Faint Heart

18th July – Board 6: East/West Vul. Dealer East.

There were several points of interest about the following hand although I think things might have got a little confused at the table and I’m not sure whether any E/W pair actually bid the really good 6H or 6D. If they did I apologize and perhaps they would let me know how.

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

West	North	East	South
		No	No
1D	1S	Dbl	3S
5H	No	6H	End

Sadly some Easts forget to make a Sputnik double over 1S, saying they would have responded 1H without the interruption, and straightaway the heart slam went begging. However with or without the double South is dead right to bid 3S, not a strong bid or he would have bid 2D, but merely pre-empting to the level of the fit. Quite right too, for even with accurate defence this only goes for 500 – less than the vulnerable game the other way, let alone the slam. 3S poses a problem for West and he is too good to bid 4H which sounds just as though he is competing without thoughts of anything better. If this seems strange imagine the opposition had remained silent, then over his partner’s 1H response he would have rebid 3S, a splinter, and looking for a heart slam. So don’t be faint hearted now but bid 5H! Staring at the top two trumps East would have no difficulty bidding the slam and in fact thirteen tricks come rolling in when the queen of trumps obligingly falls in two rounds.

Not Ashamed

13th September – Board 21: North/South Vul. Dealer North.

It was strange that so many pairs had trouble with the following hand because in the modern game and with just a little science the deal is hardly noteworthy at all.

North should not be ashamed to open that hand, being as it is a six-loser and with two five card majors. The aim initially would be to open 1♠ and hope subsequently to bid hearts twice, thus showing 5-5 and letting partner make the final decision. But when East wanders in with 2♦ South has the ideal hand for a Sputnik double, showing either five hearts in a limited hand or basically any hand with four hearts. (Remember that a bid of 2♥ would promise at least a five-card suit and would be forcing.) Now North’s hand looks even better! You can deduct a loser for having five cards in support of partner’s suit, making it now a five-loser hand and 4♥ now becomes the standout bid. Spades behave but hearts don’t, but still there are ten easy tricks despite the points being divided 20-20 between the two pairs.

Extra Chance

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

The bidding might have proceeded in one of several ways on the featured hand, but whether East chose to go slowly – via a simple overcall of 1♥  – or in more bullish mode by overcalling 4♥ – the game contract is likely to be reached one way or another. Note that when South bids 1♠ over 1♥ he is showing a five card suit because with just four he would start with a negative double and the upshot of this is that North can raise with just three-card support. If South decides to bid 4♠  over 4♥ West will be tickled pink and express an opinion as to the outcome of that contract but in fact 4♠ is only three down and would show a profit against the vulnerable game.

With trumps breaking 2-2 declarer in 4♥ can engineer a diamond ruff in dummy so that the success of the contract would appear to hinge on a successful club finesse against the king, but that is not entirely the case. Those nice clubs in dummy represent an extra chance for after drawing the last trump ending in dummy, declarer should run the nine of clubs and although this would lose to the jack declarer can later take a finesse against the king after ruffing his losing diamond. The advantage which might be gained is that North could have started with both the ten and the jack of clubs when an initial finesse against the king would result in the loss of two tricks.

Bloodbath

12^th April – Board 1: Love All. Dealer North.

Since the 1950’s the concept of the Sputnik double has reached all corners of the bridge world – but there can be a potential downside. That comes when the person seated third in hand wants to make a penalty double, something that could have been done easily in the old days. To compensate for this it is almost – almost, but not always – right for the opener to re-open the bidding with a double should both his partner and the hand on his right pass the overcall. Ostensibly this is for take-out but quite often you will find your partner passing your double and converting it into a penalty one, something he was unable to do due to the Sputnik convention.

West	North	East	South
	1D	2S	No
No	Dble	End

It might seem unwise to follow that principle on the hand shown but it comes with little danger. If partner bids 3H you are happy and if partner bids 3C you just rebid your suit. And if partner passes – as would happen here – the result is a bloodbath. As an aside I know of one player who bid 3NT over the 2S bid, won the spade lead and let the nine of diamonds run. I thought that showed real perception.

Under Control

12th January – Board 21: North/South Vul. Dealer North.

Game in a minor is a contract not often seen at the bridge table, especially when the points are more or less evenly divided, so any pair reaching 5C on the deal below can consider they did well. And yet with a controlled auction perhaps it should not be that difficult.

West	North	East	South
	No	No	1D
1H	1S	2D*	3C
No	4C	No	5C
End

There are several things to note during the auction. West is easily worth an overcall of 1H and the 1S bid by North should now promise at least a five-card suit – with only four he should start proceedings with a Sputnik double. Clearly East would like to know how good his partner is for his overcall and the standard way to do this is to make an Unassuming Cue Bid in the opponents’ suit. With his five-loser hand South should not be afraid to introduce his club suit, whereupon West should pass to show he was minimum for his overcall. With a known heart shortage opposite North has an easy raise in clubs although whether that should be to the four or five level is debatable. In any event I cannot see South stopping out of game. There is not much to the play, with declarer losing a heart and a diamond most likely, although you do have to be a little careful in not running out of trumps. (Note that a sacrifice in hearts by East/West would be a costly affair if the opposition get all the ruffs due to them.)

Second Best

21st April – Board 14: Love All. Dealer East.

Most pairs I believe ended up in the heart game on the deal shown below and in truth there is not much to choose between that and 3NT. But I have a slight leaning towards the latter myself and I think the bidding should/might go as shown.

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

West is full value for a 2NT bid after the 2D intervention – which is NOT Jacoby after intervention – but I would hate to think that the spade suit might stay forever hidden if East has a 4-5-2-2 minimum type hand. So I can see no harm in making a Sputnik type double first. Opener’s rebid of 3C would then elicit 3NT from West and East should have no reason to insist on the major suit game. People are always content to play in 3NT with a long running minor but less so with a major; I think it’s a psychological sort of thing.

Who Dares Wins

15th July – Board 26: Game all. Dealer East

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

There were a number of results on the hand shown above, and no surprise there looking at all four hands. In fact North must have felt short-changed, possessing as he did the only normal looking hand of the bunch. What do you think is the par contract, and by that I mean what is the contract that should be attained if everyone played perfectly? Hard to believe but it is 7C doubled -2 by N/S giving E/W a score of 500, because E/W are cold for 6D! Of course to arrive at that result would be superhuman and I would have thought that a contract of 5D doubled + 1 by E/W would be more likely as they ‘save’ over 5C. Who knows how the auction might proceed but perhaps the following wouldn’t be too far-fetched:

West	North	East	South
			1C
1H	Dbl*	No	3C
3D	4D**	5D	No
No	Dbl	All Pass

* = sputnik double showing just four spades
** = cue-bid in support of clubs

I know the result is rubbish but sometimes things are just too hard. However there are a number of things to mention in the above auction. First of all I would reject any notion of opening the East hand with a weak two. The suit is too bad and there might be a slam on in diamonds!! Even if West had a two-suited type overcall available I think it should be rejected in favour of bidding the six-card major first. North should double to show a four-card spade suit. Remember that if you are playing Sputnik doubles then a bid of 1S in this situation should show at least a five-carder so that partner can raise on three card support if the next hand prempts in hearts. South is a bit too good just to bid 2C so he makes a jump rebid instead and West introduces his second suit. North has the perfect response by cue-bidding in support of clubs and East completes the barrage by bidding what he eventually would over 5C. From there on it’s pretty much guesswork but I imagine South would make a forcing pass causing his partner to make the final – wrong – decision. Not surprisingly nothing like that ever happened.

Bullying Tactics

8th July – Board 13: Game all. Dealer North

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

The need for aggression - but in a nice way! – is paramount at all times, and this principle is highlighted in the deal shown above. North has an obvious opening bid and East should wade in with an overcall, just about right even vulnerable. It might look as though South should bid 2C now, but that is wrong. Why? Because if West barrages with a 3S bid it is very difficult for N/S ever to comfortably find their heart fit. Instead South should make a Sputnik or negative double to get the hearts into play. Now when West bids 3S, North, with his 5-loser hand, can happily bid the heart game. In case you are worried about bidding 3S with such a weak hand don’t be. The bid is not in any way encouraging, for with a good hand in support of spades West could bid 2D, an unassuming cue bid. Generally speaking when partner is know to have a five-card suit you just bid to the level of the fit, with a weakish hand. So West has four spades, his partner has five making nine trumps in all, so West bid to make nine tricks. What could be simpler!

West	North	East	South
	1D	1S	Dbl
3S	4H	All Pass

The play should present no problem. At one table where I was watching declarer played three rounds of trumps, which was unnecessary. After the ace and the king have been played East has a master trump which is bound to make. So there is not much point in declarer wasting two of his own trumps to remove it.