Saturday, March 21, 2015
Schedule, Results, ACBL Live and Bulletins
Using the bidding as a guide to play and defense
Opening lead: 
J
Bidding commentary: The 3
overcall is what you would have for an opening 3: long suit, weak hand.
Defensive commentary: As East, win the A and return the 9 asking for a spade return. You can’t stand a diamond shift so ask for a spade, the lesser of evils. As West, after ruffing the club return, play the A and a spade.
Play commentary: You have to bring in the diamonds for no losers. Given that you have no intermediates in diamonds, you have two chances: (1) The 
K is singleton; (2) West has K-x.
Counting time: You know East has seven clubs and two spades, so once you draw trumps, you will know the diamond division. Conversely, you know West has seven spades and one club, so counting the trumps in one hand or the other will immediately tell you the diamond division. Let’s say you decided to work with clubs. When East shows up with one heart, he must have three diamonds (seven clubs, one heart, two spades = 10) so you must find West with the singleton K. You’re in dummy after three rounds of trumps, so bang down the A … and pray. Once again, the bidding plus counting has guided you in the play.