Thursday Bridge Club: Quick Off The Mark

19th July – Board 13: Game All. Dealer North.

It’s not often that three viable games each depend on the same distribution in a particular suit, but such was the case on the featured hand shown below.

It might seem that West should bid 1NT rather than 2♥ at his first bid but it is usually right to support the major with only three cards in the suit but with a doubleton elsewhere. This would enable East to make a trial bid of 3♣, looking for game and incidentally showing at least five hearts, and West should have no hesitation in going all the way with the double fit. Now South has to be quick off the mark. A spade lead will lead to a one trick defeat when the clubs fail to break but if South tries for a diamond ruff by playing ace and another, declarer must not fall into the trap of discarding a spade on the third round. Instead he must ruff high, draw trumps and later concede a club but making in all five trumps, four clubs and the ace of spades. Strangely 3NT and 5♣ would both make if the clubs had split evenly and it is not often that we as bidders are so spoilt for choice.

4 comments:

Robin22 July 2012 at 15:12
Can you never make a trial bid with only 4 of your opening suit?
Dave22 July 2012 at 15:17
If you had a balanced hand with enough points to make a try you would be bidding 2NT I dare say. But I guess you could be 4-4-4-1 so your point is a good one. Of course if the major suit was spades then the Trial Bid would always guarantee five spades because you never open 1S with three fours and a one.
Robin22 July 2012 at 15:38
I know the suit quality for a spade overcall by South is poor, but in this instance might it make sense, because a 3S response by North may stop East going to 4H without being able to find out about clubs?
Dave22 July 2012 at 15:48
The trouble with bidding 1S is that you more or less force the opposition into bidding game because East can hardly pass 3S and then North would probably feel obliged to bid 4S over 4H. As we see this should only go one down but would be a phantom sacrifice against a game contract of 4H that shouldn't make nor indeed would because the spade lead is now more likely. It's difficult but at equal vulnerability and opposite a passed partner it's probably best not to get involved. But certainly at favourable vulnerability I wouldn't think twice about bidding 1S.

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