Two Or Three?

5th September – Board 17: Love All. Dealer North.

I don’t think East has an easy decision after his partner opens 1S on the hand shown below. It’s an eight loser hand it is true but at the same time it is a flat nine count but maybe the good impletion in clubs should persuade responder to take the more aggressive approach. Certainly a raise to just two spades will be passed while a raise to three will probably result in a game bid.

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

West	North	East	South
	No	No	No
1S	No	3S	No
4S	End

Maybe the proof of the pudding is in the eating for 4S is just about within the requirements necessary for game. You would certainly need trumps to break 3-2 and either the jack of clubs or the queen of hearts to be in a favourable position. Declarer should aim to ruff two diamonds in dummy giving him a total of ten tricks via three trumps, four diamonds (with the ruffs) and either three hearts or two hearts and a club.

Gypsy's Warning

13th Dec – Board 10: Game All. Dealer East.

Knowing when to keep quiet at bridge is just as important as knowing when to be bullish, a fact well demonstrated by the following hand when too many people did too much bidding.

That’s how I think it should go and even 2♥ is in some jeopardy against best defence. East would like to bid over 2♣ of course but what options are really available? The heart suit is lacking the impletion to consider a no-trump call, which is the only really viable option open but I can tell you from years of experience that it is far better to get out as soon as possible when a misfit looms on the horizon. Of course West must not even consider bidding again either for that would impel partner to join in the fun. Expensive fun, as it might turn out.

Unnecessary Risk

5th January – Board 19: East/West Vul. Dealer South.

East took the right view in the bidding but the wrong view in the play leading to a catastrophic result, but as so often happens when under pressure all reasoning goes out the window.

West	North	East	South
			No
No	4H	Dbl	End

To my mind it is clear-cut that East should bid 4S over 4H and not double. Too many times I have seen games making in both directions so if for no other reason I would have taken out insurance. Maybe playing pairs things are different and certainly the winning action here is to defend as neither game should make. However… East started correctly by cashing two top spades and a top club, getting the correct count signal from his partner in both suits. (Hi-Lo = even, Lo-Hi = odd). Now if partner has the ace of diamonds it is not going to run away so a trump exit looks safe but in the heat of battle East switched to a diamond, but unfortunately for him the nine. You can see what happened. With the super diamond impletion declarer covered with the ten and that was that. Even if East had started with more than two diamonds he would have been squeezed in the minors on the run of the hearts. If East had been a little more patient and with careful discarding his side would have come to the setting trick in diamonds in the fullness of time.

A Different View

24th November – Board 3: East/West Vul. Dealer South.

Just because you have a ‘gadget’ does not mean you have to use it come what may, and that fact is illustrated most clearly in the following hand which arose last Thursday. At the vulnerability South might be tempted to open with a weak 2S, but this six-loser hand is far too good to do that. (The diamond suit is a one-loser suit because of the good impletion.) With his weak no-trump hand North should have no game ambitions and would either pass or at the very most raise to 3S as a defensive measure, not forward going as he would use Ogust if that were the case, and as a result the cold game would be missed. But if South took a different view and imagined that his partner had opened one-no trump then surely he would have a shot at game. The bidding would proceed:

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

The game is a good one and is not particularly lucky to make – the trump finesse is right but the diamond finesse is wrong. Just remember that a weak two is the sort of hand which would make a weakness take-out if partner opened one no-trump.

The Power Of Impletion

6th January – Board 10: Game All. Dealer East.

6NT by South is a grand contract of course and it is a sad fact for West that a spade, heart or diamond lead will provide declarer with his twelfth trick immediately. A spade lead gives declarer three tricks in the suit, a heart lead gives declarer four tricks in that suit and a diamond lead gives declarer three tricks in that suit! Only a club lead gives nothing away but with the fortunate position in the spade suit the contract should still make. I see no reason why North shouldn’t look for a major suit fit and because of that I think the auction might go:

West	North	East	South
		No	2NT
No	3C	No	3D
No	4NT	No	6NT
End

With no suit having been agreed 4NT is quantitative, asking South to bid 6NT with a maximum, and South would be happy to oblige.

Auto Pilot

30th September – Board 8: Love All. Dealer West.

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

3NT by East I suppose is the right contract, making easily on a club lead and indeed on any lead if a little care is taken. I was guilty of sloppy bidding and sloppy play too, but somehow managed to escape with a good result.

West	North	East	South
1D	No	2D	No
5D	End

I should have followed a scientific route by bidding 2S at my second turn, following up with 3H, after which partner would probably have tried 3NT, but I cut matters short somewhat by a leap to game in the suit we both seemed to like. North made a devastating lead of a low club, and playing somewhat on autopilot I played low from dummy, thinking that a lead away from an ace against a high level contract was unlikely. South won and rather woodenly returned the suit, but now I could ruff, draw trumps and use the fine impletion in spades to secure a discard for one of dummy’s hearts. Of course if South had returned a heart I would have been forced to take the finesse and finish one down. I should have reasoned that even if North had led a club away from the queen and South had produced the ace at trick one a discard on the king of clubs would be of no use at all. Strangely if you had reached a slam North could have led a heart without doing you any good, because there would still be a loser in both black suits.

Double Trouble

5th August – Board 7: Game All. Dealer South.

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

It was heartening to see that at every table but one – where South mysteriously forgot to open – the contract was 1NT doubled, after the simplest of auctions.

West	North	East	South
			1NT
Dbl	All Pass

The double is strictly for penalties and although partner can take-out they would really only do so if they were very weak but with a long suit. Similarly for the partner of the opener who on this occasion can only grin and bear it. The results ranged from two down, which seems about right, to making with an overtrick, but I can only assume in this latter case that the defence panicked, as so often happens when defending a doubled contract. Surely West would start with the four of clubs, and although this gives declarer an extra trick, the rest of the suit can easily be established due to declarer’s poor impletion. Declarer would probably play the queen of spades next, ducked by West, and it is imperative in these situations that East should give a count signal by playing the two. Remember that LO-Hi shows an odd number in the suit, HI-LO an even number. Anyway West would know to win the third round and knock out the ace of clubs. A small diamond from declarer would let West back in, who could cash his clubs and exit with the queen of hearts. (West knows that declarer started with eight points in the black suits and cannot have both the top two hearts.) So in all declarer would make two spade tricks, a heart and two club tricks for -500. Opponents of the weak no-trump can sneer, but in the long run its preemptive value makes it a winning gambit, although I have to say that those of us have been playing for far too long tend to play a strong no-trump when vulnerable……

Awful Impletion

8th July – Board 22: E/W Game. Dealer East

	North: S Q H K 6 5 4 3 D J 10 7 3 C Q 6 5
West: S A 10 5 3 H Q J 2 D A 9 8 5 C 10 9		East: S 9 H A 10 9 8 7 D K 2 C A K 8 7 2
	South: S K J 8 7 6 4 2 H none D Q 6 4 C J 4 3

Not many interesting boards last Thursday I thought, although the hand detailed above could have proved so. Defensive bidding is all about making life difficult for the opposition and anything less than a 3S overcall by South is, I’m afraid – er – wet. The vulnerability is perfect and you take away so much bidding space. Nevertheless I think the auction should continue to a slam via the route shown, no doubt much to North’s delight. (Note that East will think clubs are trumps. At least for a while.)

West	North	East	South
		1H	3S
3NT	No	4C	No
4NT	No	5C	No
6H	All Pass

Of course the heart impletion in the North hand is too awful to contemplate and the slam should make easily. On a spade lead, say, you simply win in dummy and play three rounds of clubs, ruffing the third round high – not caring if it gets over-ruffed. If the clubs had broken 4 -2 then you simply ruff a fourth round high and just concede a trump loser. The bad trump break cannot hurt you, as North cannot force declarer by playing another spade.