ANSofhandofweek

Hand of the week

Hand of the week, week commencing, Sunday 26th July 2026

Plan your play in 4♠ after the ♦10 is led

If you wish to play this hand out click here

Dealer: East L

♠	A Q 7 6 3
♥	A K 7 6 3
♦	7
♣	Q 2

♠	8
♥	J 9 4
♦	Q 10 9 8 4
♣	K 9 5 3

	N
W		E
W		E
	S

♠	10 9 4
♥	Q 5 2
♦	A K J 6
♣	A 8 6

♠	K J 5 2
♥	10 8
♦	5 3 2
♣	J 10 7 4

W	N	E	S
		1♦	Pass
3♦¹	4♦²	Pass	4♠
End

1. Inverted Minors.

2. Michaels Cue Bid Pick a Major

After a somewhat "different" auction NS end up in 4♠.

EW are playing inverted Minors whereby 2♦ is now a strong reply and 3♦ is a weak reply- being unfriendly opponents. North's overcall of 4♦ is now strong version of Michaels Cue bids showing 5:5 or better in both Majors.

South gets to play 4♠ and West leads a Diamond the suit partner opened.

Initially, declarer has 7 winners i.e. all five spades (no conditions here) and 2 Hearts.

If the Hearts break 3:3 then 2 heart tricks can be set up and 1 Heart trumped in his hand brings the total to 10. If the Hearts break 4:3 then a club trick will need to be set up as well.

With all this in mind, firstly play two rounds of trumps discovering the suit breaks 3:1.

Now play two rounds of Hearts followed by a Heart ruff with your high trump (you cannot then be overtrumped) with the Hearts breaking 3:3 you can now claim.

You made 5 trumps from the long hand, 2 top Hearts, 2 established Hearts and 1 Heart trumped in the short hand, losing just 1 Diamond and 2 clubs.

This now enables the NS partners to find their fit in Spades and get to Game.

watch the film of the hand being played out by going to www.haroldschogger.com/movies2.htm