Muddled Thinking

23rd September – Board 19: E/W Vul. Dealer South.

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

The hand shown above should not be too difficult to bid to the optimal spot – 6C by South – and most people did bid to a slam, although there were one or two oddities. 6H by South was certainly the strangest and I think a veil should be drawn over the auction that got there…. Maybe muddled thinking got in the way but a straightforward auction would be:-

West	North	East	South
			1C
No	1H	No	2NT
No	4C	No	4D
No	4NT	No	5C
6C	End

The first three bids should be routine – it is essential to know what opener’s rebid is going to be, so forget about supporting clubs immediately – and although a 3C rebid by responder would be forcing, 4C is better in that it sets the suit. South would cue-bid in diamonds for starters and now North can wheel out the Old Black. (I know it is not usual to do this with two small in a suit but the chances of the opposition having the ace and king of spades are remote.) Can you see why clubs had to be agreed? Because if South had four key-cards then 7C would be odds-on. As it happens one star player is absent and North should just settle for the small slam.

Going For Broke

23rd September – Board 10: Game All. Dealer East.

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

I would be interested to know what contract was arrived at on the hand shown above. I can only report the result from the one table where I was watching, where a mixture of aggression and perhaps a bit of luck landed E/W a terrific score.

West	North	East	South
		1NT	No
2NT	No	3C	No
3NT	End

The auction needs to be explained in that E/W were playing a strong no-trump vulnerable showing 15-17 points and 2NT was a transfer to diamonds. However if you play minor suit transfers you always have the ability to break the transfer below the requested spot and if so you are showing a fit with the suit being announced by partner. Here East was showing a top honour to at least three diamonds and West took a punt at the no-trump game. As you can see with the diamond king obligingly falling early on there is no defence and West’s rather gung-ho approach reaped dividends. Playing a weak no-trump I would expect the auction to fizzle out in a heart partscore.

The Name Of The Game

16^th September – Board 11: Love All. Dealer South.

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

Competing the partscore is the name of the game and this board illustrated the principle quite well. In fact there are many points of interest in the deal, and although I suspect the bidding recommended below never actually occurred it is nevertheless what I think should have happened.

West	North	East	South
			No
No	1H	1S	No
2S	No	No	3C
No	No	3S	No
No	4C	End

At love all and first in hand the South hand does not warrant a preempt, and 7-2-2-2 hands play like a left boot anyway. East has an easy overcall of 1S over 1H and again South must pass, knowing that if West also passes then North would surely find a way of re-entering the auction, usually with a take-out double. (If this idea seems strange just remember that even if he wanted to South could not double 1S for penalties, because it would be Sputnik showing hearts, so quite often he must pass on reasonably good hands. To compensate for this it is almost mandatory for the opener to breathe life back into the auction, and ‘double’ is usually the most flexible. Normally responder will support partner or bid another suit but sometimes he will pass, converting the take-out double into a penalty double.) Anyway to stop all this West should raise to 2S. This is in no way a strong bid, for if he had a good hand then he would make an unassuming cue-bid of 2H. This last bid would run round back to South who should at last enter the fray by bidding 3C, obviously showing a weak hand – because he hadn’t bid before – but with long clubs. East might well compete further but in that case so should North, with 4C likely to be the final bid. On a spade lead declarer should win and immediately knock out the ace of hearts before tackling trumps. By doing so he will be able to furnish a discard for a diamond on the third heart.

Comfort Zone

9th September – Board 1: Love All. Dealer North.

	North: S A 8 7 5 3 H 7 2 D J 7 2 C Q 3 2
West: S Q 4 H A K J 10 4 D 10 8 C A J 8 4		East: S none H Q 6 3 D A Q 9 6 3 C K 9 7 6 5
	South: S K J 10 9 6 2 H 9 8 5 D K 5 4 C 10

I don’t think any E/W got anywhere near the slam on the hand shown above, mainly I suspect because they were pushed out of their comfort zone by aggressive bidding from the opponents. In most cases East failed to realize that in light of the bidding his was a good hand, worth far more than the eleven points on show, and I think a reasonable auction wouldn’t be far different from:

West	North	East	South
	No	1D	2S*
3H	4S**	5H	No
6H	End

* 2S = weak jump overcall.
** 4S = raising the interference level.

Once West has introduced hearts at the three level showing at least a five-carder and forcing, East has got a good hand. Just look at all the positives. Three card support, a spade void and a likely source of tricks in two other suits. Similarly West has so much more than he might have – the ace of clubs for instance – that he should not hesitate in bidding the slam. Twelve tricks should be an easy make via two spade ruffs, five hearts, a diamond and four clubs. Indeed if declarer reads South for a singleton club then he can escape a loser in that suit by finessing against the queen after having cashed the ace and seeing the ten from South. In an ideal world N/S should sacrifice in 6S I suppose and suffer a penalty of 800 against the 980 for making 6H.

Flights Of Fancy

9^th September – Board 13: N/S Vul. Dealer North.

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

I thought the hand shown above would prove interesting when I first saw it because it seemed so difficult for the defence to get it right. Just goes to prove what I know!

West	North	East	South
	No	No	No
2C(2D)	No	2D(2H)	No
2NT	N0	3NT	End

The bidding could hardly be simpler, with West showing a blockbuster with either 2C, or 2D if playing Benji. Following a negative 2D or 2H the 2NT rebid shows 23/24 points in a balanced hand and East has an easy raise to game. The difficulty comes when North leads a small spade to his partner’s queen who would return the suit allowing the defence to take the first four tricks, declarer discarding a club from dummy and a small heart from hand with no trouble. But what now? An alert North could figure that his partner holds three more points at most but what should he switch to? A heart would allow declarer to try the jack from dummy, a winning option, and the ten of clubs – my choice - would allow declarer to make three club tricks which together with two hearts and four diamonds would be enough for game. No, North has to switch to a diamond and now declarer can only take the club finesse once and would ultimately concede defeat. Why did none of that happen? Well at one table West mysteriously opened 1C and played there. At another East forgot to raise to game and at a third East responded 3NT to his partner’s 2C opening, played there and received a club lead which made declarer’s task simple. I do not know what happened the fourth time the hand was played. Perhaps someone could inform me?