Macho Man

17th October – Board 5: North/South Vul. Dealer North.

In a perfect world the macho tactics displayed by East/West on the deal below would lead to a great score but sometimes virtue and all that…..

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

West	North	East	South
	1H	2S	Dbl
4S	Dbl	End

East has an obvious weak jump overcall of 2S and South does best to double to show general values – after all what else can he do? Now I know in practise I would cowardly bid just 3S on that West hand but if you bid 4S – bidding to the total number of trumps held – then that would pose an impossible problem for the opposition. The likelihood is that they would double and with accurate defence attain an 800 point penalty, superficially good until they realise that a slam in both hearts and clubs is cold their way. In reality of course one is so often disappointed.

Green

7^th June – Board 15: North/South Vul.  Dealer South.

When your side is not vulnerable but the opponents are you are said to be at ‘green’ and in these circumstances you can have as much fun as you like. Even three down doubled shows a profit against a making game the other way and if you can deflect the other side from doing that so much the better. On the featured hand East/West are heavily outgunned and their manoeuvres are likely to be ultimately unproductive, but that shouldn’t stop them from trying.

2S is a weak jump overcall, a little on the light side maybe but who’s counting? South has the ideal hand to double, for take-out of course, showing the other major and tolerance for partner’s suit and West increases the pressure by raising to 3S. North might double - for penalties this time - and collect 500, or have a bash at 3NT, which would prove to be an easy make. However the main point to be learned is that even with relatively few points you can still show a profit if you have a lot of trumps, especially at green.