Close Call

21st May – Board 10: Game All. Dealer East.

Both East and South had close decisions as to whether to call or not but as usual the old adage of ‘when in doubt bid’ proved to be valid.

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

West	North	East	South
		3H	Dbl
4H	4S	End

You might open that East hand with a weak 2H I suppose because of the poor quality of the trump suit but I like that diamond holding a lot and in any case things are seldom perfect. Over 3H South has a close decision but the perfect take-out double shape should probably persuade him to bid although that should not deter West from raising his partner to game. Of course he has no idea whether 4H will make or not and I would guess that the chances would be against but in any case he has to apply more pressure to the opponents. Not that North should have any qualms about competing to 4S, which is likely to be the final contract – one down it is true but a good save for the cold 4H the other way.