Each Way Bet

16th May – Board 9: East/West Vul. Dealer North.

Possibly the most exciting hand last Thursday was the following when South was forced into making a difficult decision.

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

West	North	East	South
	3D	No	4H
4S	No	No	5H/Dbl?
End

North is on the strong side for a preempt perhaps but those jacks don’t look very appealing and trying to keep the opposition out of the auction is always a good idea. South has an obvious 4H bid but West should really not be silenced and 4S looks a good each way bet when it might easily make opposite very little or prove to be a cheap sacrifice against a vulnerable game the other way. To my mind the most difficult decision is South’s but it is hard to criticise bidding one more for the road. West will lead the king of spades but must not panic when in with the ace of hearts. Although in a different layout it might be right to switch to clubs here that would be fatal and West should cash his spade winner and play a third round. With declarer unable to reach dummy the king of clubs will prove to be the setting trick.

Phantom

5th Jan – Board 5: North/South Vul. Dealer North.
Knowing when to bid at the five level is an art in itself and on the hand shown below I think North might make the final bid for the wrong reason, although at the table that is very hard to diagnose.

The above sequence never happened to my knowledge but if it did it would be completely understandable. While the first three bids are self evident West might preempt with 3♠ at his first turn, which would have little effect on North who would simply bid 4♣ causing South to sacrifice over 4♠ instead of North. 4♠ of course doesn’t make, declarer losing two hearts a diamond and a club and neither of course should 5♣, as after an initial spade lead it is only too easy for East to switch to a diamond. So 5♣ is what we call a ‘phantom sacrifice’ done with the best of intentions but unnecessary as it happens. Usually, as in this case, too hard to judge.

Dangerous Switch

19th July – Board 16: East/West Vul. Dealer West.

I think several players sitting East were disappointed at the result on the following hand although any mistake they might have made was punished in the most severe fashion.

You might look twice at that 4♠ bid from West but it seems right to me, being a good two way bet. (Indeed 4♠ is cold even without the ace of clubs opposite and bidding to a high level puts maximum pressure on the opposition.) As it happens North has an easy ‘sacrifice’ although it usually turned out to exceed his wildest expectations. What would you lead from that East hand? The king of spades seems the obvious choice but how do you continue when in with the ace of trumps at trick two? A black suit enables declarer to draw trumps and discard a diamond loser on the hearts and a heart switch from East achieves the same end, and although a diamond switch looks dangerous I think it is the right play. Even if declarer has the king he will still not be making unless he has the king of hearts and West must hold one good card at least. Anyway 5♣ doubled and making was fairly commonplace but it is interesting to note that in a curious and similar fashion North/South have to be fairly quick if they hope to defeat 5♠, for at some stage South has to switch to a heart from his AJxx holding.