Too Much

5th June – Board 12: North/South Game. Dealer West.

In stark contrast to board 8 some Easts got far too carried away on the hand shown below.

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

West	North	East	South
1NT	No	2C	No
2S	No	4S	End

Some people might baulk at opening 1NT on that West hand but I can see nothing wrong with that at all. There are two tens after all and in any event how often do you have three quick tricks when you open 1NT? Not often. As an aside a 3-ace hand loses a lot of appeal purely because it doesn’t look pretty, not having the colour of the court cards. You may laugh but it is so. East has a good hand it is true but it still has six losers and a 1NT opener will usually have seven or eight losers and although a slam might be available on an exceptionally good day the reality is that playing straightforward methods any exploration might take you past a comfortable level, making discretion the order of the day.