Simple is best — Today

Simple is best – Today North-South vulnerable, West deals.

What happened

When this accord was played in a team match, both tables reached four hearts after an opening bid by West and a Michael's Cue Bid by North. This table had a straightforward auction with South bidding what he hoped he could create. At the other table, they had some fancy bidding methods after the cue bid. They reached the same contract, but played by North, making it easier for EastWest to obtain a spade ruff. East led a spade to the ace and obtained a ruff at trick two. Had North, who knew the lead was a singleton from the auction, smoothly dropped his king under the ace, West might not have returned a spade. We'll never know. Down one at that table.

Here, West led a diamond. South won with dummy's king, and knowing the defense had a spade ruff available, led a club to his ace. He discarded a low spade from dummy on the ace of diamonds before leading a heart. West stepped up with his ace, cashed the ace of spades, and led another spade South could do no wrong at this point. He would have prevailed by ruffing with either the queen or the seven. He chose to ruff with the seven and then cashed the king. When the jack fell under the king, he crossed to his hand with the 10 of hearts and led a club to create his contract. The simple auction gained major, but there was nothing wrong with the bidding at the other table. It was just bad luck.

The bottom line

In short, simple is best is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.