Dual Responsibility

17th February – Board 2: North/South Game. Dealer East.

Preemptive action on the featured hand caused more devastation than it had any right to, mainly because the responder to the take-out double forgot that he had a dual responsibility. I think the preempt should be brushed aside and the bidding go something like:-

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

It may seem strange to make a jump bid in response to the double on just a four-card suit, but you have to remember that partner is prepared for you to do this and will have a contingency plan if he doesn’t like it. (But why wouldn’t he?). Another way of looking at it is to think that if partner had opened 1H you would have made a jump shift to the three level with this eight-loser hand, so surely it merits such a show of enthusiasm now. A bigger worry initially is that you might miss the grand, but for that to be viable partner has to have not only two aces and good trumps but also the king of spades, and if he was that good he should cue-bid in diamonds first. As it is the Old Black confirms that a key player is missing, leaving the simplest of slams to play.