High-Level Judgement

21st April – Board 5: North/South Game. Dealer North.

Not all pairs reached absolute par on the featured hand but neither would they I suspect even in the World Championships, because getting decisions right at a high-level is notoriously difficult. Each one of the four players has an awkward decision at some stage of the auction so it is hard to compose a ‘correct’ auction. Nevertheless I think the following auction could not be criticized too harshly.

West	North	East	South
	1S	No	2S
Dbl	4S	No	No
Dbl	No	5H	5S
Dbl	End

Do you see what I mean? I think it is right just to open 1S because a strong two, however it is bid, should contain good defensive values and that North hand fails to comply. Assuming East passes, and nobody under 21 would, how many spades should South bid? Impossible in my view to be dogmatic about it one way or another, but whatever action South takes West will double for take-out. North will certainly bid game and this will most likely run round to West who should double again. This is not a ‘hands off’ double but merely shows extra values and East should really bid 5H. (5H is actually laydown but some care has to be taken on the lead of the queen of clubs, because declarer must resist covering or North will get a third round ruff.) Anyway I think South should now take out insurance and bid one for the road, leaving West to make a third and final double. Tired but happy.

Second Best

21st April – Board 14: Love All. Dealer East.

Most pairs I believe ended up in the heart game on the deal shown below and in truth there is not much to choose between that and 3NT. But I have a slight leaning towards the latter myself and I think the bidding should/might go as shown.

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

West is full value for a 2NT bid after the 2D intervention – which is NOT Jacoby after intervention – but I would hate to think that the spade suit might stay forever hidden if East has a 4-5-2-2 minimum type hand. So I can see no harm in making a Sputnik type double first. Opener’s rebid of 3C would then elicit 3NT from West and East should have no reason to insist on the major suit game. People are always content to play in 3NT with a long running minor but less so with a major; I think it’s a psychological sort of thing.

Pairs Play

14th April – Board 13: Game All. Dealer North.

I’m not sure too many people give enough attention to the absolute necessity of making as many tricks as possible when playing pairs. The hand shown below is a case in point when nobody managed to make twelve tricks on the featured hand. It is important to understand that making, say, eleven tricks in a contract will give you a zero if everybody else makes twelve, but the loss would only be 1imp playing teams. I think the auction might go as shown. Note that 2H by West is highly encouraging but not forcing after an overcall, but with his three card support and potential source of tricks East should have no hesitation in bidding game. At one table at least North led the ace of spades and switched to a trump and declarer should really try and set up the clubs, which proves an easy task as things lay. A more challenging switch would be to the king of diamonds, but even so declarer can still come to twelve tricks with both the hearts and the clubs behaving. Having preached at the altar of ‘Pairs’ I have to say that I gave up that particular form of the game many years ago now because it wasn’t really my forte. All relative, of course. :-)

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

All The Way

14th April – Board 23: Game All. Dealer South.

Grand slams are notoriously difficult to bid because there is no margin for error and the potential loss if it fails to make is horrendous. Nevertheless if you have absolute trust in partner – and who doesn’t! – then just maybe an in-form N/S pair might get there by the route shown below.

West	North	East	South
			No
No	1C	1H	2D
3H	3S	No	5C
No	5H	No	6/7C?
End

South might consider raising clubs at his first turn I suppose by bidding 2H – this shows a good raise, 3C shows a weak, preemptive raise – but I think the hand is too good for that with its seven losers and good diamond suit, so I can see no harm in bidding what you have. Again West might consider bashing 4H as a barrage but it seems a little rich vulnerable and in any event would cost a fortune if doubled. North would introduce his second suit, forcing of course, and now South should come clean about his positive club support by advancing to game. (The fact that he has three hearts has improved his hand enormously of course because now partner is marked with acute shortage there.) Now the 5H bid by North is clearly a grand slam try because the partnership is committed to the six-level by now, and I guess it’s just a question of how much faith you have in partner and your own judgement. With a singleton and a good source of tricks in diamonds South should probably go all the way, but I know I would think about it for a long time – to add weight to the post mortem – and just bid six.

Pre-emptive Strike

7^th April – Board 9: E/W Game. Dealer North.

Preempts are probably one of the major causes of headaches for the non-preempting side, because quite often one has to take one’s feet of the ground and hope for the best. A good rule of thumb for the stronger of the defending side is to imagine that his partner has about eight points, and when responding to, say, a take-out double the partner of the doubler has to remember this and not get too carried away with eight points. On the featured hand however I think 3NT is a much better bid than anything else, and with the West hand in question that would lead to a simple enough contract. But even if you swap the West and South hands 3NT is still likely to make. 3S over 3H is the worst selection although as it happens West would raise to game. But now he would pass 3S if you swapped the West and South hands and game would still make. I have to say that I think the preempt itself is grotesque although I dare say I would bid it too. In my experience 7-2-2-2 hands play like a left boot.

West	North	East	South
	3H	3NT	End

Wide-Range Rebid

7th April – Board 13: Game All. Dealer North.

Conventional Acol has it that when you hold a balanced 17-18 points it is in order to open one of the most appropriate suit and then make a jump rebid in no-trumps. This is based on the fact that a response at the one-level promises six points or more while changing the suit by going to the two-level would show at least eight points, enough for game opposite 17/18. There is a flaw in this method however because the possibility of finding a 5-3 major suit fit has vanished if opener has both a five card major and a balanced hand in the 17/18 range. Because of this, most tournament players have the sensible arrangement that after a two-level response in a new suit a rebid by opener of 2NT is game-forcing and shows anything from 15-19 points. That can be demonstrated by the hand shown below, although this time there was no eight-card major fit.

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

Here 2NT is game-forcing and 3S by North asks if the opener has a five-card spade suit. Clearly that does not exist in this example but you can see that on another day it might. The play in 3NT is not clear on the lead of the two of diamonds, but it just about looks right to play for the extra trick in hearts. So cash the ace and the king in case the queen falls and then cross to dummy with a spade to lead a third round. As it happens West is forced to win and cannot lead another diamond without helping declarer, but even if West had started with four hearts he would be powerless to hurt declarer if he also held the king of clubs. An alternative line to the one above would be to cross to dummy with a spade at trick two and lead a club and hope to guess right if East plays low. If East wins the king and plays a diamond – and this is the most likely scenario – he will doubtless feel upset when it transpires that the diamonds are blocked.

Simple Arithmetic

31st March – Board 2: N/S Game. Dealer East.

It was strange that no pair managed to reach the laydown grand slam on the hand shown below, but at the risk of sounding out of order I have to say it should have been within everyone’s compass. In fact it was virtually nothing more than doing a few sums.

West	North	East	South
		No	2NT
No	3H	No	3S
No	4NT	No	5S
No	5NT	No	6H
No	7NT	End

South shows the big balanced hand in whatever way they have agreed and North transfers to spades. A Roman Key Card enquiry then elicits the information that South has all the key players and 5NT asks for king. South owns up to two and now North can count on making eight spades, three other aces and two other kings. Hence 7NT.

Any Two Suits

31st March – Board 11: Love All. Dealer South.

At love all it is hard to say whether that South hand is worth an opening bid of 3S or 4S for the truth is that there is a lot to be said for both calls. 3S has the merit of safety in that it is very unlikely to be doubled for penalties or even if it is result in much of a loss. 4S on the other hand is much more dangerous but has the not inconsiderable merit of starting the auction at a higher level and annoying the opposition even more. If South chooses 4S then West should bid 4NT indicating a two-suiter and when his partner bids 5C he can then bid 5D safe in the knowledge that this can be converted to 5H if necessary. Thus the complete auction might go:

West	North	East	South
			4S
4NT	No	5C	No
5D	No	5H	End

I think East should pick the higher ranking suit at pairs but it is a bit arbitrary to be honest. 5D can only be defeated if North elects to lead the ace of hearts when he can follow up by giving his partner a ruff but in reality he will lead his singleton spade – and why wouldn’t he? 5H on the other hand will fail even on a spade lead if South returns either a diamond or a club, when the bad trump break will be too much to overcome.