Bloodbath

12^th April – Board 1: Love All. Dealer North.

Since the 1950’s the concept of the Sputnik double has reached all corners of the bridge world – but there can be a potential downside. That comes when the person seated third in hand wants to make a penalty double, something that could have been done easily in the old days. To compensate for this it is almost – almost, but not always – right for the opener to re-open the bidding with a double should both his partner and the hand on his right pass the overcall. Ostensibly this is for take-out but quite often you will find your partner passing your double and converting it into a penalty one, something he was unable to do due to the Sputnik convention.

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

It might seem unwise to follow that principle on the hand shown but it comes with little danger. If partner bids 3H you are happy and if partner bids 3C you just rebid your suit. And if partner passes – as would happen here – the result is a bloodbath. As an aside I know of one player who bid 3NT over the 2S bid, won the spade lead and let the nine of diamonds run. I thought that showed real perception.