Bridge: “The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.” - William Blake

Defending to five diamonds, you lead the heart queen, which declarer wins in hand with the ace, partner playing the two. Declarer draws two rounds of trump, partner following, cashes the heart king, ruffs a heart in dummy, then takes the spade king and plays a spade to his ace, partner following with the two and the three. Now declarer plays the club nine from hand: over to you.

You need to take three club tricks to beat five diamonds. It looks as if declarer has eliminated both major suits – he could surely have ruffed another heart or spade had he wanted to.

If declarer has three clubs, then partner has only one. If partner’s club is a small one, there is nothing to be done: You will win your jack and eventually give declarer a trick with his king. However, if partner’s club is the king, you must rise with the ace at once and will then be able to cash two more club tricks.

This maneuver is known as a Crocodile Coup. The West hand must open its jaws with the ace of clubs, gobbling up partner’s king.

Note that we had to assume partner had the king of clubs or the contract would have been a laydown, and we must always try to beat the contract. Of course, in this instance, the assumption that partner has the club king is reinforced by the fact that declarer did not open two no-trump or try to play in three no-trump.

Bid with the aces

South holds:

Answer: Your partner’s sequence shows a two-suiter with invitational values. Since he could have forced to game by cuebidding first, he suggests 15-17 points or so. Accordingly, since you have a dead minimum for the auction thus far, you should pass. By the way if YOU had responded one spade, your partner’s jump shift would have been game-forcing.