Superhuman Courage

17th February – Board 17: Love All. Dealer North.

There were all sorts of results on the hand shown above and I think it is fair to say that most auctions ended in tears for the declaring side. The only thing that is clear is that North should open with a weak two hearts if that bid is in his side’s armoury, but what happens after that is less than obvious. Sitting East I have a suspicion that I would wheel out a convention that we talked about ages ago…..

West	North	East	South
	2H	4D*	No
4S	End

4D is Leaping Michaels, showing diamonds and spades, and West would surely convert to the major suit game. After a heart lead declarer should play ace and another spade, but even so the defending side should get their ruff, leaving declarer to try and make all the diamonds without loss. After ruffing the second heart South is endplayed to some extent and as a diamond switch would be fatal he does best to play the ace of clubs. Declarer will ruff and play a trump for North to win who either has to return a heart or a diamond. But by now declarer knows that North started with four diamonds to South’s two, making the finesse twice as likely to succeed than playing for the drop. If East bids 3D over 2H then West would bid 3NT and after winning the heart lead he should test the clubs first – after all an obliging defender might have started with J,9 doubleton! When North shows out on the clubs a brave declarer might take a diamond finesse against the jack later in the play on the grounds that North probably holds more diamonds than South, but it would undoubtedly require almost Superhuman Courage.

Leaping Michaels

20th May -  Board: 11 Love All. Dealer South

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

Six hearts is an excellent contract on the E/W cards but hard to reach with minimum values, especially if South opens with a weak two bid in spades. A good convention to have in your armoury is the exotically sounding ‘Leaping Michaels’ whereby a jump to the four level in a minor after a weak two in a major shows at least five cards in the minor plus five cards in the other major. It is allied of course to the well-known ‘Michaels’ convention when a cue-bid of an opening major shows five cards in the other major plus five cards in an unknown minor. (Responder can find out the minor by relaying with 2NT.) So on the above hand the bidding might start:

             W        N         E        S

                                              2S

             4C      4S         ??   

East could play safe and bid 5H or take a punt at 6H. The preemption in spades makes it likely that West has a singleton but of course there could be two aces missing. I guess it’s just too difficult.

Don’t forget to write in with any queries or suggestions, as long as they are not rude! And I hope to see you next Thursday.