Compensating Values

22nd July – Board 21: N/S Game. Dealer North

	North: S K 5 3 2 H 5 2 D 7 4 3 C K Q J 4
West: S Q 8 H Q 10 7 D Q J 5 C 9 8 7 6 5		East: S A 4 H A J 9 6 4 D K 10 9 2 C A 3
	South: S J 10 9 7 6 H K 8 3 D A 8 6 C 10 2

What would you do on that West hand after your partner has opened 1H and the next hand has passed? It might look obvious to bid 1NT but I think that is wrong, and whenever I have three-card support for partner’s major in a weak hand containing a doubleton somewhere I tend to make a simple raise in partner’s suit instead. The reason is founded on logic because whenever partner opens 1S he will either have a five-card suit or at least fifteen points. In other words he will have compensating values one way or the other. Why? Because with a balanced hand of 12-14 points and a four-card spade suit you open 1NT and you never open 1S with a 4-4-4-1 hand. So if you do have four spades only, you must be outside your no-trump range. Admittedly it’s a bit different when partner opens 1H, as is the case here. Nevertheless unless partner has a weak 4-4-4-1 hand with a singleton spade or club – when he would open 1H – the argument remains.

I think the bidding should go:

West	North	East	South
	No	1H	No
2H	No	3D*	No
4H	All Pass

* 3D is a Trial Bid, asking partner to re-assess his hand, and if he has any doubt as to whether he is top weight or not for his simple raise, to look at the Trial Bid suit – diamonds here – and if he can offer any help there, to bid game. See how well the hands fit even though the final contract would be unlikely to make. Nevertheless game is assured if the trump finesse works or if you should get a spade lead away from the king – and you only need to have about a 40% chance of making your game contract for it to be worth bidding.

At one table N/S got very gung-ho and bid to 4S. I won’t tell you what happened after that to protect the innocent.