Unlikely Result

23rd June – Board 10: Game All. Dealer East.

Pairs is a funny old game and there are occasions when you might get an above average score in a strange way. Have a look at the featured hand and decide what you would do after the hand on your left opens 3C and this comes round to you.

West	North	East	South
		3C	No
No	Dbl	No	3NT
End

It is essential that you bid for reasons explained in the companion deal and a take-out double is the most flexible, although in truth South will try for the no-trump game over 3S as well. On the lead of the jack of clubs South should duck even though that gives the opposition five top tricks via one heart, two diamonds and two clubs. East can win the club continuation sure enough but is then out of the game with no more entries for his long suit. So 3NT is defeated by a trick and East/West gain 100 points – 10 less than they would have for making the icy 3C!

Protection Racket

23rd June – Board 17: Love All. Dealer North.

Sometimes the most instructive boards are not the most exciting and the hand shown below is a case in point. After East opens the bidding South has no call – he has no five-card suit, not the right shape for a double and not enough points for 1NT. But when the opening bid drifts round to North he should be well aware that his partner will have some values but be unable to bid. After all what are the opponents doing playing in 1D if they have game values? For this reason it is mandatory for North to re-open with a double and it is not even close. Should East choose to pass South will bid 1NT (after all his partner does not have opening points) and the likelihood is that this contract will be defeated by a trick. The reality of course is that East will press on with 2D and that should be defeated by a trick.

West	North	East	South
	No	1D	No
No	Dbl	2D	End

North is in the so-called ‘protection seat’ in that if he passes the auction is over. Very rarely should you allow the opponents to play at the one-level in a suit contract. It is losing bridge.

You Never Know

16th June – Board 8: Love All. Dealer West.

Picking up the North hand you might expect you were in for an easy time with little chance to do anything wrong. Well you never know.

West	North	East	South
No	No	2S	Dbl
No	2NT	No	3NT
End

East seems to have a perfect weak 2S third in hand making South no doubt somewhat aggrieved. It’s always best to start with a take-out double in these situations because a slam cannot be ruled out – indeed if you swap the West and North hands then you would hope to reach 7D. As it is North would respond with 2NT, Lebensohl of course, asking for partner to remove to 3C which he would either pass or bid 3H. Of course South would be wary of playing in a part-score and bid 3NT, so the hapless North would find himself at the wheel. There is little chance of this succeeding with that dummy on display and it only goes to show how much better it is if the points are more equally divided between the two hands.

Wild Optimism

16th June – Board 11: Love All. Dealer South.

It’s all very well adopting a ‘bid at all costs’ policy but in such an eventuality you have to know when to put on the brakes. Several pairs on the hand shown below bid freely to 3NT with results ranging to down five to just making! I know I may be a bit old-fashioned but I am not happy with opening that West hand, with the grim prospect of having to rebid such a tatty suit after partner responds 2D. (You cannot, of course, reverse into 3C as that would be showing upwards of 16 points and would be game-forcing to boot.) However if I were to open I would expect the auction to go as shown below:

West	North	East	South
			No
1H	No	2D	No
2H	No	3D	End

As an aside I would say that if I was sitting East following three passes then I would open 3D. A preemptive bid fourth in hand must be slightly stronger than the norm but expresses fears that a one-level opening might attract an overcall.

Dead Giveaway

9th June – Board 16: E/W Game. Dealer West.

Sometimes our sophisticated bidding can turn round and bite us and that might well have happened on the featured hand although I have a suspicion that it didn’t.

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

West cannot be blamed for wanting to get into the action and while ‘double’ might have some appeal after South has bid 2D it seems to me that that bid should be reserved for a flatter hand with 4-4 or 4-5 in the black suits. By bidding 2H you are merely showing a Michaels type hand, with 5-5 in spades and clubs. Nothing wrong with that except it warns N/S about the bad spade break! In any eventuality a bid of that suit by either North or South would not be natural, as who in their right mind would want to play in the suit best held by the opposition? North should double to show a good heart suit and East will doubtless find it easy to give preference to clubs! But with the weight of high cards behind them South should double and lead a trump. Leading a trump is in fact mandatory whenever the opposition have outbid you but hold considerably less in the way of high cards. Obvious really, because how else will they make tricks other than by cross-ruffing?

Close Call

9th June – Board 26: Game All. Dealer East.

The value of high-level preemption which forces the opposition into making a decision rather sooner than perhaps they would want is admirably demonstrated on the hand shown below.

West	North	East	South
		1H	No
2D	4S	Dbl	No
??

You would think the bidding would start like this at most tables, when the spotlight falls on West. Should he stand the double and hope for a suitable reward or bid 5C? If 5C is making then 4S has to fail by three tricks to make passing the right decision. Of course 5C is the right bid as it happens but for the wrong reason, as 4S will surely make as long as declarer engineers a heart ruff in dummy. 5C will probably drift two off but even if doubled that would show a marked improvement on letting the opposition make game. What do I think? Well I have sympathy for whatever action might be taken; sitting on the fence has always been one of my strong points.

All That Glisters

2^nd June – Board 8: Love All. Dealer West.

How things so often change from the moment we pick up our hand until the end of the deal, when unabated optimism is dampened by the coldness of reality! East was doubtless tickled pink at the sight of his hand but things soon took a nasty turn.

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

I have given the auction for those who play 2C as the strong opener, but Benji pairs will open 2D and receive a negative of 2H. Nevertheless 3NT will be the rebid and everything depends upon the opening lead. Now I may be alone in my thinking but if I were sitting South I would do everything possible not to give away a trick on the opening lead. After all there is only going to be a maximum of five points between West and North and a club lead seems fraught with danger. So I would choose between a heart and a spade and while a heart lead might turn out to be ok, a spade lead would be disastrous. So what do I know? Fourth best works a treat and declarer does best to win the first club. Why? Because if he doesn’t and subsequently plays on spades – as he has to – then North will have no choice but to lead a diamond through East’s holding and the defence will take a spade, two diamonds and three clubs for two down. If East wins the first club North will almost certainly return that suit when he gains the lead and his partner will have to concede a diamond trick. As an aside the contracts ranged from 2NT-1 to 6NT-4. Funny old game.

Matters of Judgement

2nd June – Board 17: Love All. Dealer North.

There were all sorts of strange results on the featured deal but in fact none of them came close to achieving par – that is to say the very best result from both sides point of view. Of course those hands where the points are fairly evenly divided and yet high-level contracts can be obtained are notoriously difficult to bid and that is where not only judgement but experience too come into play. A little sophistication in the bidding helps too……

West	North	East	South
	No	No	1H
2NT	3D	4D	4H
5D	No	No	??

West’s 2NT is the Unusual No-Trump – part of Michaels – and shows both minors and an agreed point count range with partner. (This sadly is often lacking, but should be on the weakish side when not vulnerable and about an opening bid if vulnerable. But it is open to partnership discussion.) However the very use of that convention does give the opposition more ‘free’ bids and a generally accepted method is to raise to the three-level in partner’s suit on a weak but distributional hand and to bid 3D with a sound raise with some high card defensive points. South should therefore have no qualms about bidding game and West would clearly bid 5D as a two-way bet – it might make or failing that be a very cheap sacrifice. What happens after that is hard to say. Too hard for me anyway. So what is the par contract? Well N/S can make 5H and E/W should only be one down in 6D, so 6D doubled minus one is par. Some people lost their way playing in a diamond contract, but all that is required is to set up a long club in the West hand by ruffing out the suit. Then all that will be lost are the ace of spades and a club.