20th October – Board 17: Love All. Dealer North.
Both East and West showed good judgement when they bid to the five-level on fairly minimum values but the contract they reached was a sound one.
West
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North
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East
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South
|
|
No
|
1D
|
1S
|
No
|
3S
|
4C
|
No
|
5C
|
End
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|
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I report the auction as it actually happened although I think it was faulty in one respect. North should really have made an Unassuming Cue Bid of 2D in response to his partner’s one-level overcall, for the latter bid could have been made for a variety of reasons and with a hand ranging from about eight points upwards. The corollary to all this is that any immediate raise of the suit by the responder to the overcaller is NOT showing a good hand in terms of high card points but a more distributional one – and it is fairly common practise to bid to the same level as the number of trumps are held. So North was right to have four trumps but perhaps wrong in that he held too many points. Nevertheless it posed a problem for East who solved it admirably by introducing his second suit and finding his partner well at home. The play in 5C was trivial with declarer able to set up the diamond suit with a couple of ruffs.
Even non-vulnerable I would be a bit nervous going to 4 clubs as East, with nothing said by my partner and only 4 definite tricks in my hand.
ReplyDeletePeter
I know it's bold but partner has three spades at most so is likely to have some cards in one minor or another. Partner will - should - always revert to diamonds with three clubs and two diamonds and it is very unlikely that the oppo will be able to double you. Anyway it might be a save against 3S.
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