26th April – Board 11: Love All. Dealer South.
Whenever the opposition
have subsided at the two-level it really is necessary not to go quietly but to
breathe life back into the auction if at all possible. Normally when one side
can make eight tricks in the trump suit of their choice then so can the other,
making the side that holds the spade suit top dog.
When North passes his partner’s 2
♥ bid East should realise that the points are probably evenly divided and keep the auction alive by doubling. As it happens North will almost certainly add one for the road and that will be that although East/West can easily make 3
♠. But never mind, just pushing the other side around a bit is good value anyway. In fact the defence have to be careful not to concede ten tricks in hearts, which would require West to lead a spade at some point, and indeed some pairs did reach game. That usually happened when South opened 1
♦ – something I am in favour of as it happens, the hand being too good for a weak no-trump. So West overcalled in spades more or less forcing North to bid 2
♥ and from there it was off to the races. Now with North as declarer East led the ace of his partner’s suit, with disappointing results.
Thanks for the suggestion of the one diamond bid. I would have bid 1NT on autopilot, but now hopefully would look beyond the 12-14 points to see the added value of the hand.
ReplyDeletePaul V
Yes, there are 'good' and 'bad' hands which fall into the weak no-trump category. It is no crime to upgrade a 14 count with a five card minor with intent to rebid 1NT to show a slightly stronger hand. Similarly a rotten 12 count can be passed. Not that anyone ever does.
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