A Different View

24th November – Board 3: East/West Vul. Dealer South.

Just because you have a ‘gadget’ does not mean you have to use it come what may, and that fact is illustrated most clearly in the following hand which arose last Thursday. At the vulnerability South might be tempted to open with a weak 2S, but this six-loser hand is far too good to do that. (The diamond suit is a one-loser suit because of the good impletion.) With his weak no-trump hand North should have no game ambitions and would either pass or at the very most raise to 3S as a defensive measure, not forward going as he would use Ogust if that were the case, and as a result the cold game would be missed. But if South took a different view and imagined that his partner had opened one-no trump then surely he would have a shot at game. The bidding would proceed:

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

The game is a good one and is not particularly lucky to make – the trump finesse is right but the diamond finesse is wrong. Just remember that a weak two is the sort of hand which would make a weakness take-out if partner opened one no-trump.

Fighting Spirit

24th November – Board 21: North/South Vul. Dealer North.

It becomes easy after a while to know how to bid games with oodles of points but the sad fact is that most bridge matches are won and lost during the part-score battle when too many people give up too easily. Take the following deal as a case in point where East often took an over cautious approach. I think the bidding should be more competitive and go something like:

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

There are several things to note. South might be tempted to double initially but that I think is wrong because of the danger of partner bidding clubs; better to bid your five card suit first and see what transpires. Then North should raise to 2H – not as a forward going move showing game aspirations (because if he had those he would start with a 2D cue-bid) – but merely to make it harder for E/W to compete. However East should not be deterred but should make a take-out double because it is highly likely that there is a fit of sorts somewhere and at the prevailing vulnerability there is little risk. See what happens – 3D is cold for E/W and 3H is defeated by one trick, so whatever action South decides to take at his last go will lead to a negative score.

Perceived Injustice

10th November – Board 2: North/South Vul. Dealer East.

I remember now why I gave up playing pairs many years ago. It was because of hands like the one shown below where a number of perceived injustices can lead to a humiliating result.

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

The bidding went as shown with South resisting the temptation to overcall with 2S initially, although I am not totally sure why. This would have posed a problem for West who would do best to double and enter 200 on their scorecard although many people play a double as for take-out in that position. However when South passed West not unnaturally employed another well-known convention and hearing that her partner had spades and not hearts settled for the obvious 3NT. But South was having none of it and doubled, even though East was known to have four spades, and I suppose that at pairs if you are shooting for tops this is a risk worth taking. It certainly was in this case as a bemused declarer lost the first six tricks.

Way Forward

10th November – Board 11: Love All. Dealer South.

Weak twos in the major are a good idea designed to cause confusion to the opposing side but occasionally partner is caught with the problem rather than the opposition. So it is just as well to have some constructive way forward…..

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

2NT is the so-called ‘Ogust Convention’, named after its originator, and the responses show the exact nature of the opening two with respect to both points and quality of suit. Here the response of 3H shows a hand within the top-end range of points, 8-9, but lacking two of the top three trumps. Knowing that the opener can have at most five points in hearts it is easy to see that he must have another useful card somewhere, the queen of clubs perhaps, or better still the ace of diamonds. All of this makes 3NT the bid of choice and indeed that contract was reached at several tables but not always made. Nor should it be really due to the hateful diamond layout, but I imagine after a club lead declarer ran the spade suit and a somnolent North threw a diamond or two. Easy to do of course but it can hardly be wrong to pitch a couple of clubs to clear up the position in that suit.

Matters Of Judgement

3rd November – Board 5: N/S Vul. Dealer North.

Sometimes a hand low in point-count can suddenly seem so much better when a fit with partner comes to light and such was the case with the hand shown below:

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

Even though that North hand is low in points it is high in potential and at any rate an ace and a king is so much better than an assortment of queens and jacks – or ‘quacks’ in bridge parlance. Once South has raised spades it is worth a game try and a long suit trial bid of 3H seems the best way forward. In effect it is asking opener to reconsider his 2S bid and whether he considers himself to be good or bad for the bid, and if in doubt to consider the trial bid suit. Here South would have no hesitation in going straight to game and with the nice lie of the cards should come to an easy eleven tricks.

Protection Racket

3rd November – Board 14: Love All. Dealer East.

It’s all to easy to go quietly at times when really one should be more pro-active, and if you are in the ‘pass out’ or protective position you should be really sure that you are not being bludgeoned into submission. That was the case for North on the featured hand when in fact he had a sound alternative to staying quiet.

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

West might have considered a splinter bid of 3S at his first go but it does tend to give a blue-print of the hand if you are not the declaring side and maybe a simple raise to game is enough. (Not showing many points of course because there are so many other options available if that is the case.) Instead of going quietly North should double, essentially for take-out but with high-card points should his partner choose to pass for penalties. South would be charmed to bid 4S and I dare say but West would surely up the ante. At equal vulnerability North is also likely to have one more go and East would close proceedings with a double. OK, I know that E/W can make 6H if they are in it but it is anti-percentage and they won’t bid it anyway! 5S will go one or two off depending how declarer views the club suit, but even two down doubled would show a profit.