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.