TIPS FOR IMPROVERS

Points of interest from the March 2016 duplicates

1       Not the classical shape but correct to double

Board 20 Monday 21 March – Vulnerability Amber – Dealer West

I was fascinated to note that seven out of eight pairs played in Spades by East West and the only North South pair who played in Hearts did so only at the three level.

The reason for this is that after East opened 1 Spade it was clear from the scores that all the Souths passed.  West raised to 2 Spades and there the bidding ended.  However while South’s shape is not the classical shape for a takeout double in that it has length in Spades it is correct to double.  This is because the crucial thing is that South has four cards in the unbid major and holding three Aces the hand is far from minimum.  It is true that occasionally by choosing to double the partnership may end up in an ungainly 4-2 fit in Clubs but this will happen very rarely.  Note that North will always bid a four card Heart suit ahead of a five card minor suit on this auction.

Once South does decide to double then it is easy for North holding an attractive 1=5=2=5 shape and only seven losers to go straight go game in Hearts.  With the Heart finesse working then this should make an overtrick with careful play losing just two tricks in Diamonds.

2       Scientific approach not best

Board 25 Monday 21 March – Vulnerability East West – Dealer North

Assume that you open 1 Heart on the East hand and West jumps to 3 Hearts what should you now do as East.  The hand has enormous playing potential and if West held ♠AJx ♥Kxxx ♦Qxxx ♣Jx then you are likely to make all thirteen tricks.  However at the other end of the scale if West held ♠KQx ♥109xx ♦KQx ♣xxx then if the Clubs do not come in you might make only 10 tricks.

There are thus three possible choices:-

1          Cue bid 4 Clubs hoping to hear West cue-bid 4 Spades.

2          Jump to 5 Diamonds – Exclusion Key Card Blackwood – asking partner to count his keycards excluding the Ace of Diamonds.

3          Simply jump to 6 Hearts.

In the Monday Duplicate only three pairs out of eight bid to slam and only one of these three made the contract.  I made further enquiries and discovered that the successful pair simply chose Option 3 and jumped to 6 Hearts.   The reason why this was successful is that on this auction South would either lead a neutral Club or his fourth highest Diamond.  He would have no reason to lead a Spade which would have defeated the slam.

On the other hand if East chose Option 1 and cue bid 4 Clubs then when West cue-bid 4 Diamonds South would be much more likely to lead a Spade against either 4 Hearts or 6 Hearts.  Equally if East chose Option 2 and asked for keycards outside Diamonds then South would definitely not lead a Diamond knowing that the East hand were void in Diamonds.

So the moral is that as the chances of making all thirteen tricks are extremely low the practical choice for East is simply to jump to 6 Hearts which is what he expects to make on the majority of occasions.  After all if a Spade is cashable then the opposition may need to lead Spades at trick one and even then if West’s Hearts are Q10xx or Kxxx then the slam is still a good bet.

3       Slam on 24 points

Board 5 Monday 28 March – Vulnerability North South – Dealer North

Not a single pair managed to bid to the 90% small slam in Diamonds (only going down on a Heart lead if the trumps break 4-nil).

Having opened 1 Club East is forced to rebid 2 Spades over West’s 2 Diamond bid.  Note that this is not a reverse as if South had not overcalled then East would have rebid 1 Spade after West’s response of 1 Diamond.

West should definitely rebid his Diamonds to show a strong six card suit.  Now the East hand has become extremely powerful and the most descriptive bid is for East to jump to 4 Hearts as a splinter bid confirming Diamonds as trumps and showing a singleton or void in Hearts.  West should now cue-bid 4 Spades and this is enough for East to jump to slam in Diamonds.  Note that even if West’s Spades were Axx instead of Ax there is no danger of a third round Spade loser because the Clubs can be established to deal with any slow Spade loser.

On a Heart lead this is ruffed in the Dummy and the King of Clubs played.  South wins with the Ace.  Declarer can now either establish the Clubs (as long as he wins a Spade switch with the Ace) or he can take a second Heart ruff for 12 tricks.