Positive Requirements

2^nd August – Board 21: North/South Vul. Dealer North.

Responding to partner’s strongest bid, whether it be 2♣ or 2♦ should be the easiest thing in the world because you either have a good hand or you haven’t – and you usually haven’t! In the old days there were strict requirements for giving a positive and the hand had to contain an ace and a king, or two king-queens, or three kings, but those days have long since passed. To give a positive in a suit you need at least a five card suit of good quality – something like KQJxx or better – and upwards of about eight points, else just bid whatever your negative bid is. A response of 2NT shows about 10/11 points in a balanced hand but I can never remember having done that in fifty years of playing.

The auction above would be the one adopted by a pair playing either straight or Benji Acol and ordinary Stayman, asking for a four card major. The 3♠ bid shows spades but denies hearts, leading to the most obvious contract in the world and I would expect declarer to emerge with about eleven tricks.

Far From Minimum

28th June – Board 20: Game All. Dealer West.

Being able to have flexibility in one’s game is a tremendous asset and that awareness often manifests itself in an ability to think beyond the mere counting of points. North was in that position in the featured hand and should have had no difficulty in realising that his hand was far from minimum.

It is debatable as to whether South should even look for a major suit fit but give the North hand a heart more and a club less and it is the heart slam which is the winner. As it is South’s 4NT bid is not Blackwood because no suit has been agreed but merely quantitative asking the opener to either pass with a minimum or to bid six with an above minimum hand. And that North hand is certainly that! Take away a club and make it a diamond and then pass would be the order of the day but with all the aces and a five card suit it is much more than just a mere 20 points. With clubs breaking 3-2 as one might expect there are twelve easy tricks and in fact thirteen tricks are liable to roll in with both opponents feeling the stress when the clubs are played.

Perceived Injustice

10th November – Board 2: North/South Vul. Dealer East.

I remember now why I gave up playing pairs many years ago. It was because of hands like the one shown below where a number of perceived injustices can lead to a humiliating result.

West	North	East	South
		1NT	No
2C	No	2S	No
3NT	No	No	Dbl
End

The bidding went as shown with South resisting the temptation to overcall with 2S initially, although I am not totally sure why. This would have posed a problem for West who would do best to double and enter 200 on their scorecard although many people play a double as for take-out in that position. However when South passed West not unnaturally employed another well-known convention and hearing that her partner had spades and not hearts settled for the obvious 3NT. But South was having none of it and doubled, even though East was known to have four spades, and I suppose that at pairs if you are shooting for tops this is a risk worth taking. It certainly was in this case as a bemused declarer lost the first six tricks.

Too Hard

28th July – Board 8: Love All. Dealer West.

Some hands are just too hard to bid to the par contract but that doesn’t mean you should be a million miles away. On the hand shown below South should have tried to adopt a strategy which indicated he had a strong two-suiter, even if that meant biding his time for a while. I know the auctions were many and varied but something approximating to the following could not be criticised:

West	North	East	South
1NT	No	2C	No
2H	No	No	4H
No	5C	No	5D
End

1NT is a sensible opening bid with the hearts too awful to wish to repeat but it does give his partner a problem. One solution might be to transfer to clubs in whatever way is available but I think a better idea would be to bid Stayman, aiming to pass a response in a major but to remove 2D to 3C. South should lurk as 2C is forcing but when 2H comes back to him he should come clean by bidding 4H, surprising everyone no doubt but clearly showing a two-suiter with spades and a minor. North would bid 5C in the expectation that his partner held spades and clubs and South would remove to 5D. It might seem a huge gamble but the reality is of course that North needs very little to make game viable. And as you can see a slam is cast iron, but that is just too hard.

Just too Hard

14th October – Board 20: Game All. Dealer West.

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

Some deals are just too hard, and at every table where I watched the E/W pairs on the hand shown above ended with an inglorious result. And yet it is hard to say exactly where the auction went wrong. Playing weak two’s most players have the arrangement that a 2C opening is either an Acol two in an undisclosed suit, or a strong balanced hand with 19-20 points. This leaves an opening 2NT showing 21-22 points, thereby giving slightly better definition. This is what happened at one of the tables: -

West	North	East	South
2C	No	2D	No
2NT	No	3C	No
3D	No	3H	No
3NT	End

3C was Stayman for five card majors and 3D denied a five card major but promised a four card one. 3H denied hearts – a sensible arrangement to deny the one you have, letting the strong hand become declarer if a fit exists – and West closed proceeding with 3NT. North led a low diamond and was charmed with the way the defence continued, taking as it did the first six diamonds and the ace of spades for three down. 5C of course depends on just finding the queen of hearts, a good enough contract to be sure but featuring a suit that was never bid naturally at all.