Disappointing Outcome

18th April – Board 6: East/West Vul. Dealer East.

If you are going to use a weapon your partner must know how sharp it is…..

	North: S J 9 6 2 H 10 8 4 2 D 10 C J 7 6 5
West: S 3 H A K Q J 7 6 5 D 8 3 C 4 3 2		East: S K Q 10 8 7 5 H 3 D A K 5 4 2 C 8
	South: S A 4 H 9 D Q J 9 7 6 C A K Q 10 9

West	North	East	South
		1S	2NT
4H	End

It is easy to decide upon a new convention but you have to make sure you don’t misuse it as the featured hand bears witness. I have no objection to South bidding 2NT to show the minors but while North might consider ‘saving’ in 5C over 4H if the 2NT was weak that would not be the case in any other situation and it would be fatal on the actual hand. Disappointingly for West 4H cannot be made on best defence. Suppose North leads his singleton diamond. Declarer wins in dummy and would probably lead the singleton club but South wins and returns a diamond for North to ruff. Now a trump return would leave declarer going two down! On an initial club lead South wins and leads a trump and declarer would now lose three clubs and a spade. I have a nasty suspicion though that if I held the South hand I would overcall 1S with 2D and over 4H bid 5C. Quite wrongly of course.