TIPS FOR IMPROVERS BY MICHAEL NEWMAN

Points of interest from the October 2013 duplicates

1       Lebensohl 2NT followed by 3NT

Board 1 Tuesday 1 October – Vulnerability White – Dealer North

North opens a routine weak 2 Spades.  East doubles for takeout as his Hearts are too weak to overcall at the three level.  What should West bid?  He cannot jump to 3NT because this would guarantee a Spade stop.  Equally if he simply bids 3 Clubs this shows approximately 8 to 11 points (because when holding fewer than eight points it is customary to start off by bidding a Lebensohl 2NT which forces partner to bid 3 Clubs).  The solution is for West to start off by bidding 2NT Lebensohl which forces East to bid 3 Clubs unless he has a hand which wishes to force to game opposite a hand with 0 to 7 points.  Over 3 Clubs West now bids 3NT.  The message which this conveys is that West has enough points for game but has no Spade stop.  On this occasion East is happy to pass 3NT because he has Kx in Spades.  If East had no Spade stop he would take out 3NT into his longest suit.  As you can see 3NT makes 12 tricks but even the Italian Bermuda Bowl winners would be unable to diagnose that two flat 14 point hands produce a slam on 28 points combined.

I cannot emphasize strongly enough that it is absolutely essential to play Lebensohl after your partner doubles an opening 2 Spades.  If you were not playing Lebensohl and your longest suit were Diamonds then you would have to bid 3 Diamonds whether you had 2 points or 10 points.  The doubler would then be playing Russian roulette rather than Bridge in trying to determine whether to continue.  However by always starting off by bidding 2NT when in the 0 to 7 range and reserving immediate bids of 3 Clubs, 3 Diamonds and 3 Hearts for hands in the 8 to 11 range you greatly reduce any subsequent guesswork by the doubler in deciding whether to continue.

2       Transferring at the two level followed by 4NT is quantitative

        Transferring at the four level followed by 4NT is RKCB

Board 2 Thursday 24 October – Vulnerability North South – Dealer East

When East opens 1NT (15-17) then West is only really interested in how many Aces East holds.  However if West decides simply to transfer at the two level by bidding 2 Diamonds and over the completion of the transfer jumping to 4NT this would be quantitative showing five cards in Hearts and about 15 or 16 points.  The solution is to transfer at the four level by jumping to 4 Diamonds.  When partner completes the transfer by bidding 4 Hearts a continuation by the transferring hand of 4NT is then Roman Keycard Blackwood.  East replies 5 Clubs (1 or 4 Key Cards) and West jumps to a small slam in Hearts.  Note that if the final contract is played by West that the contract is at the mercy of the position of the Ace of Spades.  However with East the declarer the King of Spades is protected and a Spade lead is necessary to stop the overtrick.

While it is theoretically possible from West’s point of view that both the Ace and King of Spades are cashable the defence have to find the lead with no suits having been bid naturally apart from Hearts and what is certain is that if Spades are not opened then it is guaranteed that at least one of West’s two Spades can be discarded on minor suit winners.

3       Jacoby 2NT pinpoints the way to Slam

Board 18 Tuesday 29 October – Vulnerability North South – Dealer East

South opens 1 Spade and North’s fifth trump makes his hand too strong to bid simply 3 Spades while he has too good a hand to jump to game in Spades which will leave insufficient room to explore the possibility of bidding a slam.  The solution is for North to jump to 2NT.  This is the Jacoby convention whereby after partner opens one of a major a jump to 2NT shows a game forcing raise of the major suit with an interest in higher things if partner should be suitable.

The mainstream way of opener responding is to show a singleton at the three level, to jump to the four level in a minor to show a strong 5-5 hand and to jump to game in the major if opener has no possible interest in reaching a slam.

Accordingly South shows a singleton Club by bidding 3 Clubs.  North then bids 3 Diamonds showing a control in Diamonds which can be either the Ace or King.  South now bids 3 Hearts having a control in Hearts and now North bids 4 Clubs which guarantees the Ace opposite known shortage.  This is enough for South to launch into Roman Key Card Blackwood.  North shows one keycard and South then asks for the Queen of trumps by bidding the next step 5 Diamonds.  North has the Queen of trumps and jumps to slam.  (Note that North would also jump to 6 Spades if his Spades were five small knowing of the 10 card fit requiring only a 2-1 trump break for slam to make which is 78%).  The play is straightforward and a score of 1430 results.  Reaching a slam with only 27 points between the two hands would be almost impossible if not playing Jacoby.