No Problem

1^st December – Board 16: East/West Vul. Dealer West.

There were a trillion different results on the following board but I’m not exactly sure why. Playing teams North might be tempted to retreat to 2C over 1NT. The downside to doing that however is that it gives both East and West the chance to compete when the strength of the opposing pair is shown to be limited. (Over South’s 1NT it would be harder for West to enter the bidding as North could have a powerhouse.) In any event at pairs the lure of having six potential tricks in that North hand dictates a pass, which I imagine would end the bidding.

West	North	East	South
No	1C	No	1D
No	1S	No	1NT
End

A heart is the likely lead against 1NT, which does declarer no real harm. Even the bad club break is only mildly inconvenient, as declarer would be forced to duck the first round, but would still have seven easy tricks. I know it is tempting to want to bid over 1C on that East hand but as all the options are flawed it must be better to keep quiet.