The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, 21 June 2026
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Dear Mr. Rigal:
Your hand is ♠ K-7, ♥ K-5-4-3, ♦ A-6, ♣ Q-J-10-3-2. Everyone is vulnerable, and your left-hand opponent opens one club. Your right-hand responds one heart, and you pass. Opener raises to two hearts, back around to you. Would you act?
Implied Fit, New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
It sounds like partner has one or two hearts, making it likely we have a club fit. I would risk a balance of three clubs, hoping to ruff some hearts in dummy. It rarely pays to let the opponents play undisturbed in a fit at the two-level.
Dear Mr. Rigal:
Is it acceptable to have a look at an opponent’s cards from the previous board?
Bridge Etiquette, Union City, Tenn.
If I were you, I would do this only if you have permission. It is considered extremely rude to do so without asking first. As a general rule, you should try to avoid touching another player’s cards, including your partner’s. Having said that, a request to see the full hand is something that any courteous opponent will accede to without hesitation.
Dear Mr. Rigal:
What should I do with ♠ 7, ♥ A-K-9-3-2, ♦ K-10-4, ♣ K-Q-4-2 after partner opens one club, I bid one heart and he rebids two clubs?
Slamming, Torrance, Calif.
Partner should have six clubs for this call unless his distribution is precisely 3=1=4=5 with reasonable clubs. So, we have a slam in the offing if partner has as little as both minor-suit aces — a diamond will go on the heart king, and partner’s spades can be ruffed in my hand.
I would start with a splinter bid of three spades, confirming clubs as trumps and showing short spades. I intend to remove three no-trump to four diamonds, a cue bid, to keep slam in the picture. If I wanted to bid spades, I could do so with a natural and forcing two spades, so three spades should clearly be artificial.
Dear Mr. Rigal:
What is the optimal way to handle a suit of Q-J-8-3 in hand, facing A-9-2 in dummy? You need three tricks.
Practice vs Theory, Grand Forks, N.D.
As is usually the case when you have two minor honors in one hand, it is best to lead toward them twice. Here, that indicates that you should lead one to the queen and then one to the jack. If the queen is captured by the king, cash the ace, planning to play for the drop on the third round. An alternative is to start with the queen and, if that holds, continue with the jack. This picks up the suit whenever the king is beneath the ace instead of over it, but it doesn’t handle the 4-2 breaks as well, since a cunning player could duck from K-10-x-x (-x) sitting over the dummy.
Dear Mr. Rigal:
If you open two clubs and partner bids two diamonds (waiting) and then raises your two spades to three, what do your four-level bids mean as opener?
Slam Try, Durango, Colo.
I think these should be natural so that responder can judge how the hands are fitting. It might also be right to play in the second suit rather than the 5-3 major fit. If you believe that a call of three no-trump is not natural after a fit has been established, that would be a mild slam try.
Barry Rigal
Barry Rigal is an English-born bridge player, author, commentator, and journalist who has won major national titles in both the UK and the United States and served as a VuGraph commentator for decades at European and World championships. He has written and edited numerous bridge books and articles and has been President of the International Bridge Press Association, contributing widely to the game’s literature and education.
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