Thursday Bridge Club: Two-Edged Sword

14^th July – Board 20: Game All. Dealer West.

Preemption is an exciting and integral part of the game but sometimes it can backfire when the opponents are forced into making an early decision. And that’s exactly what happened on the hand shown below.

West	North	East	South
No	3S	3NT	End

Left to their own devices E/W would almost certainly play in 4H which would stand little chance due to the terrible trump break. However after North starts proceeding with a three-level preempt East has to choose what action to take. It would be feeble to pass and to double risks missing out on the most likely contract to succeed – namely 3NT. After all, without an independent spade stopper West can hardly bid no-trumps. If South leads a heart the contract is trivial but on a spade lead declarer has to be a bit careful. He cannot afford to duck – although North just might only have a six-card suit – in case of a club switch. (Just imagine how sick you would feel if you ducked the opening lead and North switched to the jack of clubs.) However after running the diamonds declarer will play on hearts, possibly with the aim of end-playing South to lead away from his ace of clubs. As it happens North shows out on the first heart lead and the play of the hand becomes trivial.

3 comments:

Tony Lock17 July 2011 at 10:59
I sacrificed in 4S doubled which makes
OldBill17 July 2011 at 13:50
... and gave you +11 imps, when, on our table, I left your partners in 4H to go down 2. At times, I get "stuck in the mud" and followed the adage here of not bidding again after pre-empting - unless forced to do so by partner. In this case, my partner was quite happy to defend against Hearts and didn't want to double in case E/W escaped to another suit. Is it about time I abandoned that adage?
Dave17 July 2011 at 14:19
Well I can see that 4S can make but you have to read the club suit very well to do so. Or get some help from the other side.
I can't see why 4H wasn't doubled. I know the 'they might run to another suit' excuse but he reality is they never do and anyway nothing else is any better. So +500 against a spurious -620 (or -790) is what we are really talking about and usually it's right to take the money.
When you preempt you have said all there is to say and any further action should come from partner.

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