Red Suit Mix Up

27th January – Board 4: Game All. Dealer West.

Bridge is a hard enough game at the best of times and part of that is remembering conventions. When that goes astray there is no end to the confusion that might ensue, but sometimes it seems to work out for the best…..

This happened more than once last Thursday and this is the first instance that caught my eye.

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

2D showed 23+ and 2H was a relay, but this had the effect of causing much diversion. East doubled, intending this to be a sort of take-out of hearts but as no suit had actually been bid in earnest this should have shown a good heart suit. (This is quite a common practice. When the opponents bid a suit in a conventional way then you can double to show values there.) So South was put off mentioning hearts and quite correctly bid 2NT, showing a balanced 23/24. Now North bid 3H intending it to be natural but of course transfers apply in this situation even though the suit has already been bid in a conventional way. South broke the ‘transfer’ and leaped to 4S and North who was having none of it bid 5H, which should have shown a big major two-suiter. As it was South had an easy raise in the red suit but it seems to me that if he had had a spade more and a heart less then he would (should) have bid 6S. The fact is that even when it is abundantly clear that a wheel has come off through the body language at the table, you have to pretend that it hasn’t.

If everyone had bid – er – rather more conventionally then it seems to me that the slam might not have been bid at all.

However as an aside if North had opened with a weak 2H (my choice) then South would presumably have employed a well-known convention and arrived at the slam in double quick time.

Black Suit Mix Up

27th January – Board 16: E/W Game. Dealer West.

On a theme similar to the one detailing hand No. 4 there was much confusion on the hand shown above when a bid didn’t show what it promised…..

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

After two passes East opened with a strong no-trump of 15-17 points and South bid 2D, intending it as a natural bid but which in fact should have showed spades and another suit. West should really have doubled at this stage to show values – a bid of 2S, their suit!, would be for take-out – but instead waited for developments. North correctly bid 2S showing at least three cards in the suit, East passed, and South bid 3D. Now the rules of the EBU state that you cannot use an ASPTRO type bid as a two-way thing, namely either a two-suiter OR a single-suited hand, so in fact 3D should have been a game try in spades and had West passed 3D it would have been incumbent upon North to bid 3S. If he hadn’t have done so then the pair sitting E/W could have called the director and asked for a ruling if subsequent events went against them. However by this time West knew that South could not have a genuine spade suit and closed proceedings with a bid of 3NT when a double might have been better. Indeed if West had doubled then North would have had to bid 3S! Of course as in the other hand shown in this blog, by this time it was apparent what had happened, but that is not the point. And the laws of bridge will always come down on the side of the non-offenders.

In truth no one was to blame, and everyone has made bids they didn’t mean to. I once doubled a 5C contract, not because I wanted to but because I had run out of green cards and I hadn’t noticed when I played the next one in the box, which was red. The opponents redoubled and my partner, thinking I wanted an unusual lead found one – which resulted in them making an overtrick.

Oh yes, 3NT on the hand above went one down with 4S cold.http://www.davidhuggett.com/Conventions/asptro.html

Harsh Punishment

20th January – Board 8: Love All. Dealer West.

I think that West hand is just about worth a strong two-bid and if you are playing weak two’s then I suppose the bidding would have to go along the following lines:

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

It is nearly always right to relay with 2D after partner has opened 2C just so the bidding can stay low, and once East has rejected the heart game there is no reason why West should insist upon it. If West only opens 1H then he can rebid 3H – game forcing after a two-level response – and again East would sign off in 3NT. Whatever suit South chooses to lead the game is trivial to make, but now just suppose you have ended up in 4H, which looks to be an easy game until the awful trump break comes to light. Certainly 4H is always defeated on a diamond or spade lead but just suppose North leads his singleton club. Amazingly the contract can now always be made with the loss of just three trump tricks. Maybe as a sort of homework you can figure out why!

Well Thought Out

20th January – Board 7: Game All. Dealer South.

In the fairly recent past bridge pundits would hold up their hands in horror at the thought of opening that South hand with a weak 2H. Their argument would be that with a four card spade suit on the side that suit might never get a look-in, leading to an inglorious result, and until fairly recently I would have placed myself firmly in that camp. Now I am not so sure, and certainly if you are under a certain age you would laugh at anyone who failed to ‘get in first’ as South. At one table, where the eventual winners were sitting, South opened 2H and North raised to 4H! I think this was well thought out, for there is no obvious way that 4H can be defeated and it certainly wasn’t, but at other tables the bidding was altogether different. If South belongs to the old school of thought or simply does not play weak two’s then the following auction would not seem unreasonable:

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

At any rate I think all other pairs got to the no-trump game, but careful defence should prevail. At one table East led a spade and West correctly withheld the king, allowing declarer to win with the jack. A low heart was now led to the king but West fell from grace and ducked. Why? By so doing declarer could now easily come to nine tricks via two spades, one heart, two diamonds and four clubs, the ten of clubs in dummy proving to be a very useful card. If West had won the heart and returned a low spade or diamond then declarer would have found himself a trick short, dummy being as dead as the proverbial dodo.

Hidden Wealth

13th January – Board 15: N/S Vul. Dealer South.

I changed my mind about this hand when what at first sight seemed to be reasonable bidding led to a very unreasonable contract. Say you open that West hand 1S and partner, correctly, bids 1NT. What do you do now? 3S isn’t forcing so 4S looks to be the answer – until dummy goes down. So maybe that West hand is worth a two-bid after all and if you are playing Benji Acol then I think the bidding could go as follows:

West	North	East	South
			No
2C	No	2D	No
2S	No	3D	No
4H	No	5D	End

3D shows at least a five-card suit and 4H is a splinter agreeing diamonds and showing a void or a singleton. East is unlikely to get too excited but at least the partnership would get to an excellent game. Indeed with trumps breaking 2-2 declarer can make twelve tricks in comfort by setting up the spades. Some pairs made 4S apparently but it would seem that this can only be done if North tries to cash two hearts, setting up the queen in dummy for a club discard.

Avoidance Play

13^th January – Board 21: N/S Vul. Dealer North.

How would you play 3NT from the East hand on the lead of the king of hearts? There are two possibilities I suppose, one of which is to let the defence win the first trick hoping that hearts are 6-2 and then try to make sure that it is North – the player out of hearts – who has to win the second round of diamonds. A better line I think is to win the first trick in dummy and then lead a low diamond, playing the nine from hand when North plays low. South will win but cannot player another heart without setting up a trick for declarer in that suit. Note that playing ace and then a small diamond from hand is just not good enough because it would be a simple matter for South to jettison his king under the ace! How would he know? Well if declarer had the queen of diamonds as well as the ace he would certainly have taken the finesse so the queen of diamonds is marked in the North hand.

As an aside I think that if West raises 1NT to 2NT then East is certainly worth bidding game. 2NT essentially asks opener to pass if he is minimum, not to bid game if he is maximum. East has poor impletion it is true, but the three aces and the five card suit should tilt the balance into bidding game. Some Souths led the nine of hearts, fourth best, but this is wrong as the suit can be treated as a near-sequence.

The Power Of Impletion

6th January – Board 10: Game All. Dealer East.

6NT by South is a grand contract of course and it is a sad fact for West that a spade, heart or diamond lead will provide declarer with his twelfth trick immediately. A spade lead gives declarer three tricks in the suit, a heart lead gives declarer four tricks in that suit and a diamond lead gives declarer three tricks in that suit! Only a club lead gives nothing away but with the fortunate position in the spade suit the contract should still make. I see no reason why North shouldn’t look for a major suit fit and because of that I think the auction might go:

West	North	East	South
		No	2NT
No	3C	No	3D
No	4NT	No	6NT
End

With no suit having been agreed 4NT is quantitative, asking South to bid 6NT with a maximum, and South would be happy to oblige.

Disappointing Conclusion

6^th January – Board 8: Love All. Dealer West.

I imagine many people were disappointed in the outcome of this hand both from the perspective of declarer and the defence. The West hand does not lend itself to any degree of subtlety and I would have though a fairly straightforward auction would be somewhere along the lines of:

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

Even if West is over-cautious and just rebids 2S then East will introduce the diamond suit and now West will surely jump to game in his seven solid card suit. Of course East could chuck his diamond suit out the window and the result would – should – still be the same but surprisingly several pairs were allowed to get out for one down. It is hard to see why. Surely after cashing the two top clubs North will switch to a heart and then they can take three tricks in that suit with a ruff. One pair managed to get to 6S - but only went one down! – and one pair played in 3NT from the East hand. South led a MUD club and North mistakenly took the ace and the king, allowing declarer to throw the queen from hand thus ensuring a route to dummy. After running the spades a heart was led and all South could do was to cash the ace and the king and concede defeat. If North ducks the first or second club then lines of communication are maintained between the North and South hands and the defence will take three clubs and two hearts.