Let’s start with a slam hand bid by only one pair.

After the transfer West’s 3D bid is game forcing.  It is used when responder is strong enough to be interested in a slam or when she has a very distributional hand completely unsuitable for a no trump contract.

East’s 3H bid is a cue bid showing interest in diamonds and also the HA.

4D is key card asking (Redwood – the voluntary bid of a minor suit at the 4 level).

The responses are exactly the same as RKC Blackwood which starts at 4NT.  The first step shows 1 or 4 key cards.  Therefore East’s 4H bid shows just the one key card.

Board 15 was another slam hand.  This time 3 pairs bid it.

South is not strong enough to make the reverse rebid of 2H, that requires 16 points.

North’s 2H is forcing and therefore shows extra strength.

With the heart fit and a singleton, South switches to using the losing trick count.  She has a 6 loser hand, an indication of the extra strength her singleton gives her.  She jumps to the 4H game.

North asks about key cards and then bids the slam.

Finally, let’s look at Board 24 where N/S could make it very difficult for E/W to bid any slam despite having 13 tricks in clubs, diamonds or no trumps.

To their credit most E/W pairs bid to a minor suit game but only one got to 6D.

In the play the CA brings down North’s singleton CQ to give 5 club tricks, 6 diamonds plus the two major suit aces: 13 tricks.

You know how to take a finesse, don’t you.  Let’s look at 2 different finesse positions.

      A                            B

   AQ7                         AJT

   853                           853

You need one extra trick to make your contract.  Which suit combination would you prefer, combination A or B?

In combination A the missing K can be on the left or on the right: it is 50% that it is on the left so you have a 50% chance of making your extra trick.

In combination B you are missing two important cards, the K and the Q.  There are four ways they can be distributed.  These are: both the K and the Q on the left; the K on the left and the Q on the right; the Q on the left and the K on the right; and finally both the K and the Q on the right.

So as long as you lead towards North twice, playing first the T and then the J you will make 2 tricks 3 times out of four (75% of the time), only losing 2 tricks when both the K and Q are on the right.

Holding combination B certainly has a much better chance of making 2 tricks.

With that in mind let’s look at Boards 3 and 28.

Do you agree with North’s bid of 2H?  Surely she is too weak.

Without West’s double then North should pass: the double makes all the difference.

If you have a fit then for sure (about 95% certain) your opponents also have a fit.  By doubling they have taken the first step to find their fit.  If you have very few points then you expect to be the weaker side and therefore should be bidding to the assumed level of fit.  After the double North’s 2H bid could be as weak as zero points.  The 2H bid is pre-emptive; you are making life as difficult as possible for your opponents.

The other point is, if only you could get to dummy how would you play the hearts?

You are missing two important cards; the HQ and the HT.  If you do manage to get to dummy you play the H8 and run it, expecting to lose just one trick.  It holds.  You can now pick up all East’s hearts without loss.

As North I led the DK taken by the DA.

Let’s look at how the play could have gone to make 12 tricks.

There are two important clubs; the CQ and the CT.

West plans to lose his one expected club trick straightaway.  She takes the DK with the DA and plays the C3 and inserts East’s C8 – which holds.

West then decides to draw two rounds of trumps in case the opponent with long clubs also has long spades.  West calls for the SA and then comes to hand with the SK.

West plays her last club and covers North’s card.  Two more rounds of the top clubs sees West discard her losing diamond and a heart.

West continues with a club to discard her last heart loser.  All North can do is make his ST.

In reality, the usual outcomes for spade contracts were 9 or 10 tricks.

Can you be too strong to use Stayman?

In normal circumstances you can’t be too strong but let’s have a look at Board 14.

If West elects to bid 2C she is using Stayman with a weak hand.

If East responds 2D (as she will do here) then West’s second bid is 2H.  The 2H bid is used to indicate a weak hand with both majors.  With only a doubleton heart East corrects to 2S which is where they will play.

With the hcp evaluation West knows that at worst they have half the points in the pack.  With the Bhcp evaluation she knows that they have (again at worst) 2 Bhcp more than half the points in the pack.

West is too strong to use Stayman with weakness because there is a good prospect of making 1NT.  West should pass.

Broadly speaking, there are two ways of bidding slams.  One is to exchange information in the auction to ensure that you are not missing too many of the top cards.  This has the advantage of keeping you out of bad slams but it also gives your opponents information and so they are more likely to find the killing lead.

The other approach is to bid the slam as soon as you feel that the overall values are there.  The disadvantage of this is that you are more likely to get into bad slams (missing too many top cards) but, as you have given away very little information, your opponents are less likely to find the killing lead.

On the only time slam was bid on Board 25 East took the second approach.

An overcall at the 2 level should have reasonable values, typically at least 10 hcp.

Therefore, taking the bidding into account, East should place both the HA and CK with South.  That gives two extra tricks; the CQ and the HK (so long as you can get to it).

No matter what South leads, the play is essentially the same: draw trumps and lead towards the HK while there is still a club entry to the West hand.  The HK then provides a discard for the losing S6.

Given the choice, would you prefer to be in debt to the tune of £300 or to the tune of £420?

It’s a no brainer.  Let’s look at Board 30.

If you pass you have elected to join the band of those who opt to owe £420.

If you elect to bid 4S then you finish up with the few who opt to owe just £300.

The essence of sacrifice bidding is to reduce your losses.  Here E/W can make 8 tricks if spades are trumps.  If E/W had been able to make only 7 tricks then they would have made a poor sacrifice, ending up owing £500.

At high levels it can be very difficult to judge whether to make a sacrifice bid.  Here, it is just possible that N/S would go to 5H over 4S and then E/W would be in pocket to the tune of £50 – a really good result.

You are dealt this hand as North and West opens at the 1 level (below 1S).  Would you overcall 1S?

♠  QT763

♥  KT43

♦  QT95

♣  --

If West opens 1C then an overcall of 1S is good.  Not only does it get your 5 card suit into the auction but it takes a lot of bidding space away from your opponents.

However, if West opens 1H the situation is very different.  You are not taking away any bidding space; in fact you are giving them an extra bid of a double.  Given that your partner is likely to lead your suit, Pass is the better option.

In short, the less bidding space an overall takes away the better your suit should be.

With that in mind, let’s look at Board 8.

Do think about what you are trying to achieve before you make an overcall.  You know that your partner is likely to lead your suit.

Now let’s move to the other side of the table.  You have to make the opening lead and your partner has overcalled.  If the overcall was the next suit up from your opponent’s bid then be very keen to lead her suit.  Having taken away no bidding space the overcall should very definitely be lead directing. 

However, if your partner’s overcall has taken away quite a lot of bidding space from your opponents then be less eager; have a good look at other options before leading her suit.

Finally, a word on the play of the club suit: there are two important cards, the CK and CT.  Plan to finesse twice, losing 2 tricks in the suit only when North holds both.  Lead the C8 and run it if South plays the C5 (otherwise just cover South’s card).  North shows out so there are 6 club tricks for the taking.

This week it’s just going to be a few bidding tips, starting with Board 7.

After partner opens 1NT here’s how to show a hand with at least 5/4 in the majors and invitational values.

Sequence A                  Sequence B                  Sequence C

1N        2C                    1N        2D                    1N        2H

2D        2S                    2H        2S                    2S        3H

In sequence A responder is showing 4 hearts and 5 spades.  Without the 4 hearts responder would just transfer into spades.  Without 5 spades responder would not bid 2S as opener has denied holding 4 of them.

In sequence B responder transfers into hearts to show 5 of them.  She then bids 2S to indicate a 4 card spade suit.

Sequences A and B are logical.  Sequence C is not needed for stronger hands and so is used to show 5/5 in the majors.

All three sequences show invitational values.

The next board is all about ignoring a good minor suit and going for 3NT.

Finally, Board 10 involves both pairs in hand evaluation in the light of a take-out double.

East is too strong to open a weak 2H and therefore must open 1H; passing is not an option.

South has a routine take-out double, showing opening values and 4 spades.

The spotlight now is on West. 

If South had passed would you have responded 2H on that West hand?  Using the B point evaluation there is no question, West exceeds the 9 Bpts which is the minimum responding value.  Therefore, had South passed I would have had no hesitation in responding 2H with West’s hand.  Using the old-established but less accurate hcp count it is a closer thing.  West has two honours in her partner’s suit; Ts, 9s and an 8; all positive features.  On the down side there is no ruffing value and the SJ is isolated.  Make your own mind up.

The point is that if your side has a fit then so do your opponents.  An opening of 1H usually has a 5 card suit so you expect that you have a fit your way.  By doubling, South has taken the first step in looking for a fit his way.  Having support for partner’s suit you make it as difficult for your opponents as possible by bidding one level higher than you would have done had there been no take-out double.

Following this reasoning, if you would have passed without the intervening take-out double then you should now bid 2H.  However, if you would have bid 2H without the intervening take-out double then you would now like to bid 3H but that should show 4 card support.  With only 3 card support West responds 2H.

North has wonderful spade support and all his points are in his long suits.  The only significant negative holding in his hand is the doubleton heart.  It is the most dangerous holding when both opponents are bidding the suit because it is very likely that your partner is also holding a doubleton in their suit.  With two projected losers in their suit that would leave room for only one loser in the other three suits.  Putting all that together, North bids 3S and South bids game.

Only 2 pairs bid the heart game on Board 7.

I have given two bidding sequences because West has options for her response to East’s opening bid of 1C.  She has two 4 card suits so should West respond 1D or 1H?

The answer is that it depends on the strength of West’s hand.

If she is weak, say 6 – 9 points, then she expects to be playing in a part score.  She must therefore take every opportunity to find a fit.  This means bidding the diamonds first.  If East had had diamonds as well then contracts of 2D or 3D could well be the only playable spots.  If East does not have diamonds but does have hearts then East’s rebid will be 1H and the heart fit is found.  If, on the other hand, East’s rebid is 1S then West can continue with 1NT to show her limited values and something in the unbid suit, hearts.

If West is stronger with 10 or more points then she will be thinking that game is quite likely: game in either hearts or No Trumps.  If this is so then bidding 1D is idle chatter; West should then respond 1H.

As it happens, on this board East should be bidding to 4H whichever initial response West chooses: she has a 5 loser hand.

A final note on the bidding, you should not raise opener’s second suit unless you hold 4 cards in it.  Therefore, in the first bidding sequence East can jump to 4H confident that there is a 4/4 fit.

Boards 22 and 23 were both slam hands and played in the same round.  Board 22 gave E/W the chance to bid (and make) 6S.  Board 23 gave N/S the chance for revenge, 6H or 6D being possible – only no revenge was taken.

Why?

Let’s look at Board 22 first although it is perhaps the harder slam to bid.

Before I go onto the bidding if East opens a weak 2D let’s just check out a few things on the two sequences I’ve given.

In both sequences East has passed because you should not open a weak 2 if you have a good 4 card major on the side.  The reason is that if partner is strong and also has 4 cards in the same major it will be very difficult to find the fit and game would be missed.

In the first sequence West opens 2C, having a 3 loser hand.  East gives a positive 2N; I refer this to 3D which removes so much bidding space.  West bids her suit, showing 5 or more cards in it.  East bids 4H; having bid 2NT previously this cannot be a suggestion that hearts be trumps, it agrees spades and shows the HA.  The slam is bid.

In the second sequence South opens 1H.  Would you?

I would.  All the high card points are in your 2 long suits, you have tens and a nine and you have a 2D rebid.

West overcalls 2H; this is Michaels showing 5 spades and a 5 card minor suit.

North makes the weak pre-emptive shut out jump bid of 4H.  East bids 4S and that is enough for West to go into Blackwood.  5C shows 1 key card, 5D asks whether the SQ is held and the 6S bid confirms that it is.

That just leaves us to look at the bidding should East open a weak 2D.

West needs to make a forcing bid.  The way to do this is to start with a conventional 2NT and then to bid your suit.

East’s 3H indicates a hand at the top end of the range (8/9 hcp) and a potential entry in hearts.

West’s 3S is now natural and forcing.  East bids 4S and Blackwood ensues as earlier.

As a tail piece, after the second bidding sequence how many N/S pairs would have sacrificed in 7H?  4 off doubled non-vulnerable is 800 to N/S: E/W making 6S vulnerable is 1430 to N/S.

That just leaves N/S to get their revenge on the next board – except that no N/S pair were able to do so.

Why was that?

No E/W pair bid the slam so there was no revenge to take!!

We turn to Board 23 – the phantom revenge board.

The first 3 bids are routine.  North’s second bid of 3C can be played as either invitational or game forcing.  I always play it as game forcing, just as well on this hand.

South confirms heart support by bidding 3H.  No danger of this being passed as the 3C is game forcing.

The 4C and 4D bids are cue bids showing the aces of the suits bid.

The possession of the DA is enough for North to go into Blackwood.  5C shows one key card, 5D asks whether the HQ is held and 6H confirms that it is.

Only 2 N/S pairs took their phantom revenge.

Before I turn to Board 24 let’s look at two bidding sequences.

       A                                  B

1N        2C                    1N        2D

2H        4N                    2H        4N

Are the 4NT bids Blackwood or quantitative?

Let’s take sequence A.  If responder is strong enough to want to be in a slam and also holds 4 spades then how will she bid her hand?  She will start with Stayman.  If a spade fit is not found she will bid a quantitative 4NT.

Let’s now take sequence B.  If responder is strong enough to want to be in a slam and also holds 5 hearts then how will she bid her hand?  She will start with a transfer and then bid a quantitative 4NT

In both cases the 4NT is quantitative.

If responder wants to use Blackwood she must make a cue bid at her second turn and move on to Blackwood later.

It is not a great slam: South needs the hearts to be 2/2 or both black suit finesses and the ruffing finesse in diamonds to be right.

In the play South loses just the HQ: she can discard one club by taking the ruffing finesse in diamonds and another on North’s 3^rd spade.

We all like to get a promotion; we know we deserve it.  How many got one on Board 3?

On the face of it West seems to have got it right: she has 8 spades, the CA and the HK by leading towards it twice.  That is 10 tricks and a vulnerable game made.

But what happens if North banks on South having the DK for her bid, hoping for 2 diamonds and a heart led through West’s HK? 

North Leads the DA.  Her heart sinks as she sees the HK in dummy.

However, not all is lost.  South encourages with the D2.  North continues with the DT and South overtakes to lead a third round of the suit. 

West is sunk.  If she ruffs high then North’s SJ is promoted into a trick taking position.  If she ruffs low or discards then North ruffs in and cashes her HA.  Either way, West is one off.

Board 1 was amusing in that 9 E/W pairs declared in either 1H or 2H yet they can make 12 tricks in spades.  Let’s be fair, even bidding the spade game was unlikely.

Here is how the play might have gone for those 2 E/W pairs who found themselves in a spade contract.

It doesn’t matter what South leads but let’s say the DA.

East ruffs, plays HA and ruffs a heart.  She comes back to hand in clubs and ruffs another heart.  As hearts split 3/3 East’s suit is now established.

Dummy’s SK is played and East comes back to hand in clubs.  She plays SA and SQ to draw trumps (again a 3/3 split) and then she can cash her 3 established hearts.  The C6 is the only loser.

Well!  That was a bit of fun but, of course, it is a lot easier if you can see all the hands.

Just occasionally (actually, a lot more than occasionally) I seem to play with my brain not in gear.  It happened again on Board 10 where I made 12 tricks but we were not in game.  To make matters worse, it was my fault that we were not in game.

The interest is in the play: how can South help North to get the right discards?

I got the D4 opening lead and let it run to the Q.

I led the H4 to the HJ, North taking the HA and returning a club to my CA.

I drew trumps and took the diamond finesse for a total of 3 diamond tricks.

I returned to hand by S2/SA and ran the rest of my trumps.  That is 4 discards for North to find.  Is he going to come down to SQ/ST hoping I had SKx or to CQ/CT hoping I had CKx?

This is where South comes in.  South discards S8/S3 – high hate.  South is saying that she has nothing in spades so North had better hold on to anything he has there.  The message didn’t get across; North discarded a spade to give me my 12^th trick in that suit.

Had I had my brain in gear for the bidding we would have got 90% on the board, as it was we got 20%.

At least I had woken up by Board 15.

When your opponents are ready to let the bidding stop at the one or two level you should look carefully at your hand to see if you have a bid to make.

The point is that you are competing for a contract at the two level.  The aim is either for you to pay at the 2 level or to push them up to the 3 level.  If you push them up and they can only make 8 tricks then you have turned a minus score into a plus score for you; that has to be good.  If they make 9 tricks then you have lost nothing: 3D making scores exactly the same as 2D plus 1.

At my table I doubled, partner bid 2H which is where we played.  We were 2 off but still scored 85% on the board.  Most N/S pairs played in diamonds making 9 or 10 tricks.

I got the opening lead of C2 and dummy came down.  It was the distribution from hell.  Can you see why?

In both hand the distribution is 4234; there is no opportunity for discards.

The C2 is obviously a singleton and North has very little in terms of high cards.  I therefore places the SK with South.  I took the C2 with the CQ (this leaves South guessing about the whereabouts of the CJ.

I then led the SJ hoping to sneak through a quick finesse.  South was not fooled, up popped the SK.  After 2 rounds of spades South had the master trump.  Should I play another round of trumps?

In fact, it doesn’t seem to matter.  If you play a third round of trumps you make 3 spades, 1 heart, the DK and 4 clubs for 9 tricks.  If you leave the master trump out to ruff one of your club tricks then you make 4 spades, 1 heart, the DK and only 3 clubs again for 9 tricks.

Probably your best chance for a miss-defence is lose the trump immediately.  You can win any return from South and then play off 3 rounds of clubs.  It is very unlikely that South will help you when making her 3 discards but if you don’t give your opponents the opportunity to make a mistake they will play perfectly.

When looking through the hands I identified 13 that I might comment on.  I have selected three to write about, each highlighting a completely different aspect of bridge: maintaining communications; the use of Stayman with weak hands; and the principle of restricted choice.  I will deal with them in that order.

Declarer can count 1 spade, 2 hearts, 4 diamonds and 3 or maybe 4 club tricks.  The problem is getting into the East hand twice.

I led the H8 while I would expect North to lead the SK (although the S2 works out better).  Either way, declarer wins the first trick in the West hand.

The 2 necessary entries to East are in diamonds.  It is likely that the diamonds will split 3/1 and that the DK will be in the hand with 3 diamonds.  If you start with the DA then North will hold up until the 3^rd round.  West will have only 1 diamond left and therefore only 1 entry to dummy.  North must be persuaded to part with his king early.   At trick 2 the DJ is played.  If North takes his DK then declarer’s problems are over: the DT/DQ and D5/D8 are the 2 necessary entries.

If North holds up his DK then declarer must turn to the spades.  Simply because South holds both S9 and S8 there are always 3 spade tricks.

Whichever high card point system you use, South is just one point short of an opening bid of 1NT.  However, even before the bidding starts you should add in long suit distributional points.  A good 5 card suit is worth an extra point.  The diamond suit is just about worth an extra point and this puts South’s hand in the point range for an opening of a weak 1NT.  Another positive feature is two Ts supported by a 9 and an 8.  The negative feature is KJ doubleton but at least there are two honours supporting each other.

I would (and did) open 1NT.

Let’s turn our attention to North.  Should she use Stayman?  If so, what rebid should she make over a 2D response?

North can see that N/S hold about half the points.  Maybe she should pass.

The positive features of the North hand are the two black suits.  The negative features are the rather isolated HJ and the non-existent diamond suit.  I would pass: the hand is just a bit too strong for Stayman with weakness and not strong enough to make an invitational bid after a 2D response.

If the bidding does start 1NT – P – 2C – P – 2D – P what should North bid?

North’s bid now to advertise a weak hand with both majors is 2H (NOT 2S, that has an entirely different meaning).

You play the SA and East plays the SQ.  Which of these 2 layouts is the more likely?

          ♠  AK97652                                           ♠  AK97652

  Jxx                        Q         or         xx                                QJ

          ♠  T4                                                    ♠  T4

Looking at the odds East starting with a holding of QJ is more likely.  Therefore, perhaps you should now play the SK.  This ignores one important point.  Holding QJ good defenders will about half the time play the J and half the time the Q.  So we now have the possibility that East played the Q because she had no choice, it was her only spade.  In fact, this is more likely than East having both Q and J and choosing to play the Q.  This is known as the principle of restricted choice.  Coming back to the South hand and finessing is the better option.

Let’s start with Board 11

If E/W start off with a club lead then there is nothing declarer can do about it: she will lose 3 clubs and 2 aces to make only 8 tricks.  What can be done if West’s opening lead is in the unbid suit, the H9?

The H9 looks like the top of rubbish so that places the HQ with East.  Declarer plays the HA and then the HT.  If East ducks then she discards a club.  She now has only 2 club losers.

Declarer then plays the HK and discards another club to leave her with just 3 losers.

If by some chance West turns out to have the HQ is declarer any worse off by losing a heart trick?  No.  She started with no heart losers and 3 club losers and after a losing ruffing finesse she would have had one heart loser and only 2 club losers.  That is 3 losers in either case.

The final scenario is if East covers the HT.  Declarer ruffs.  She needs to get to dummy for her club discards but has no entry.  Can she persuade the defenders to help her?

As East, what would you think if declarer played the DK?  Surely, it looks like declarer is going for diamond ruffs.  If so, it is time to play a trump.  The S4 to West’s SA and a trump continuation puts declarer in dummy with the ST for 2 club discards on the hearts.

And what if E/W don’t take the bait but switch to clubs?  Declarer gets her 8 tricks, a poor score and can only turn with a smile to whichever defender found the switch to clubs and say “Well played”.

Sometimes you just have to hope that the key cards are where you want them to be.  However, hope alone is seldom sufficient; good card play technique is usually needed as well.  For example, let’s take Board 16.

East has 6 club tricks plus the SA.  Any opening lead other than spades straightaway gives declarer the 2 extra tricks she needs.   Let’s assume an opening lead of the SK, a very likely lead anyway.

Declarer reasons thusly: if the spades are 4/4 then she is going to lose 3 spade tricks and 2 red aces for 1 off.  She has to hope for a 5/3 split but, more than that, she has to hope for the hand with only 3 spades to also hold both red aces.  It is a very long shot but if there is nothing else that will do then you have to play as if you know that is how the cards lie.

Declarer holds up until the third round of spades and then plays the HK.

South takes the trick but unfortunately for him he also holds the DA.  There is no entry to North’s long spades.  Declarer makes 1 spade, 2 hearts and 6 clubs: contract made.

And what was the good card play?  Holding up the SA until the third round of the suit was the key play.  Taking the SA sooner left South with a spade to get to the long spades in North’s hand.

Now let’s look at Board 25.  There are points of interest in the bidding as well as in the play.

The very minimum for an opening of 2C is 16 hcp.  The South hand is absolutely minimum in point count so the question is whether it is a good enough 16 points.  The 6 card heart suit is reasonable (only missing A and Q at the top) while all the high cards are concentrated in 3 suits.  There is good playing strength.  The 4 loser hand criterion is satisfied.  The South hand just merits an opening of 2C.

There is a general principle in competitive bidding.  If your opponents have shown great strength then all your bids show weak hands.  The converse is also true.  If your opponents have shown a weak hand (by pre-empting) then all your bids are strong (at least opening values).

After the 2C opening West does not need to jump to show a weak hand.  Any bid is weak.  West’s bid of 2S shows a hand with pre-emptive values.

After the 2S intervention by West any bid by North other than a pass is positive.  The equivalent to a 2D response is “Pass”.

Having opened 2C South’s rebid of 3H is game forcing.  North’s only option is to close her eyes and bid 4H.

West leads the SK and declarer assesses the situation.   The H8 in dummy is gold dust.  It consolidates the heart suit to make it only 2 losers in that suit.  There are then 2 diamonds and hopefully 4 clubs to go with the 4 heart tricks:  10 tricks are a real possibility.

East overtakes the SK and declarer ruffs and plays a low heart to the H8.  West takes her HQ and leads another spade.  Again, declarer ruffs.  Now she sets about the remaining trump suit confident that East has no more spades left (East’s doubleton spade is indicated by her overtaking the opening lead of the SK).  Declarer keeps leading hearts until East take her HA confident that when she does there will be a return in one of the minor suits: 10 tricks made.

Only 4 pairs reached game on Board 1.  Let’s see how to get there.

The Unassuming Cue Bid (UCB) is a bid of opener’s suit made in response to partner’s overcall.  It usually shows a strong hand and support for partner’s suit.  By strong we mean at least 10 hcp (15 Bhcp).  Overcaller is being asked to describe her hand a bit more.

Overcaller’s responses to the UCB are as follows:

With less than opening values overcaller repeats her suit at the lowest level available.  Here, that would have been a bid of 2S.

With opening values overcaller has to find some other bid.  The options are making a jump rebid in her suit (showing a 6 card suit); bidding a 4 card suit or bidding No Trumps with stops in opener’s suit.  If opener cannot make any of these bids she makes a further cue bid, in this case that would be a bid of 3H (you can work out that this boils down to overcaller having 5332 distribution and no heart stop).

Having finished the tutorial (sorry) we can see that East has a bid of 3C to show her opening values and 5/4 shape.  With a known 9 card fit and game values West doesn’t really have to think for very long before bidding game.

Only 2 declarers made 10 tricks on Board 17.  Let’s have a look.

Given the bidding the natural lead is the D9.  A reasonable alternative is the HK.

When dummy comes down West can see 8 easy tricks.  A heart ruff is necessary unless the clubs can be set up quickly to give heart discards.

If the HK is led then declarer takes with the HA and immediately plays a heart.  Now there is a guaranteed heart ruff and it only remains to avoid losing 2 club tricks.  If South has both club honours there is nothing West can do about it; she has to hope for split club honours.  As opener, South is more likely to have the CA than the CQ and so when leading from hand West should call for the CT to be played and as the cards lay only 1 club is lost.

If the D9 had been the opening lead, how many South’s would find the awkward switch to a trump?  Now there would be no prospect of a heart ruff.  Declarer draws trumps and again tackles clubs as before to set up the suit for heart discards (declarer can place the CQ with North since South would not take the first club trick with the CA if she held both the CA and the CQ). 

There are variations on these themes but whichever way the defence start there are always 10 tricks to be made.

I slipped up on Board 29.

As North I thought, okay – not much in the way of high card points but with just a little help in either suit and surely there must be a fair play for game.  My plan was to open 1H and rebid diamonds thus showing 5/4 distribution.  I would rebid diamonds again to show 5/5 and finally rebid diamonds yet again to show a 5 card diamond suit and hence 6/6 distribution.

After East’s double partner bid 2NT: an ace must have been hiding.  I stuck to my plan and bid 3D.  Partner then bid 3NT; he must have found that missing ace.  I saw no reason not to stick to my original plan, I bid 4D.  At this stage partner gave up and bid 5D.  I don’t like playing in 5 of a minor, it is usually a poor score; I bid the slam.

The opening lead was the CK, taken by the CA and I discarded the ST.

I called for the HT and ran it when it was not covered.  I then ruffed a club to get to hand for the diamond finesse.  It held but missing the DQ and DT there was no further finesse position so I had to play the DA: what luck.  I then got back to hand by ruffing a club and gave up a heart.  I then could claim my 12 tricks.

So where did I slip up?

I did not allow for the possibility of the hearts splitting 3/3.  I could have cashed the HA and ruffed a heart to bring down the HK.  I would then have made an overtrick.  However, that would have rubbed salt into the wounds of E/W who had done nothing wrong but had ended up with a complete bottom.

There were some interesting hands this Tuesday.  On Board 4 there were points of interest in both the bidding and the play.

This hand illustrates why, with 4 cards in both of the black suits, it is best to open 1C.  After a 1S opening by South, North is too weak to bid anything.  After a 1C opening North can bid 2C which South will probably Pass.  (Suppose that North’s black suit holdings were reversed.  After a 1S opening North could bid 2S.  After a 1C opening North could bid 1S.  In either case South might raise to 4S which might make, losing two Hearts and a Club.)

At three tables South finished in 3NT which made once and which was one off twice.  What should West lead?  The obvious choices according to modern ideas are the AH, the 9S or the 6D.  The AH allows West to have a look at dummy, and very often top of nothing is the most successful lead against 3NT.  Here all these leads will allow 3NT to make.  The traditional choice is the fourth highest of the longest and strongest suit.  Here the lead of the 4H defeats the contract with the defence scoring four Heart tricks and the AC.

Suppose West leads the AH.  If EW play normal attitude signals (high encourage) then the TH from East will look like an encouraging card.  But presumably South will have at least two Hearts, so on second thoughts the TH could be a singleton or from the doubleton QT.  If it is a singleton then it looks as if declarer will have three Heart tricks (assuming that there is an entry to dummy in Clubs) and the contact will then make comfortably.  If EW play reverse attitude signals (high-hate) then the TH will look like a discouraging card, maybe from the T8 doubleton.  In any case having had a look at dummy West is likely to lead the 9S to trick 2 (top of nothing).  If South ducks this then the contract will be defeated as East will cash the QH and the defence will later make West’s two Aces.  But if South correctly wins the first Spade then the contract will make with two Spades, three Diamonds (the finesse being right) and four Clubs.

Board 6 was interesting from the point of view of declarer play.

There are some marginal decisions for all four players to make on the bidding on this hand.  East might open 1NT having 5332 distribution and 14Hcp (19Bhp) but equally she might feel that a hand with 14Hcp and a five card major is too strong to open with 1NT.  It is likely that the hand would be played below the game level but at three tables game was reached, 4H twice and 3NT once.  How can declarer make these contracts?

In 3NT the lead will be the KS.  It is standard play to hold up the AS until the third round.  The Club finesse is right and the AD is forced out which gives declarer nine tricks with one Spade, five Hearts, one Diamond and two Clubs.

In 4H the lead might be the 5D in which case NS take the first two tricks with the AD and a Diamond ruff.  South will then lead the KS.  All declarer has to do then is to duck the first Spade, ruff a Spade in dummy, draw trumps, take the Club finesse and discard a Club loser on the QD.

Board 9 illustrates why leading away from a broken suit against a NT contract is a bad idea.

Suppose that East leads a Heart against 1NT.  North can then duck a Spade and later lead a Diamond from dummy towards the QD.  In practice North will make seven tricks with three Spades, two Hearts and two Diamonds.

Suppose however that East leads the TD against 1NT (top of nothing).  West takes the KD and leads another Diamond which is won in dummy.   North ducks a Spade and East leads her third Diamond, won by declarer with the QD.  North can then make three Spade tricks, West discarding a Club.  Presumably North will then take the Heart finesse but East wins and leads AC and another Club.  This gives EW seven tricks, one Spade, one Heart, three Diamonds and two Clubs.

So how does North make 1NT against a Diamond opening lead?  The key point is that North mustn’t play Hearts.  If North leads Clubs from the North hand twice (before cashing the Spades) then she will set up a Club trick  and make 1NT with three Spades, one Heart, two Diamonds and one Club.  But if East chooses not to lead a Heart then North will not be alerted to the danger presented by the Heart suit and will probably go down.

This week I am going to do a few general comments rather than go into depth on any hands.  Here is Board 4.

In standard Acol, once your partner has passed then if you open the bidding her response is no longer forcing.  This is useful when you hold a balanced hand just below normal opening values.  This is the situation facing East.

At my table East opened 1D (no doubt planning to pass any reply by West).

South overcalled 1NT and West passed.

The point I want to raise is that you should use the same conventions opposite an overcall of 1NT as you use opposite an opening bid of 1NT (but making allowance for any difference in the  point range).

If you play transfer bids then North bids 2D, a transfer to hearts.

South bids 2H and North has to evaluate her hand: should she bid 2NT to show invitational values or 3NT?  Whether you use hcp or Bhcp the initial indication is invitational values but that is without adding a little extra for the good 5 card suit.  Once that distributional factor is included North has game values and so should bid 3NT.  South converts to 4H.

Tip: use the same conventions opposite an overcall of 1NT as you use opposite an opening bid of 1NT.

At my table the bidding on Board 9 started:

N          S

1D        1H

2D

What is the minimum number of diamonds North should hold?

The answer is six.

Let’s see why.

First assume declarer has only 5 diamonds and another 4 card suit.  If that second suit is hearts, she can bid 2H.  If that second suit is spades or clubs then she can bid it.  Opener is not 5/4.

The only other distribution for declarer with a 5 card diamond suit is 5332.  In that case the distribution is classified as balanced and she would either open 1NT or rebid No Trumps.

Conclusion: declarer must hold at least 6 diamonds.

On Board 21 East had:

West opens 1H.  What should East respond?

East’s hand is weak and worth only one bid.  She needs to be as positive as she can be, telling her partner some good news.  The good news she has to tell is that she holds 3 card heart support.

East should respond 2H, not 1S.

As responder, how do you deal with an opponent’s take-out double when you hold decent values?  Board 27 gives an example.

What should East bid?

The first point is that if East has support for partner’s suit, she should bid one level higher than she would without the take-out double.  Here she does not have support for spades.

If East bids a new suit at the 2 level then she has at least 5 cards in that suit but she is weak, a maximum of 14 Bhcp/9 hcp.  Therefore, East is much too strong to bid 2C.

With strength, East redoubles.  Her message to opener is that N/S are in trouble.  Opener should now leave the bidding to East who will decide whether to double a N/S contract or to play a contract their way.  Here East should redouble.

West is now expected to pass unless she has made a light opening bid.  In this instance, when her turn to bid, West should bid 2S.  This tells East that there may not be a juicy fat double at the end of N/S’s bidding.

In 6 of the 10 times the board was played West was in 2S doubled, making on all but one occasion.

On Board 9 eight E/W declarers played in 4H making 10 or 11 tricks; two played in 5H (just one making) leaving the remaining E/W pair defending 5D doubled.

Well, as North are you going to pass?

South has made a weak jump overcall and North is also weak.  E/W rate to make 10 tricks.

Next, look at the vulnerability.  E/W being vulnerable look set to score + 620.  N/S are not vulnerable so 3 off doubled is only + 500 to N/S.  N/S need to make only 8 tricks to make bidding 5D worthwhile.  With such great trump support there must be 5 or 6 tricks in diamonds.

I bid 5D, partner played well and we did indeed make 8 tricks for an excellent score.

Tip: do be ready to sacrifice at favourable vulnerability.

It is the end of the evening and you are desperate for a top to push you into first position.  As East, how do you play the hand on Board 26?

South’s opening lead is the DK.

East counts his top tricks: 5 clubs and 1 in each of the other 3 suits.  One more trick will see East make his contract but in the circumstances that is not good enough.

First takes the first trick and tries the spades, leading the ST. 

You cover an honour with an honour in the hope of using up two of declarer’s top cards and so promoting one of your side’s lower card into a trick taking position.  North plays low and the ST wins.

Time for East to count potential tricks.  It looks like 4 spade, 1 heart, 1 diamond and 5 clubs.  Can East manufacture a 12^th trick?

Of course she can: she plays the D8 thus establishing the DJ as that vital extra trick.

On Board 2 only an unlikely spade lead stops declarer from making 12 tricks.

Assuming a natural lead of the DQ North wins in hand.

North counts her losers: 1 spade and possibly 2 clubs although that is unlikely on the bidding.

The spade loser can be got rid of easily.  Declarer draws trumps, crosses to the SA and discards a spade on the DK.

Now declarer needs to tackle the clubs.  Giving East an opening hand with 12 hcp leaves West with no more than a queen.  Could it be the CQ?  East’s opening lead was the DQ.  If he had held both the SK and SQ he would very likely have led the SK in preference to the DQ.  West rates to have the SQ rather than the CQ.  North plays the CJ intending to run it.  Playing for both CA and CQ to be with East results in only one club loser.

On Board 2 only two NS pairs bid game but both times the game made.  Why didn’t more pairs follow suit?

East nearly has an opening bid, but not quite.  South opens 1NT and North bids 2D as a transfer to Hearts.  So far so straightforward.  What does North do after South completes the transfer?  On the one hand the point count suggests that 2H is enough.  But with at least a seven-card fit in Hearts North can use the Losing Trick Count.  A 1NT opener usually has seven or eight losers (eight here).  North’s hand has only six losers.  18 – (6 + 8) = 4, so even if the South hand is on the weak side, it should be possible to make game.  North might decide that with a void it is best to bid a direct 4H (with the risk that South might have a doubleton Heart and that the North hand may be forced with Diamond leads).  Or she might decide to bid 3NT, which after the transfer shows a five-card Heart suit and asks South to bid 4H with three or more Hearts.

On Board 7 only three NS pairs bid a slam.  When 6NT was bid it unluckily failed because there was a Heart to lose by which time the Diamonds were wide open, but both times that 6H was bid it made comfortably.  Why didn’t more pairs bid 6H?

After South’s routine opening bid, East makes a weak jump overcall.  North Doubles, for take-out, which denies Heart support.  West bids 4D (bidding to the level of fit) and South bids 4H.  West has already bid her hand to the full (5D will be three off costing -800 as opposed to -620 if South makes 4H) and Passes.  What does North do now?  South has heard that North doesn’t have Heart support but nevertheless South has bid game in Hearts.  It follows that North’s doubleton Heart should be sufficient trump support.  On the bidding South should have a Diamond void.  North uses Blackwood to check that there aren’t two quick losers and bids a confident 6H.

The play on Board 19 was of interest when West played in Diamonds, which happened only once (but it was at my table).

I don’t recall how 3D was reached, but I suspect it was as shown.  In view of the vulnerability I don’t think I would recommend East’s Double, especially with only a three-card Heart suit.  The point of the hand however is in the play.  Assuming that 2S makes (it does), West has to make eight tricks to achieve a good score, as -100 for 3D-1 is better than -110 for 2S=.  With the Club finesse likely to be wrong, there seem to be (at least) six losers, one Spade, one Heart, two Diamonds and two Clubs.  But suppose the Clubs break 3-3, which on the bidding is quite possible?  In that case one of West’s losers can be discarded on the thirteenth Club.  Declarer wins the opening lead (let us say a Spade is led) and plays a trump.  The defence win, cash their Spade winner and North plays a Club.  West takes a losing Club finesse, wins the second Club in dummy and plays a another trump.  The defence can now cash their second Club trick but West’s Heart loser goes on the thirteenth Club.  The defence cannot successfully set up a Heart trick because, as the cards lie, if they open up the Heart suit, declarer can avoid losing a Heart.  And in any case, after the defence win their second Club trick they will have to open up Hearts or give a ruff and discard.

Cheers

James

How did so many pairs get away with playing in 4S on Board 25?

Some would open 1NT on that East hand but I prefer to get a decent 5 card major into the bidding as soon as possible.

South makes a weak jump overcall of 3C, showing 5 – 9 hcp and a 6 card club suit.

West cue bids in clubs to show first round control in that suit and agreeing spades.

North knows that they have 11 clubs between them so bids 5C, the level of fit.  At favourable vulnerability this is likely to be a good sacrifice even when doubled.

East is not going to be talked out of a spade contract and West, with a 6 loser hand, is prepared to bid slam.

All the eleven E/W pairs who played the board were in spades, but not one pair bid the slam.  Given the N/S club holding this might be forgiven but the disappointing thing is that nine E/W pairs played in 4S.  What were those nine opposing N/S pairs doing allowing that to happen?  Making weak jump overcalls and raising to the level of fit should be a reflex action, especially at favourable vulnerability.

Board 22 presented a basic bidding scenario.

South opens 1S.  North’s response of 1NT indicates a maximum of 2 spades and maybe none at all.

South’s rebid of 2D shows an unbalanced hand and asks responder to choose between her two suits.

North does not choose one of South’s suits.  Instead, she bids 2H.  This indicates a suit that is longer than either of opener’s; it must be at least a 6 card heart suit.  Opener is expected to pass unless she has an exceptional hand.  She doesn’t.

How is it that eight N/S pairs can keep bidding until a game contract is reached?  Two pairs were in spades (How?  Why?)  Only one pair were in the routine 2H contract.

On Board 9 a contract of 3NT was pretty near universal with 9 or 10 tricks being made so why am I looking at it? 

The points of interest are the choice of opening lead and what to discard.

West has to find the least damaging opening lead against what looks like confident bidding based on high card strength.

The first consideration is to estimate partner’s strength.  Giving N/S about 27 hcp for their bidding leaves roughly 5 hcp for partner.  West rates to be the stronger of the two defenders.

Both majors have been mentioned in the bidding so it is wise to avoid leading one of those; it is only likely to help declarer set up that suit.

You don’t want to lead from broken honours.  It is very likely that it is your opponents who have the missing high cards in that suit.  Here, a diamond lead presents declarer with an extra diamond trick.

That leaves clubs.  If partner does ever get in you don’t want a club continuation.  Therefore, lead the C9.

Now let’s turn our attention to East.  Suppose declarer plays off 4 club tricks.  What should East discard?  The rule is to keep length with your opponents.  Here you can see that if East were to discard a spade then when declarer runs the spades the S7 will win an extra trick.  Both majors have been shown in the bidding so East must not discard a heart or a spade.  That just leaves diamonds.  The first discard should be the DT (high hate) followed by another diamond.