No Shame

23rd August – Board 14: Love All. Dealer East.
There is no shame in bidding to 3NT with a combined 25 count and two balanced hands, even though the contract may not be a good one. Having said that, even bad contracts can sometimes be unbeatable.

East has a difficult choice over the 1♥ intervention but the one bid that should not be made is 1NT! It is true that 1NT should show about 6-9 points but it should also show a stop in the overcalled suit. (The reason of course is that you would expect that suit to be led and you can only imagine partner’s dismay if he raised to game and the opposition took the first five or six tricks.) Of course you would want to make some noise on that East hand but you can’t double – because that would show spades – and you are not really strong enough to bid a forcing 2♦, so the only possibility is to raise in clubs. Ideally you would have four-card support but to my mind it is the safest of all options. Never mind, opener would bid 2NT showing 17/18 points – because you might only have 6 – and you could then happily raise to game. Clearly you can only make this contract by bringing in the diamonds and after a heart lead you should play on that suit. North will win and switch to spades maybe, but you duck the king, win the next spade perforce and play another diamond. North has to win but has no more spades to play. Lucky? Yes of course, but lucky bridge players are winners – and vice-versa.