20th October – Board 17: Love All. Dealer North.
Being old and set in my ways I have never been a fan of inverted minor suit raises but I have to confess it would have made West’s task somewhat easier on the hand shown below. Nevertheless a little ingenuity might have saved the day.
West
|
North
|
East
|
South
|
|
No
|
1D
|
No
|
1H
|
No
|
2C
|
No
|
2S
|
No
|
3S
|
No
|
4D
|
No
|
4S
|
No
|
6D
|
End
|
|
|
If an initial 2D response by West is not forcing then he has to invent a bid and I would try 1H and hope for the best! 2S becomes fourth-suit forcing prior to raising diamonds and the 3S bid by East shows a good hand for the bidding so far. Of course it denies a four-card spade holding or he would have bid that suit over 1H but it does show values there and a hand too good to bid a stultifying 3NT. 4D is game forcing and looking for more which in turn poses a problem for East who can hardly bid RKCB because a response of 5H would push you to 6D with two key cards missing. A well-thought out 4S should allow West to make a sound judgement with his three big cards, and indeed he would bid the same holding the ace of clubs and not the ace of spades. I know it’s not easy, but it’s not supposed to be.
