In March the ACBL staged its Spring Championships in Louisville. Attendance was only fair, but there was plenty of good and bad bridge.

In the IMP Pairs, Amanda Jeger, East, found a fine defense against a slam. The auction shown is conjectural. North's opening bid is strong and artificial; South's response of one spade conventionally shows some values. North-South agree on trumps, then cue-bid to six spades.

West led the queen of diamonds. How did Jeger proceed?

4-1 BREAK

Suppose East signals high, and West leads another diamond. South ruffs in dummy, draws trumps and takes the A-Q of hearts. Seeing the 4-1 break, he can let the jack of clubs ride to make the slam.

Jeger foresaw this. She overtook with the king of diamonds at Trick One and led a club, forcing South to take a view. South had no reason to finesse; he expected 12 tricks with a normal 3-2 heart break. So South took his ace of clubs, and down he went, losing a heart.

This week: Louisville deals.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: S 7 4 3 H J D A K 8 3 C K 10 8 7 2. Your partner opens one heart, you bid two clubs and he rebids two hearts. What do you say?

ANSWER: You have enough values to invite game but not to force to game, yet no good invitational action is available. A bid of three diamonds would be forcing, nor can you raise the hearts when your partner may have only a five-card suit. Try 2NT despite your weak spades.