TIPS FOR IMPROVERS

Points of interest from the May 2013 duplicates by Michael Newman

1       Western Cue Bid

Board 17 Tuesday 14 May – Vulnerability White Dealer North

North opens 1 Spade with a shapely 5-5 in the majors. East has almost certainly got seven tricks in Diamonds plus the Ace of Clubs.  While he could make a regular overcall of 2 Diamonds it is quite likely that if West has a stop in Spades that 3NT will be a good contract.  How does East ask West if he has a Spade stop?  The answer is by making a Western Cue Bid of 3 Spades.  Thus West bids 3NT and if North leads a Spade South will need to switch to a Heart to prevent an 11^th trick.  While if North decides that a Heart lead is required then 11 tricks are certain.

I believe that the term Western Cue Bid probably arose because they were first played on the West Coast of the USA.

It can be used in all suits by making a double jump over the suit opened.  While it normally shows a solid minor suit you could also consider making such a bid over 1 Spade when holding solid Hearts ie:-

Jx

AKQxxxx

Jx

A10

2       Game or Part-Score?

Board 24 Wednesday 29 May – Vulnerability White – Dealer West

After three passes South opens a weak no trump and North employs Stayman.  South responds 2 Spades and now North has to decide what to do.

It is not possible to bid scientifically in terms of inviting game when holding a void in a side suit.  At teams North should probably jump to 4 Spades and hope that South does not have too many wasted values in Clubs.  That would be the right decision on this occasion and ten tricks roll in with the Spades and Diamonds both breaking, Declarer making four Diamond tricks, two Heart tricks and four trump tricks. 

However at pairs it is correct to simply pass 2 Spades as it does not pay to bid borderline games at Pairs.  To illustrate why suppose we simply give South the King of Clubs instead of the King of Spades ie South holds:-

Q10xx

Kx

Axx

KQ10x

Now with five points in Clubs opposite the Club void the chances of making ten tricks is significantly less than 50% and so it is clearly right at pairs to stay in a part-score even though South has a maximum 14 points.

3       Suit Preference at trick one when Dummy has a singleton

Board 13 Monday 27 May – Vulnerability Amber – Dealer North

I noted with interest that at four of the eight tables that East West played in 5 Diamonds two of the four being doubled. 

After 1 Heart from North then East has a choice between 4 Diamonds and 5 Diamonds with the modern trend being for the more aggressive action.

South opens with the Ace of Hearts and North follows with his lowest Heart.  As Dummy has a singleton Heart then the low Heart should always be interpreted as suit preference ie requesting a Club rather than a Spade switch.

If South switches to a Club then the contract goes quietly one down.  However suppose that South thinks that there is no hurry for a Club switch and instead switches to the Jack of trumps.  East can now punish South for his overconfidence.  He wins the Jack of trumps with the Queen and deliberately leaves the last trump outstanding.  He then plays the 10 of Spades to the 5, Queen and 6.  Note that North has to duck the Spade otherwise he is endplayed in both black suits or to give a ruff and discard by playing a second Heart.  Now at trick 4 East uses the carefully preserved second trump in the Dummy both to get back to hand and exert pressure on the North hand by running off all his trumps.  At trick 10 North has to discard from AJ of Spades and K10 of Clubs.  If he discards the Jack of Spades then East exits with a Spade at trick eleven to endplay North in Clubs.  If he discards the 10 of Clubs then East drops the King of Clubs at trick 11 since after the opening lead of the Ace of Hearts North is marked with the black suit honours.

So the moral is trust partner’s signal and don’t think that time is on your side.  It may not be!