All Options Open

28th October – Board 5: N/S Vul. Dealer North.

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

The importance of the major suit game should always be kept in mind, even when other options might seem attractive. Despite heavy preemption from the opponents it should not be too difficult to hit the top spot on the featured hand as long as both sides of the partnership are on the same wavelength.

West	North	East	South
	No	1C	3D
Dbl	No	4D	No
4S	End

Even with such persuasive club support West should not be deterred from making a negative double of 3D, promising at least one four card major, or even a longer major in a weaker hand. (Three of a major would of course be forcing, so that while it would show at least five cards in the suit it would also show a good hand.) As it happens East is happy to play at the game level in either major and asks his partner to pick the right one by bidding 4D. As it happens 5C would also make, but take away the king of hearts from the West hand and now 4S is the only making game.

Hoping for The Best

28th October – Board 15: N/S Vul. Dealer South.

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

Preemptive bids are designed to cause headaches for the opposition and often one has to take a leap in the dark and simply hope for the best when defending against such a bid. Such was the case with the East hand on the deal above when North made things difficult by opening 3H third in hand. As a general rule one should put partner with about a seven or eight count when considering coming in over a preempt and with any balanced hand of about 17 points or more 3NT is often the right answer. I think it should have been on the featured hand when the bidding would proceed as follows: -

West	North	East	South
			No
No	3H	3NT	End

How the play goes would depend a great deal on what South chooses to lead. The singleton heart works best for the defence, but with every finesse in sight working declarer should have no difficulty in coming to at least nine tricks. For the record I play that if my partner overcalls a preempt with 3NT then: -
a) 4C asks for four card suits upwards
b) 4D and 4H are transfers to 4H and 4S
c) 4NT is asking for aces on a sliding scale, and
d) 4S is a quantitative raise to 4NT
This last bid is redundant in a natural sense because spades are shown via a transfer. And as partner might be overcalling with a 17 count or a 23 count it is important to have a limit raise.

Put to The Test

21st October – Board 12: N/S Vul. Dealer West.

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

3NT is where you want to play but I imagine most pairs bid to the heart game. On the likely lead of the jack of spades the defence should always prevail, for with the bad trump break declarer looks set to lose a spade, a heart, and two clubs. Declarer can put the defence to the test however. Suppose you win the spade lead in hand and then play three top trumps ending in dummy, and then lead a low club. West mustn’t be caught napping but must rise with the ace immediately in order to play another spade. Then when declarer plays a second club East can win and cash a spade for a one trick set. Of course with the top club honours being where they are this should not tax West unduly, but imagine instead he held the king of clubs and not the ace. Somehow it’s not so easy to rise with the king, but that is what he would have to do.

As for the bidding? Well maybe it should go something like: -

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

South has such a flat hand that maybe he should ignore the heart fit. Or maybe it’s just a case of being wise after the event.

Inspired Choice

21st October – Board 3: E/W Vul. Dealer South.

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

What would you like to be in on the hand shown above? 6NT by South ideally, for there can then be no danger of an early defensive ruff, and more importantly the king of spades is protected. On any lead but a spade there are thirteen tricks available because on the run of the hearts East will find the pressure intolerable, unable to keep four clubs and the ace of spades when the last heart is played. Playing weak 2’s with an opening 2C showing, inter alia, a balanced 19-20 count, the bidding might go as follows: -

West	North	East	South
			2C
No	2D	No	2NT
No	3D	No	3H
No	4NT	No	5H
No	6NT	End

There are several things to note about this auction. To begin with North should just ‘relay’ with 2D in order to find out the reason why his partner had opened 2C in the first place. It could be argued that 4NT is a quantitative bid with five hearts and I suppose that this is really a matter of partnership understanding, but to avoid confusion most pairs would play it as Blackwood, with hearts the agreed suit. Then, with nothing to be gained by wrong-siding the contract, North should convert to the no-trump slam. Of course there is the slight danger that the defence might start off by cashing the ace and king in a suit, but I think it is a risk worth taking.

At one table N/S reached 6H but played from the North hand and East made the inspired lead of a small spade! Poor North, thinking that East would be unlikely to underlead an ace against a slam, played low from dummy and a delighted E/W took the first two tricks.

Just too Hard

14th October – Board 20: Game All. Dealer West.

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

Some deals are just too hard, and at every table where I watched the E/W pairs on the hand shown above ended with an inglorious result. And yet it is hard to say exactly where the auction went wrong. Playing weak two’s most players have the arrangement that a 2C opening is either an Acol two in an undisclosed suit, or a strong balanced hand with 19-20 points. This leaves an opening 2NT showing 21-22 points, thereby giving slightly better definition. This is what happened at one of the tables: -

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

3C was Stayman for five card majors and 3D denied a five card major but promised a four card one. 3H denied hearts – a sensible arrangement to deny the one you have, letting the strong hand become declarer if a fit exists – and West closed proceeding with 3NT. North led a low diamond and was charmed with the way the defence continued, taking as it did the first six diamonds and the ace of spades for three down. 5C of course depends on just finding the queen of hearts, a good enough contract to be sure but featuring a suit that was never bid naturally at all.

Rara Avis

14th October – Board 4: Game All. Dealer West.

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

I would expect most pairs to bid to the inferior contract of 3NT on the featured hand, a contract that would prevail on any lead except a low club. And if I were playing I cannot pretend that the bidding would go any differently from: -

West	North	East	South
No	No	No	1H
1S	2D	2S	2NT
No	3H	No	3NT
End

You might argue that it would be naïve of West to lead a spade after this auction, for declarer surely has a double stop, which perhaps should lead to the winning shot of a low club. (Leading the king would let declarer make.) But have you noticed that 5D, although a rare enough contract, cannot be defeated? Say West leads a spade. Declarer can win, play a club to the ace and return to hand with a spade. A club is ruffed in dummy and the last club thrown on the queen of spades, after which declarer exits with ace and another diamond. Poor East has to win and either open up the heart suit or concede a ruff and discard.

Sense Of Grievance

7th October – Board 25: E/W Vul. Dealer North.

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

Those people holding the East hand were, by and large, disappointed with the result from the hand shown above. 6H is of course ‘cold’ for N/S and those who were allowed to play there could be forgiven for feeling a sense of grievance at scoring below average. Why was that? Well somebody had made 6HX for 1210, just beating the rather quaint score of 1200 for 5HXX+1. A lot depended I imagine on whether N/S were ‘pushed’ to a slam or whether they went there freely. If the latter then that East hand begins to lose some of its appeal. Where I was watching the bidding went as follows: -

West	North	East	South
	1H	Dbl	4H
4S	4NT	No	5D
No	6H	End

4NT was RKCB and declarer must have been relieved that the one key-card was not the ace of diamonds! It is hard for E/W to know they should be sacrificing, although on an unlikely ace of hearts lead the sacrifice would be very profitable indeed. As an aside East should double 4NT, not because they are going to play there but because most pairs – even regular pairs – do not know how that affects the responses to the Blackwood enquiry.

No-Brainer

7th October – Board 17: Love All. Dealer North.

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

The difference between pairs and team play was demonstrated most forcibly in the hand shown above. What would you have done, or what did you do, on that South hand after your partner has opened 1H and the next hand has bid 4S? In teams play it is what they call a ‘no-brainer’ and a bid of 5H should be routine. The logic behind it is this: in the worse case scenario both 4S and 5H might fail by a trick but if you guess wrong you have only lost a few imps because you have converted +50 into -50, a swing of 4imps. Now assume both contracts make. By remaining silent you will lose 420 or 9 imps while bidding 5H will give you 450 or 10 imps, making a swing of 19 imps in all. At pairs however all that matters is which will give the best score and it is too close to call. Going one down in 5H will score zero if the rest of the field are going one down in 4S! (I would bid 5H, I know I would, and it would be the wrong decision here.)

At the table where I watched the bidding went: -

West	North	East	South
	1H	4S	5H
End

East led the singleton diamond and declarer played the ace from dummy and drew just two rounds of trumps with the ace and the king. He then played out his top diamonds in the hope that West had started with five diamonds and three hearts in which case the spade from dummy could be thrown and the two spade losers in hand ruffed. In which case there would be just two club losers. As you can see this plan backfired when East ruffed the second diamond and the contract ended up going two down. Ironically while declarer’s plan would have been fine at teams it was perhaps flawed at pairs. Other people in 5H are likely to get a spade lead which would lead to a one trick defeat only, so perhaps declarer should have played with the field and settled for one down too.