to keep the bidding open for partner in case he has a big hand to show me, than I must be willing to continue to show him my distribution so that he can determine the correct contract. In this case partner proceeds directly to game.
West leads the four of clubs and the ace is played from dummy. Declarer's basic approach to this type of hand is to use the small trumps in his hand before attempting to draw trumps from the opponents. To this end, a club is led from dummy at trick two and trumped in hand. A spade to the ace provides the entry for another club, also trumped in hand.
The jack of diamonds is now finessed and East wins the king. The heart return goes to the queen and the ace. The last club is now led from dummy and once again it is trumped in the closed hand. Declarer cashes the king of spades and leads another diamond. West plays the queen and the ace is played from dummy. The jack of hearts drives out the queen and declarer is poised to win any return, draw the last trump and claim eleven tricks.
Many players would decide not to respond to partners opening
bid with the South hand. I would suggest that you take the most
optomistic viewpoint and try to keep the bidding open.
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