Double Fit

3rd October – Board 23: Game All. Dealer South.

What might at first sight appear to be an indifferent hand can suddenly assume gigantic proportions during the course of the bidding.

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

West	North	East	South
			1C
1H	2C	2H	3C
3D	No	4H	End

West might have some two-suited bid available at his first turn but failing that it looks obvious to overcall one heart. North will raise clubs and East will raise hearts and doubtless South will compete further. No point in mentioning spades of course because North has denied a holding in that suit. Now West can show enthusiasm by introducing his second suit giving East as easy raise to game with all his values known to be working. It’s possible that South will sacrifice in 5C – a good move as it happens – but these bids are more easily found in the bar afterwards and it looks a bit risky to me at the vulnerability. 

Fit Jump

27th July – Board 1: Love All. Dealer North.

Fit jumps are really voguish at the moment and in its simplest form it just means that when partner makes an unexpected jump in a new suit after originally passing he is announcing a fit with partner and good values in the suit he is jumping in. Dead clever.

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

West	North	East	South
	No	No	1H
No	3D	No	4C
No	4D	No	6H
End

So here 3D announces a big fit in hearts and a good diamond suit and the rebid over the 4C cue shows something exceptional making it easy for South to bid the slam. But have you noticed something? If East opens 2S, weak, (and why not?) then South would presumably double and West would barrage with a 4S bid. Really, really difficult to bid the slam now I would suggest. 

Good Eyes

21st Feb – Board 9: East/West Vul. Dealer North. 

‘The five-level belongs to the opposition’ is a pretty good maxim and certainly applied to the hand shown below.

I might actually have opened that North hand with 1♥ as clearly it is not good enough to reverse on but in any event East will overcall with 1♠. South is just about good enough to introduce the other major and West should go all the way with a barrage of 4♠. In these situations you should aim to bid to the same level as the number of trumps you and your partner hold and here there is a known ten-card fit. (Of course you have to be a little wary, especially at adverse vulnerability, but the overall concept is a sound one.) There is no way in a billion years North would not compete with 5♥ and there the matter should rest with East/West having achieved what they set out to do. 5♥ should only be one down assuming that West does not make a disastrous opening lead of the jack of diamonds when the contract would actually make. And 4♠? That will be one down assuming declarer doesn’t have ‘good eyes’ and drop the singleton king of trumps offside.

Substitute Double

6^th Dec – Board 6: East/West Vul. Dealer East.

Bidding the suit inferred by the opposition is often a clever way of entering the auction even if it does give the other side more bidding opportunities.

A double of 1NT is for penalties as everybody knows and shows a strong hand but so too should a double of Stayman or a transfer because either of those bids might be made on abject weakness. If that is the case then you have to be imaginative when trying to describe a hand that wishes to compete and one way of doing this is to bid the suit that the opponent’s have shown. So in the hand above North’s 2♥ bid is just another way of competing and takes the place of a take-out double. East though has more options available and can pass to show a doubleton in his partner’s suit, double to show three card support and bid the suit to show four cards. Here he will double to show three cards and West will make a game-try, happily accepted by his partner who could hardly have a better hand for the bidding to date.

What Spades?

8th November – Board 16: East/West Vul. Dealer West.

It doesn’t happen very often that you have a positive desire to play in a suit that an opponent has opened but when it does happen you have to be sure that you and your partner are on the same wavelength.

North must have been charmed to hear his right hand opponent open his seven-card suit but there is nothing to be done for the moment, certainly not to look surprised and ask leading questions. It might seem that East should bid 2♥ in response to the opening bid but that is a clear mistake, for all that is likely to happen is that you force partner to rebid his suit if he has a minimum opening and cannot reverse, bid NT’s, or support hearts. Justice is done when opener can now reveal his second suit and now is the time for North to enter the bidding. 2♠ now has to be natural for it cannot be anything else but East will compete with 3♦, where the bidding should end, although I would have sympathy for any North who bid one more for the road.

Going Quietly

26^th April – Board 11: Love All.  Dealer South.

Whenever the opposition have subsided at the two-level it really is necessary not to go quietly but to breathe life back into the auction if at all possible. Normally when one side can make eight tricks in the trump suit of their choice then so can the other, making the side that holds the spade suit top dog.

When North passes his partner’s 2♥ bid East should realise that the points are probably evenly divided and keep the auction alive by doubling. As it happens North will almost certainly add one for the road and that will be that although East/West can easily make 3♠. But never mind, just pushing the other side around a bit is good value anyway. In fact the defence have to be careful not to concede ten tricks in hearts, which would require West to lead a spade at some point, and indeed some pairs did reach game. That usually happened when South opened 1♦ – something I am in favour of as it happens, the hand being too good for a weak no-trump. So West overcalled in spades more or less forcing North to bid 2♥ and from there it was off to the races. Now with North as declarer East led the ace of his partner’s suit, with disappointing results.

Fighting Spirit

24th November – Board 21: North/South Vul. Dealer North.

It becomes easy after a while to know how to bid games with oodles of points but the sad fact is that most bridge matches are won and lost during the part-score battle when too many people give up too easily. Take the following deal as a case in point where East often took an over cautious approach. I think the bidding should be more competitive and go something like:

West	North	East	South
		1D	1H
No	2H	Dbl	No
3D	No	No	??
End

There are several things to note. South might be tempted to double initially but that I think is wrong because of the danger of partner bidding clubs; better to bid your five card suit first and see what transpires. Then North should raise to 2H – not as a forward going move showing game aspirations (because if he had those he would start with a 2D cue-bid) – but merely to make it harder for E/W to compete. However East should not be deterred but should make a take-out double because it is highly likely that there is a fit of sorts somewhere and at the prevailing vulnerability there is little risk. See what happens – 3D is cold for E/W and 3H is defeated by one trick, so whatever action South decides to take at his last go will lead to a negative score.