Difficult Choice

25th August – Board 6: East/West Game. Dealer North.

I wonder how many pairs got too high on the hand shown below? What is sure is that East will open the bidding with 1S and that South will overcall with 2H. But what next? I have to say that if I were at the table I would have ended up with a minus score but, honest as the day is long, this is how I believe the auction would go.

West	North	East	South
	No	1S	2H
2S	No	3C	No
3S	End

I certainly think that West should compete with 2S and at first glance and with an eye to the Losing Trick Count East might just go all the way. But I think caution should be applied a little because quite often partner will raise spades with just a trebleton and it is quite likely that there will be some wasted values in hearts. So I would bid on and the most flexible way is to make a trial bid of 3C, saying in effect that game might be on if West has either a decent raise or has good help in clubs. With such a feeble hand West would surely sign off and best defence would defeat this contract by a trick. But it strikes me that if partner held a fourth spade then game would not be such a bad bet.

Fire With Fire

25th August – Board 10: Game All. Dealer East.

There is certainly nothing predictable about bridge as the hand shown below will give testament to, where a contract of 6S can be made – easily – even with a 5 - 0 trump break, while the equally obvious 6H might be defeated by four tricks although here the trumps break 3 - 2!

West	North	East	South
		1S	2NT
3C	5C	5S	No
6S	End

The bidding might well require some explanation but most of it can be explained away by South’s 2NT, the so-called unusual no-trump showing both minors in a limited hand. In such circumstances it is good policy to fight fire with fire because West, in this example, can use both cue-bids in the minors to have a special meaning. So 3D shows a high card raise to 3S or more with at least four card support, 3C shows a good hand with three card support and at least four cards in the other major, while 3S is a weak raise. (If, after the 3C bid the opener wishes to know how many hearts partner has he bids 3D to enquire.) I know it’s complicated but it’s beautiful at the same time. Anyway here North should barrage with 5C and from then on it’s all a bit of a guessing game but I think none of the bids shown are unreasonable. If mistakenly East chose to double 5C he would have to lead a trump to defeat it and that would be the right thing to do because when the opposition have bid to a high-level with scarce values they can only make loads of tricks by cross-ruffing, and that is the case here. As an aside then the par contract is 7C doubled! For a loss of 800.

So Lucky

18th August – Board 13: Game All. Dealer North.

I love hands where a moment or two of clear thinking will lead you to the right approach and even more so when that approach is rewarded by a favourable lie of the cards. West was so lucky on the layout shown below, but he had to be aware of his luck in the first place.

West	North	East	South
	No	1C	1S
Dbl	No	2D	2S
3H	No	4H	End

The bidding might vary from that shown in several ways, and the final contract is highly ambitious, but the problem is how to play 4H when the defence starts with three rounds of spades. South has been clever in playing that third round because he wants declarer to ruff in dummy thus ensuring himself two trump tricks, so declarer must be careful to ruff in hand instead. He then crosses to dummy with a diamond, say, and leads a trump. South rises with the ace and leads a fourth round of spades and West should realise the futility of ruffing with anything other than the seven or eight. If he ruffs with the two he will clearly be overruffed and if he ruffs with the jack he must lose a trick later to either the ten or the queen. As it happens the medium size ruff will work and now declarer enters dummy once more to take a trump finesse against the queen. Declarer actually needed South to hold precisely AQ10 in trumps for the contract to make.

Faint Hearted

18th August – Board 20: Game All. Dealer West.

You cannot afford to just sit there at the bridge table and assume the worst when in fact a more pro-active approach can reap dividends – especially in the pairs game when you sometimes have to move Heaven and Earth to get a good score. Take the hand shown below for example where at a number of tables South was strangely silent, although I think the bidding should go something like the following:

West	North	East	South
1H	No	3S	4D
4H	No	No	4S
5H	5S	Dbl	End

3S is a splinter of course showing a limited raise to 4H with a singleton or void spade. (I’m not totally convinced that it wouldn’t be better to bid 2C instead, as splintering with an ace is not usually a good thing.) However after the splinter South has an easy bid, I think, of 4D with a view to bidding 4S later. Why? Well partner is going to be really short in hearts and therefore extremely likely to have a fit in one of South’s main suits. What happens after 4S is a little speculative, but even if North passes 5H he will now surely lead a diamond and hold declarer to eleven tricks when at the table most made twelve. Several North’s led a trump but I am not a fan of leading a singleton trump as it usually carves up partner’s holding of Qxx. It is worth noting that even 5H fails on a club lead and a diamond switch while at the very worst 5S is only down two. And even vulnerable 500 is less than 620.

No Problem

11th August – Board 2: North/South Game. Dealer East.

Some hands are difficult and some aren’t and the featured hand should belong firmly to the latter camp. Amazingly all sorts of things happened at the table leading to a variety of – er – interesting results. This is most definitely what should happen:

West	North	East	South
		1D	1S
4H	Dbl	End

Given that East opens the bidding South has an easy spade overcall and West surely has the right cards to preempt with 4H. (Even after two passes I would open that hand 4H, given the prevailing vulnerability.) North would surely be affronted and double and this contract would fail by one trick assuming West ultimately takes a double diamond finesse. (It works wonders!) That might not seems the best score in the world until you realise that N/S are cold for 3NT, so any further bidding by them after 4H would end in failure.

As Well To Know

11th August – Board 6: East/West Game. Dealer East.

Many E/W pairs got carried away on the hand shown below quite often due to over-exuberance by both parties in the partnership. Initially it all comes down to East’s rebid after his partner has upset North no doubt by bidding something he wanted to bid himself! This is how I think it should go however:

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

I hate the idea of reversing on that East hand, being below par for that action in any event and having a singleton in partner’s suit. And while 1NT isn’t ideal I think it is the best of a bad lot and West would be happy to pass. Not so North of course who should enter the auction by bidding 2S, natural, for what else could it be? As it happens1NT by East is an easy make and 2S by North drifts one down for a small gain so no harm done. At one table E/W arrived at 3NT played by East and South was inspired enough to lead a spade. In fact North should have doubled the final contract, asking for an unusual lead which is usually the first suit bid by dummy. Just as well to know that.

The Hardest Part

4th August – Board 8: Love All. Dealer West.

Bridge is not an easy game and the hardest part by far is defence. I think everyone was in 3NT on the featured hand and all bar one made it - some with an overtrick – when in reality declarer should have been hard pressed.

West	North	East	South
1NT	No	3NT	End

East might have started with Stayman but with such a balanced hand I think that is unnecessary. When you have a holding such as North did in clubs then you have a choice between leading the ace or the king and they should ask partner to tell different things about his holding in the suit. So the Ace should ask for Attitude while the King should ask for Kount. (Ok, I know.) Here North would lead the ace and South should discourage by playing the two, an unequivocal statement that he does not hold the queen – or if he does it is now singleton and the suit is blocked. So North must switch and knowing that his partner holds 1, 2 or 3 points only he has to find the safest suit to switch to and that is hearts. Declarer will win perforce and cash three more tricks in the suit and North must not shed a diamond else declarer has four winners there, and his best bet is a low club. If declarer now cashes the ace of spades North must be careful to throw his king under it to avoid being end-played in diamonds to lead away ultimately from his remaining club holding. See what I mean about it being difficult?

Icy Calm

4th August – Board 14: Love All. Dealer East.

South was probably more than a little surprised when he heard the hand on his right open 1S on the hand shown below, but at these times it is best to remain icy calm and concentrate best on how to help partner if he bids. In fact North has a mild problem as several candidates could be considered but I think a full-value 2H is the best bet. (It might look as though a double would bring home the bacon as South would surely pass but of course West should redouble to demand his partner thinks again and the club fit would come to light.) I think the bidding should go as shown:

West	North	East	South
		1S	No
No	2H	No	3H
No	4H	End

I do not think South’s raise on a doubleton is merely hindsight as there is a strong possibility that his partner holds a six-card suit. Why? Because he is known to be very short in spades and with a 1-5-4-3 distribution he might well have doubled in preference to bidding 2H. And with two five-card suits he would probably have used Michaels. 4H should be easy even if East finds the best defence of ace and a low spade with West uppercutting with the jack of hearts. Playing on diamonds at an early stage should restrict declarer’s losers to just two trumps and a spade.