Last week’s tip was “Avoid minor suit games”. True - but you must not avoid bidding ♦s and ♣s at lower levels - minor suit part-scores are perfectly acceptable

I have seen players holding hands similar to South’s rebid 2♥ rather than 2♣. This is a bad error - especially bearing in mind that bidding two suits actually shows five cards in your first choice. The resulting 3♣ contract was a delight to declare - all other contracts would have fared horribly.

West led ♦Q and declarer won dummy’s ♦A, played ♥7 to his ♥A and trumped a ♥. He crossed to ♠A and trumped a third ♥ - noting the fall of West’s ♥K. He cashed dummy’s ♠K, trumped a third ♠ and led the master ♥Q. West trumped with ♣5 (his best play) and declarer overtrumped. He led and trumped dummy’s fourth ♠, East discarding a ♦; then led his fifth ♥, West discarding a ♦, which he trumped with ♣10. East overtrumped with ♣A, cashed ♦K, and returned a trump to West’s ♣K. Declarer took the last trick - his tenth - with ♣Q.

ANDREW’S TIP: Avoid minor suit games but not minor suits.