Poor Choice

5^th December – Board 8: Love All. Dealer West.

Dear me! Fourteen tricks on top and sad to say no one reached the grand slam. I know they are always difficult to bid because of the fear factor but the real reason this one was missed was probably because of the poor choice of opening bid by North.

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

West	North	East	South
No	2C/2D	No	2D/2H
No	2S	No	3S
No	4C	No	4D
No	4H	No	5NT
No	7S	End

A 2C opening – 2D if you are playing Benji – is made either on a hand of 23+ points OR a hand which will make game opposite a Yarborough. Now if you mentally place South with a 3-3-3-4 zero count you would still want to be in game from North’s point of view, so 2C/2D it is. From the word go South knows he will probably end up in a grand now but some initial sparring does no harm. Once South knows there isn’t an ace missing he can invoke Josephine – remember? – and North obediently bids 7S. Bidding 7NT is much harder but would be the winner here. Still you never find bidding a grand slam gives you a bad score, even at pairs.