Release 2.19q
Hands from 2017
Hands from 19th December 2017

North's opening bid was the issue on Board 3.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 3

Bidding

Dealer

 

South

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠ T

 

 

P

P

♥ AKJT

1D

P

P

P

♦ AK43

 

 

 

 

West

♣ KQ95

East

 

 

P

P

♠ K863

 

♠ AQ5

2NT

P

3H

P

♥ Q93

♥ 654

3NT

P

P

P

♦ JT96

♦ 85

 

 

 

 

♣ J6

South

♣ A8743

 

 

2C

P

Bhcp

29

12              13

6

♠ J9742

Hcp

20

7              10

3

2D

P

2H

P

♥ 872

4H

P

P

P

♦ Q72

 

 

 

 

♣ T2

 

 

 

 

 

I have shown three possible bidding sequences.  The first one is the orthodox sequence.  North has a strong hand but with the least favourable distribution, 4441.  She opens 1D intending to reverse by bidding 2H over the likely 1S response.  If you open 1D and partner can respond then you should find a playable contract.  Sadly on this occasion South is very weak and passes 1D.  This would work well if there were no game contract available but here 3NT makes and bidding 1D gained at most a score of 40%.

 

When you have 4441 distribution you have to be prepared to give a false impression of your hand.  If your singleton is in Spades and, as here, you intend to bid 1D then 2H, then you give the false impression that you hold five Diamonds.  So with 20 Hcp why not open with a game forcing bid?  You might for example open 2NT, taking the risk that you end up playing in NT when the opposition can take lots of Spade tricks.  Here if you open 2NT the likely sequence is the second one shown.  Partner transfers to Spades intending to Pass your 3S rebid.  As you don't want to play in Spades you rebid 3NT (glad to hear that however weak partner is, she may have a Spade stopper).  As luck would have it, 3NT makes.

 

Alternatively you could open 2C as you have a four-loser hand and your best suit is Hearts.  This would propel you into a failing 4H contract as, with three-card support, partner would bid 4H on the principle of fast arrival, since she has a weak hand (and 2C is a game forcing opening bid).

 

Which of the three opening bids is best is a matter of luck.  Maybe the form of scoring is key.  At pairs you should avoid marginal game contracts so in the long run the orthodox 1D opening bid is probably best.  At teams you should bid marginal game contracts so perhaps trying 2NT or 2C is sensible.

 

 

Board 19 was a dull hand as at all tables North played in Spades and made 10 or 11 tricks, and all but one pair bid the game.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 19

Bidding

Dealer

 

South

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠ AKQJ43

 

 

P

P

♥ AQT

1S

P

2C

P

♦ 85

4S

 

 

 

West

♣ 98

East

 

 

 

 

♠ T

 

♠ 972

 

 

 

 

♥ J8762

♥ 54

 

 

 

 

♦ T97

♦ A6432

 

 

 

 

♣ KQT6

South

♣ A73

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

23

12              10

15

♠ 865

Hcp

16

6                  8

10

 

 

 

 

♥ K93

 

 

 

 

♦ KQJ

 

 

 

 

♣ J542

 

 

 

 

 

Playing pairs when you are in the contract that you expect most pairs to be playing in, it is vital to make as many tricks as possible.  Here when North looks at the opening lead and at dummy she will realise that nearly all pairs will be playing in 4S.  There are three obvious losers, two Clubs and the AD, but is there any way to avoid one of these losers?  When I played the hand I thought not (because of course I respected my opponents), conceded three tricks and emerged with a score of 40%.  How could I have done better?  Well, if the defence was awake then maybe I couldn't, but it is always worth giving the defenders a chance to go wrong.  At my table the lead had been a low Heart.  What if I had won in dummy and immediately led a Diamond?  With five cards in the suit, East would have won the first Diamond in case I had a singleton.  Then East would have had to lead a Club to hold me to ten tricks.  If she led any other suit at trick three I would have been able to draw trumps, discard a losing Club on a Diamond winner and I would have finished with eleven tricks.  The Norths who made eleven tricks scored an excellent 90%.  The key to this type of play is to force the defenders to make a key decision as early as possible.  If you leave it until later in the hand then they can signal to each other, see how the cards lie in the other suits and do a bit of leisurely thinking.  Then they are much less likely to make a mistake!

 

 

Board 15 was Passed Out three times, which gave E/W a score of 80%.  Could they have done better by bidding?

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 15

Bidding

Dealer

 

South

North

Vulnerability

 

N/S

N

E

S

W

♠ T96

 

 

P

P

♥ T86

P

1S

P

2S

♦ A864

P

P

P

 

West

♣ AQ7

East

 

 

 

 

♠ AKJ52

 

♠ Q873

 

 

 

 

♥ Q9

♥ A54

 

 

 

 

♦ 972

♦ KQT

 

 

 

 

♣ 643

South

♣ T85

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

15

14              17

14

♠ 4

Hcp

10

10              11

9

 

 

 

 

♥ KJ732

 

 

 

 

♦ J53

 

 

 

 

♣ KJ92

 

 

 

 

 

After three Passes, East has to decide whether to bid or Pass.  The key when fourth in hand after three Passes with a hand with nearly an opening bid is to look at your holding in Spades.  Here you have a four-card Spade suit, so your plan should be to open 1S and Pass any response from partner.  South's Hearts are not good enough to bid at the two-level (especially as N/S are vulnerable), so the focus is on West.  West must not get over-excited by her excellent Spade suit.  She has 9 Hcp and a nine-loser hand, so her correct response is to raise partner to 2S.  Everyone Passes and E/W play in their best contract.  The one pair who played in 2S scored 100%

Comment
Hands from 5th December 2017

Only one pair bid the slam on Board 6.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 6

Bidding

Dealer

 

East

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠ QJT63

 

1D

P

3NT

♥ Q97

P

4C

P

4NT

♦ J932

P

6NT

P

P

West

♣ 2

East

P

 

 

 

♠ A52

 

♠ 9

 

 

 

 

♥ A42

♥ K83

 

 

 

 

♦ T85

♦ AKQ764

 

 

 

 

♣ AQ54

South

♣ K86

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

11

19              20

10

♠ K874

Hcp

6

14              15

5

 

 

 

 

♥ JT65

 

 

 

 

♦ -

 

 

 

 

♣ JT973

 

 

 

 

 

When West bids 3NT in response to East's routine opening bid, East can see that 3NT will be easy and that a slam is possible.  She uses the Gerber ace-asking bid, which comes into play when there is no suit agreement and NT has been bid, discovers that partner has the three missing aces, and bids 6NT expecting that there will be at least eleven tricks, made up of six Diamonds, the three aces in partner's hand, the KH and the KC.  As partner has shown more than the 12 HCP represented by her three aces, there might well be another trick available (as there is in the form of the QC).  But should East bid in this way?  3NT looks to be cold and 6D or 6NT may make, but not certainly.  It probably comes down to how well you feel you are doing so far.  If you feel you are doing pretty well, then settle for 3NT.  The pairs who did so on this hand mostly scored  an acceptable 65%.  But if you feel that you are not doing so well, then try for the slam.  The one pair that did so scored 100%.

 

 

At my table Board 9 was passed out.  At all other tables it provoked fireworks.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 9

Bidding

Dealer

 

East

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠ T86

P

1H

X

4H

♥ T3

5D

P

P

P

♦ KQJ62

 

 

 

 

West

♣ K92

East

P

2H

P

4H

♠ Q3

 

♠ K97

P

P

P

 

♥ KJ974

♥ AQ8652

 

 

 

 

♦ AT9

♦ -

 

 

 

 

♣ T64

South

♣ J875

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

15

16              14

15

♠ AJ542

Hcp

9

10              10

11

 

 

 

 

♥ -

 

 

 

 

♦ 87543

 

 

 

 

♣ AQ3

 

 

 

 

 

With wild distribution it is hard to be prescriptive about the bidding.  Two possible sequences are shown.  In the first, East opens 1H.  I feel this is the best bid as the hand satisfies the rule of 20 and none of the high cards are in short suits.  Over a 1H opening bid South is worth a Double.  If South intervenes in any way then West will bid 4H.  Without intervention West would bid 3H.  North then has a close decision to make.  South's Double promises something in Diamonds so it looks as if there will be few Diamond tricks for the defence if 4H is the final contract.  South is obviously short in Hearts and should have some high cards in both black suits.  5D might make or might be a good sacrifice if 4H is making.  An important consideration is that N/S are non-vulnerable.  On balance I think 5D should be bid.

 

If East prefers to open with 2H then being vulnerable and with only 11 Hcp, South might well Pass.  Knowing of an eleven-card Heart fit, West bids 4H.  Now North has no reason to come into the auction and 4H will be the final contract.  This suggests that East should open 2H, which describes her distribution very well and which may have the considerable virtue of keeping N/S out of the bidding - especially as 5D makes.

 

4H should be defeated - the defence has three Club tricks and the AS - but three times it made.  Suppose South led a Diamond.  Maybe declarer won the AD discarding a Club, drew trumps and led a Spade towards dummy.  If South went up with the AS and led a "safe" Diamond, then declarer would have been able to discard one of the losing Clubs in dummy on the KS.  But why play in this way?  If South plays low when the first Spade is led towards dummy, then there will be no opportunity to discard a Club and eventually the defence will come to their rightful four tricks.

 

 

The first question on Board 14 was, should N/S bid?

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 14

Bidding

Dealer

 

East

North

Vulnerability

 

None

N

E

S

W

♠ -

 

P

P

1S

♥ J987

P

1NT

P

4S

♦ K83

P

P

P

 

West

♣ JT5432

East

 

 

 

 

♠ KQJ983

 

♠ T65

 

P

1NT

3S

♥ QT65

♥ A42

4C

4S

P

P

♦ AQ9

♦ T64

P

 

 

 

♣ -

South

♣ KQ76

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

9

21              14

16

♠ A742

Hcp

5

14                9

12

 

 

 

 

♥ K3

 

 

 

 

♦ J752

 

 

 

 

♣ A98

 

 

 

 

 

If you use the Bhcp method of hand evaluation, then the South hand is too weak to open 1NT.  Using Bhcp you need 18 Bhcp to open 1NT.  If South does Pass then E/W would have an easy path to 4S.  One advantage of the weak NT is that it is pre-emptive.  If South chooses to open 1NT then West should jump to show her four-loser hand.  North can then see that 4S is likely to make and might try to muddy the waters by bidding 4C.  This shouldn't stop E/W from reaching 4S.  (5C would be a step too far.  It should be three-off doubled, which would give a poor score assuming that E/W can make a non-vulnerable game.)

 

The next question is, can West make 4S?  The likely lead is the JC which would be unfortunate for the defence as this would give declarer a Club trick in dummy which might otherwise be difficult to both establish and cash.  After ruffing the AC West would lead trumps until South takes the AS.  South might then lead a Diamond.  Whether Diamonds are first led by South or from dummy, West should play low on the first Diamond trick.  The principle is that, where there are two finesses available in a suit, you should take the lower one first.  Here the 9D loses to the KD and then West has no more Diamonds to lose.  It only remains to cross to dummy with the AH to discard one Heart on the winning Club and then to lead towards the QH.  Assuming that South has the KH this will restrict declarer's losers to one Spade, one Diamond and one Heart.

 

If North finds a different lead then the contract can still be made.  A Heart lead is won by South's KH and then South will probably return a Diamond.  North wins the KD and returns a second Diamond, won by West.   (If North returns a Heart then declarer's TH becomes a trick; if North plays a Club then as before a Club trick is established in dummy.)  Now West cashes the AD and the QD and then sets about trumps, South winning the third round (or an earlier round if West leads low to the TS).  South returns her second Heart, won in dummy by the AH.  West returns to her hand by ruffing a Club (which will establish a Club winner in dummy) and draws the remaining trump(s).  West still has a Heart to lose but cannot reach the Club winner in dummy and finishes one down. 

 

I am aware that the first and last sentences of the last paragraph do not add up.  (The analysis is similar on a Diamond lead).  I challenge anyone to tell me how West can make 4S on a Heart or a Diamond lead.

Comment
Hands from 28th November 2017

My first board was Board 1 which proved to be an interesting, if not successful, start to the evening!

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 1

BIDDING

Dealer

 

North

North

Vulnerability

 

None

N

E

S

W

♠ 832

P

P

1S

P

♥ JT84

2S

P

4S

P

♦ AJ

P

P

P

 

West

♣ J865

East

 

 

 

 

♠ 754

 

♠ T9

 

 

 

 

♥ AK9

♥ Q7532

 

 

 

 

♦ Q875

♦ K32

 

 

 

 

♣ T73

South

♣ Q94

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

12

13              11

24

♠ AKQJ6

Hcp

7

9                  7

17

 

 

 

 

♥ 6

 

 

 

 

♦ T964

 

 

 

 

♣ AK2

 

 

 

 

 

South's opening bid is routine.  With 6-9 Hcp, three-card support and a ruffing value North should respond 2S not 1NT.  South now knows that there is at least and eight-card Spade fit and, using the Losing Trick Count, bids 4S.  North should have nine losers for the 2S response and South has a five-loser hand, suggesting that 4S will make.

 

4S can be made, but at the table we made only nine tricks which gave us a poor score.  My partner and I were sitting out in Round 2 and we tried to work out how to make 4S but we couldn't see how to do it.  I have finally worked it out, after a long analysis.  The problem is, that you only have a couple of minutes to work it out at the table!

 

West starts off with two rounds of Hearts.  Declarer ruffs the first round and takes a Diamond finesse, losing the East's King.  Seeing the danger of a Diamond ruff, East returns a trump, won by South.  South crosses to the AD and returns to the AC.  Then she leads the TD.  If West covers this is ruffed in dummy.  Now trumps can be drawn and the contract is made with five Spades, one ruff in dummy, the AD, two Clubs and the promoted 9D.  If West refuses to cover the TD then a Club is thrown from dummy and a second round of trumps is drawn before ruffing a Diamond in dummy.  East cannot overruff and as before the contract is made.

 

The key to planning the play is to see that the JT9 sequence in Diamonds can be made into a trick and also that the alternative lines (trying to set up a Heart winner in dummy or trying to set up the thirteenth Club as a winner) won't work because of the lack of sufficient entries in dummy.

 

 

Board 22 was in some ways similar.  My partner and I bid to an excellent game contract but we went one off, giving us a poor score.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 22

BIDDING

Dealer

 

East

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠ -

 

P

1S

P

♥ JT62

2C

P

2S

P

♦ KJ43

3C

P

4C

P

West

♣ AQT82

East

5C

P

P

P

♠ AK865

 

♠ J3

P

 

 

 

♥ K95

♥ A84

 

 

 

 

♦ Q85

♦ T9762

 

P

1S

P

♣ 76

South

♣ J43

2C

P

2S

P

Bhcp

18

16              10

16

♠ QT9742

Hcp

11

12                6

11

3NT

P

P

P

♥ Q73

P

 

 

 

♦ A

 

 

 

 

♣ K95

 

 

 

 

Our bidding sequence was the first one shown.  At the table I was tempted to bid 3NT instead of 3C, which would have resulted, no doubt, in 3NT being the final contract.  But I had to make 5C on the lead of the 6D.  It seems obvious, looking at all four hands, to win in dummy and to lead a low heart.  If Hearts are 3-3 and if one of the missing honours is with West, then the Hearts will be established and as long as the trumps can be played without loss then overall there will be only two losers and the contract will make.  Of course things never seem so simple when you are declarer.  I thought I might make on a cross-ruff and started by ruffing Spades in hand and Diamonds in dummy.  When the QD fell I feared an overruff and also realised that my JD was a winner, so I changed my plan (not usually a good idea) and drew trumps.  The problem with this is that when I led Hearts I could be forced in Spades and eventually I was one down.

 

 

On Boards 1 and 22 the message was clear.  It doesn't matter how good you are at bidding to the best contract, what you should do is bid to the level of your declarer play!

 

 

Board 9 was interesting in that E/W played in NT six times, making nine tricks five times - but they should have made only eight tricks.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 9

BIDDING

Dealer

 

North

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠ Q7

P

1S

P

2D

♥ A9654

P

2NT

P

3NT

♦ 8732

P

P

P

 

West

♣ AJ

East

 

 

 

 

♠ JT

 

♠ A9864

P

1S

P

1NT

♥ J2

♥ KQ

P

3S

P

3NT

♦ KQJ965

♦ AT4

P

P

P

 

♣ 976

South

♣ KT4

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

15

14              23

8

♠ K532

Hcp

11

8                16

5

 

 

 

 

♥ T873

 

 

 

 

♦ -

 

 

 

 

♣ Q8532

 

 

 

 

 

After East's opening bid of 1S West might bid 2D (using the rule of 14) or 1NT.  In either case. with West's trick source, the likely final contract is 3NT.  Only a Heart lead gives the defence a chance of defeating the contract.  Otherwise  a Club can be led from the West hand to establish the KC and there will be a Heart trick to add to the six Diamonds and the AS.  If North is on lead and leads the 5H then East wins and declarer can cash six Diamonds.  North has to find two discards.  North must not discard a Heart!  If she does so, then the East hand will win a ninth trick for declarer.  If North instead discards a Club and a Spade then when declarer plays a Club towards the KC then North has enough tricks to defeat the contract (as long as South doesn't carelessly block the Hearts).  Alternatively declarer might try the AS and another Spade.  The QS drops but South wins the KS and then North will still have the AC and enough winning Hearts to put the contract one down.  If West is declarer, it should be easy for North to work all this out.  As the play develops, she can see that declarer will have six Diamonds, the AS and one Heart trick.  The KC will be declarer's ninth trick and North knows that the AC is well-placed for declarer.  The only chance to defeat the contract is that the defence has four Heart tricks.  So don't throw away a Heart!  At the table, I was North and I threw away a Heart.

 

Comment
Hands from 21st November 2017

Board 5 illustrated an important point about bidding.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 5

BIDDING

Dealer

 

North

North

Vulnerability

 

N/S

N

E

S

W

♠ 62

2H

P

P

P

♥ KQ9654

 

 

 

 

♦ Q

 

 

 

 

West

♣ K953

East

 

 

 

 

♠ AJT97

 

♠ KQ

 

 

 

 

♥ AJ832

♥ 7

 

 

 

 

♦ -

♦ J97542

 

 

 

 

♣ 764

South

♣ AJT8

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

14

15              17

14

♠ 8543

Hcp

10

10              11

9

 

 

 

 

♥ T

 

 

 

 

♦ AKT863

 

 

 

 

♣ Q2

 

 

 

 

 

There is a principle, that if the opponents make weak bids, you should only make strong bids (and vice versa).  Here once North opens with a weak 2 in Hearts, all three of the other players should Pass.  East has just about got an opening hand, but if she Doubles 2H she isn't going to be very happy with the likely Spade bid from partner.  And East's minor suits are too poor to bid at the three-level.  South has a decent Diamond suit but why should N/S want to play in a 6-1 fit at the three-level instead of a 6-1 fit at the two-level?  As for West, she is happy to play in 2H.  The two Norths who played in 2H scored very poorly.  The N/S pairs who scored well did so because E/W played in 2S, 3S or even 4S.  2S made but did not earn as many points as could be made by defeating North's 2H vulnerable contract by two tricks.  Five E/W pairs went off in their overoptimistic Spade contracts.

 

 

I was rightly annoyed with myself after I misbid Board 11.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 11

BIDDING

Dealer

 

South

North

Vulnerability

 

None

N

E

S

W

♠ 632

 

 

1D

P

♥ KQ52

2D

3C

3D

4C

♦ KQT86

4D

P

P

P

West

♣ J

East

 

 

 

 

♠ KQ9

 

♠ J84

 

 

1D

P

♥ T9

♥ 863

1H

3C

3H

4C

♦ 932

♦ J

4H

P

P

P

♣ T8765

South

♣ AKQ432

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

17

9                16

18

♠ AT75

Hcp

11

5                11

13

 

 

 

 

♥ AJ74

 

 

 

 

♦ A754

 

 

 

 

♣ 9

 

 

 

 

 

The bidding at my table was the first sequence shown (with me sitting North).  I bid 2D on the first round because I thought that my partner and I were playing Inverted Minors, where the 2D response would show 10-12 Hcp and Diamond support.  Even as I made the bid I suspected that partner might misunderstand my bid, as we have forgotten that we play Inverted Minors in the past.  When partner failed to alert my bid I suspected that we had had a misunderstanding and I bid Diamonds a couple more times, so that we finished in a making contract.  The problem was, of course, that we were in the wrong contract!  And it was my fault.  When partner opens with a minor suit at the one-level, if you have a four-card major suit you must bid it!  The second bidding sequence shows how we might have reached the obvious 4H contract, with E/W still trying to make a nuisance of themselves.

Comment
Hand from 14th November 2017

This week I am going to look at quite an advanced play.  It is a squeeze where the defenders have an opportunity to put declarer onto the wrong track but declarer should not be fooled.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 2

BIDDING

Dealer

East

 

North

Vulnerability

N/S vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  T8

 

1D

P

1H

♥  QT4

P

2C

P

3N

♦  AT

P

4N

P

6N

West

♣ QJT964

East

 

Being vulnerable neither North or South should bid their 6 card suits.

 

Both the 4NT and 6NT bids are optimistic.

♠  AQ3

 

♠  K4

♥  AKJ62

♥  53

♦  QJ9

♦  K6432

♣  82

South

♣ AK75

Bhcp

17

24        17

2

♠  J97652

Hcp

9

17        13

1

♥  984

♦  875

♣ 3

 

North leads the CQ and West now has to justify his aggressive jump to 6NT.

The opening trick is taken with the CK and the D2 played.  This does two things: it sets about establishing the diamond suit and also rectifies the count.

For a squeeze to work declarer must be able to win all the remaining tricks except one.  With the normal 3/2 split in diamonds declarer will have 11 top tricks.  She can win all the remaining tricks save one; the count is rectified so that condition for the squeeze to work is satisfied.

North takes his DA and plays the CJ.  The CA wins and the DJ is cashed.  Both follow so there are indeed 4 diamond tricks.

Declarer then cashes 3 rounds of spades; on the third round North discards a club.

Declarer now plays a diamond to the DK and again North discards a club.

Declarer plays yet another diamond and another club is discarded by North.

This is now the position as declarer calls for the last diamond to be played.

               N

             ♠  --

♥  QT4

♦  --

   W      ♣  T           E

♠  --                  ♠  --

♥  AKJ6           ♥  5

♦  --                  ♦  6

♣ --         S       ♣  75

             ♠  J

♥  983

♦  --

♣ --

 

The D6 is played, South discards the SJ and declarer the H6 but what is North to do?

If he discards the CT then East’s C7 and C5 are established while if he discards the H4 West’s HA and HK drop the HQ and declarer’s HJ is the 12th trick.

 

So how can North try to put declarer off the scent?

In the middle of discarding clubs he could try discarding the HT (high hate) in an attempt to convince declarer that South held the HQ and finesse,

 

Of course, this should not work.  If for any reason South does get on the lead declarer will already be off.  There is no need for North to signal to his partner.  Therefore, declarer should realise that the signal is false and play North for the HQ.

 

 

Comment
Hands from 7th November 2017

This week we concentrate on slams, unfortunately seldom bid.

 

North

N

S

 

♠  K963

1S

2C

 

♥  AJ5

2N

3C

 

♦  865

3H

3S

 

♣ AK6

4C

4N

 

 

Board 25

 

6C

6N

 

 

 

South

 

♠  AQ

 

♥  98

 

♦  AT

 

♣ QJT9872

 

 

First let’s look at the bidding on Board 25.  With 15 hcp North opens 1S, South responds 2C and North rebids 2NT.  So far, so good but what do you make of South’s next bid, 3C?  Is it strong or weak?  The critical point to recognise is that North’s 2NT bid is game forcing.  South has shown at least 10 points by responding 2C and North a minimum of 15 points.  A total of 25 points is enough for game so 2NT is game forcing.  As both players have to keep bidding until at least game is reached South’s 3C is forcing.  It is a strong bid.  In fact, it is asking opener whether she is interested in a club slam.  Cue bidding follows (3H and 3S) and 4C is key card asking.  4NT shows 2 key cards plus the CQ so the slam is bid.  In duplicate South should go for the extra points available in the no trump contract.  There are 12 tricks off top.  Only one pair bid the slam.

 

 

Now let’s give E/W a turn by looking at Board 4.

 

West

East

W

E

♠  Q82

♠  A3

 

2C

♥  85

♥  AKQT63

2N

3H

♦  T65

♦  AK74

3N

4D

♣  AQ832

♣ 6

4H

4N

 

 

5C

6H

 

The bidding starts easily enough with 2C, 2NT (a positive response suggesting possible slam values) and 3H (to indicate opener’s suit).  West then shows a balanced hand with less than 3 hearts (with 3 hearts West would have supported opener) by bidding 3NT.  Opener tries her second suit and West gives preference to hearts.  With a 3 loser hand that is enough for East to go into Blackwood and bid the slam.  In the play declarer needs the normal 3/2 split in trumps and the club finesse to work in order to discard the S3.  It was her lucky evening.  Only two pairs bid the slam.

 

 

We go back to N/S for our next slam hand, Board 2.

 

North

N

S

 

♠  8

 

1C

 

♥  AK8542

1H

1S

 

♦  KQT94

2D

3C

 

♣ 5

3D

3H

 

 

Board 2

4N

5S

 

6H

 

 

 

 

South

 

♠  A653

 

♥  Q7

 

♦  J

 

♣ AQJT98

 

 

The first three bids are routine.  2D is Fourth Suit Forcing asking South to say something more about her hand.  With little more to say South bids 3C.  Repeating the fourth suit (3D) shows a minimum of 5 diamonds and South gives preference to hearts.  With a 4 loser hand opposite an opening bid, North goes to Blackwood and the two key cards plus the HQ is enough for the slam to be bid.  Once the DA has been forced out declarer has 12 tricks.  Only two pairs bid the slam.

 

 

Showing no favouritism the final slam hand is for E/W, Board 10.

 

West

East

W

E

♠  KQ6

♠  AJT873

 

1S

♥  A9

♥  KT

2C

2D

♦  973

♦  AJT8

2H

2S

♣ AKQT7

♣ 2

4N

5H

 

 

6S

 

 

By bidding a second suit (2D) East is promising a minimum of a 5 card spade suit.  West’s problem now is to get East to bid spades again, she has a 5 loser hand opposite an opening hand.  2H is Fourth Suit Forcing and East decides to suggest a sixth spade by bidding 2S.

At least here we had five pairs bidding the slam.

 

 

Comment
Hands from 31st October 2017

Most of us play that a jump overcall is weak; a hand which would merit a weak opening bid at the 2 level.  As a generalisation this is true, but not always.

As it happens there was a board where this generalisation did not hold up: Board 22.

The situation was that both opponents had already made a bid.  As both opponents had bid each of them had a reasonably good idea as to whether they had fitting hands or had a misfit.  They would therefore be in a better position to decide whether to double any intervention for penalties.  As there is an increased possibility of being doubled a jump overcall now needs to be stronger: intermediate strength which is 10 – 12 points.

 

On Board 22 East dealt and the bidding starts:

1C – P – 1H.

As North you hold:

♠  AQJ532

♥  T87

♦  A4

♣  85

You have 11 hcp, just the right strength for a jump overcall of 2S in 4th position.  You are causing quite a disruption to your opponents’ bidding while not taking too much of a risk.

As it happened South had 9 hcp and a doubleton spade: 3S was the winning contract.

 

Continuing the theme of the weak 2, on Board 7 where both pairs were vulnerable South dealt and picked up:

♠  JT9642

♥  T8

♦  9763

♣  6

Would you, vulnerable, open a weak 2S on that hand?

I wouldn’t but at my table South really stuck her head out to open 2S.

Here is the full hand:

Dlr:

South

Vul:

All

 

♠ 8

 J 9 7

 Q 10 5

♣ K J 10 7 5 3

 

♠ 5 3

 A Q 5 4 3 2

 A K J 8

♣ 9

W
e
s
t

North

E
a
s
t

7

South

 

♠ A K Q 7

 K 6

 4 2

♣ A Q 8 4 2

 

7

 

14

 

18

 

1

 
 

♠ J 10 9 6 4 2

 10 8

 9 7 6 3

♣ 6

 

♣ 

♦ 

♥ 

♠ 

N

N

-

-

-

-

-

S

-

-

-

-

-

E

4

6

7

4

7

W

4

6

7

4

7

 

E/W ended up in 4H, missing the slam.  More than that, declarer placed most of the missing high cards with South and so made only 12 tricks.

Result: 95% to N/S.

I wouldn’t recommend it but here the very, very, very weak 2S paid off handsomely.

 

While I am on about weak 2s here is something from Board 2 played last week (24th October).

As South you hold:

♠ K 8 7 5 3 2

 A 9 8 6

 9 6

♣ 3

East opens 1C.  Should you overcall only 1S (because of the good 4 card heart suit) or bid 2S?

If you had been due to make the opening bid the 4 card heart suit would have been a fair reason for not bidding 2S.  However, once you are in the overcalling position that consideration no longer applies.  What sort of hand can you give your partner where she would ignore a 6 card major in order to bid the other major?  It is going to happen only very, very occasionally.

When your opponents open and you have a weak 2 then nearly always they have the majority of the points (even on Board 2 where West held only 4 hcp E/W had the majority).  You need to pre-empt immediately and to the full level indicated by your distribution.  Despite the 4 card heart suit South should bid 2S.

 

Tip: when considerig whether to make a weak jump overcall ignore any 4 card major you may have.

 

 

Comment
Hands from 24th October 2017

Board 7 illustrated an important point about bidding.

 

As dealer you pick up this hand:

♠  AQJ984

♥  J

♦  Q6432

♣  3

Should you open the bidding?  Most certainly yes.  Using the rule of twenty you have eleven cards in your two longest suits and (discounting the singleton JH) 9 Hcp.  This adds up to twenty, so you are strong enough to open 1S.  If you don't want to open 1S, open 2S.  With a six card suit, there is no hand that it too strong to open 2S that is too weak to open 1S.

 

 

Board 9 illustrated another important point about bidding.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 9

BIDDING

Dealer

 

North

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠ Q32

P

1C

1H

1S

♥ 975

2H

2S

P

P

♦ QT4

P

 

 

 

West

♣ Q976

East

 

 

 

 

♠ JT965

 

♠ A84

 

 

 

 

♥ QJT

♥ A2

 

 

 

 

♦ A62

♦ K98

 

 

 

 

♣ J8

South

♣ AT542

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

10

16              20

14

♠ K7

Hcp

6

9                15

10

 

 

 

 

♥ K8643

 

 

 

 

♦ J753

 

 

 

 

♣ K3

 

 

 

 

 

After East's 1C opening bid South overcalls 1H.  The suit is poor but N/S are non-vulnerable and in any case it pays to get into the bidding if at all possible.  West now bids 1S.  If you play Negative Doubles (and you should!) then this bid shows at least five Spades since a Double of a 1H overcall shows precisely four Spades.  These bids are really useful as they help the opener in the subsequent bidding.  Here East can bid 2S knowing that her side has an eight-card fit in Spades.  In general a Negative Double shows exactly four cards in the highest ranking unbid suit (and a Negative Double of a 1D overcall shows exactly four Hearts and 4 Spades).

 

 

I was rightly annoyed with myself after I misplayed Board 19.   During the auction I thought that my partner was overbidding (naturally not taking the trouble to question my own bidding) and when dummy went down I thought that my suspicions were confirmed.  So as declarer I took the attitude that the contract was hopeless.  But what you should do in such a situation is to think whether there is a distribution that will allow you to make the contract and then play for that distribution.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 19

BIDDING

Dealer

 

South

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠ KQJ95

 

 

1D

P

♥ K765

1S

P

2C

P

♦ J6

2S

P

3C

P

West

♣ 97

East

3D

P

3H

P

♠ T832

 

♠ A74

3NT

 

 

 

♥ QJT98

♥ 43

 

 

 

 

♦ 4

♦ Q9875

 

 

 

 

♣ AT5

South

♣ KJ3

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

15

13              14

18

♠ 6

Hcp

10

7                10

13

 

 

 

 

♥ A2

 

 

 

 

♦ AKT32

 

 

 

 

♣ Q8642

 

 

 

 

 

I do not recommend the bidding.  But how should I have planned to make the contract on the lead of a low Heart (which was clearly indicated by the bidding)?  When dummy goes down the first thing to remember is that you must plan the play before the first card is played from the dummy.  (Here it is vital to win the first Heart in dummy, to preserve an entry to hand.)  Where can declarer find nine tricks?  Even if the Clubs break 3-3 there is not enough time to establish them before the defence establish their Hearts, so forget the Clubs (and hope the defence forgets them too!)  So seven tricks have to come from Spades and Diamonds to go with the two Heart tricks.  If you assume the most likely breaks, Diamonds are likely to be 4-2 and Spades 4-3.  If the Diamonds are 4-2 then, even with the finesse right the suit will probably only provide three tricks because the two lowest Diamonds in dummy are the two lowest Diamonds.  Therefore four tricks are needed from Spades.  The key card will be the ten.  If it falls under the KQJ or if it is with West so that it can be finessed, then four tricks can be made.  So, win the first heart in dummy, lead a Spade, play the nine and lose to the ace, win the next Heart in hand, cash four Spades, finesse the TD, cash the two top Diamonds, sit back and remember not to criticise partner's bidding.  Phew!

 

 

Board 17 was another hand where I failed to make my contract, which was 4S.  At the time I felt I was unlucky but the computer says that North can make 4S and not only that but also four declarers made at least ten tricks with Spades as trumps.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 17

BIDDING

Dealer

 

North

North

Vulnerability

 

None

N

E

S

W

♠ 96

1NT

P

2H

P

♥ K985

2S

P

4S

P

♦ AJ3

P

P

 

 

West

♣ AQ73

East

 

 

 

 

♠ K72

 

♠ T8

 

 

 

 

♥ QJT42

♥ A6

 

 

 

 

♦ 92

♦ QT85

 

 

 

 

♣ J98

South

♣ KT542

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

19

12              15

14

♠ AQJ543

Hcp

14

7                  9

10

 

 

 

 

♥ 73

 

 

 

 

♦ K764

 

 

 

 

♣ 6

 

 

 

 

 

South has a six-loser hand and it must be right to bid 4S.  There are finesses in all four suits and, looking at all four hands, you can see that all four finesses are wrong for declarer.  I received the generous lead of the AH which gave me a trick with the KH but I still had to lose the KS and the QD when I took losing finesses.  When West led a Club I rose with the ace, but in any case the KC was off side.  I then relied on a 3-3 Diamond break and when that failed to materialise I was one down, bemoaning my luck.  Of course I said that it would be the same at the other tables, but then I found that four declarers had succeeded in making ten tricks (and one had made eleven!)

 

The only lead that fails to give away a trick is a trump.  Declarer must forego the finesse because then, when East is next on lead she will be void in trumps and will have to give up a trick, assuming that declarer has made the correct play on whatever suit West leads after winning the KS.  Suppose the first trick is won with the AS and another trump is led.  West wins with the KS and leads a Club.  Declarer wins the AC and leads a low Heart.  This is won by West who leads another Club, ruffed in dummy.  Declarer leads another low Heart, won perforce by East.  Now East is endplayed as she must lead a Club or a Diamond.  A Diamond lead will give declarer a trick with the JD.  So suppose that East leads a Club.  The KC  will be ruffed in dummy, establishing the QC in declarer's hand.  A low Club will be run round to declarer's hand, with a Diamond discarded from dummy.  Now a second Diamond from dummy is discarded on the established KH.  The contract is made with five trumps, one Heart, two Diamonds and two Clubs.  The play is similar if West leads Hearts or Diamonds instead of Clubs, as long as declarer refuses to play the KH or the JD too early.  A brilliant example of endplay technique when all the finesses are failing.  A brilliant play that I did not find!

Comment
Hands from 17th October 2017

This week I am going to look at the bidding on two slam hands and follow that with a note on Stayman.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 9

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  J32

P

1N

P

2D

♥  J8

P

2S

P

3C

♦  Q874

P

4C

P

4N

West

♣ J987

East

P

5H

P

6H

♠  T9

 

♠  A65

 

♥  KQ943

♥  AT65

♦  AJ93

♦  KT2

♣  A2

South

♣ K53

Bhcp

9

20        20

11

♠  KQ875

Hcp

5

14        14

7

♥  72

♦  65

♣ QT64

 

The key bid is East’s 2S.  This is breaking the transfer and indicates 4 card heart support, maximum values and the SA.

As hearts are agreed West’s 3C bid is a cue bid showing first round control in that suit.

East’s 4C bid denies the DA, the SK but shows the CK.  Then her 5H response to Blackwood shows 2 key cards without the HQ.  That is enough for the slam to be bid.

Over half the declarers made 12 tricks but the slam was bid by only one pair.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 17

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  9875

P

1C

P

1H

♥  864

P

2S

P

4C

♦  AT754

P

4N

P

6C

West

♣ T

East

 

♠  T3

 

♠  AKJ2

♥  AJT93

♥  K2

♦  K

♦  Q6

♣  KJ543

South

♣ AQ872

Bhcp

7

19        26

8

♠  Q64

Hcp

4

12        19

5

♥  Q75

♦  J9852

♣ 96

 

Once West responds East knows that they have game values.  A rebid of 1S is not forcing and could be passed.  The jump to 2S is game forcing, showing 5 clubs, 4 spades and a minimum of 19 points.

West’s jump to 4C is key card asking and 4NT indicates 2 key cards plus the CQ.  The slam is bid.

Most declarers made 12 tricks but not one pair bid the slam.

 

As West on Board 24 partner opens 1NT and you hold:

♠  QT32

♥  J764

♦  T86

♣  43

You are in trouble.  What can you do?

It is for hands such as these that Stayman with weakness was developed.

West bids 2C.

If opener bids either major West passes with relief.

If opener bids 2D then West’s rebid is 2H.  It is the 2H bid which advertises a weak hand with at least 4 cards in each major.  Opener then chooses the contract, either passing or bidding 2S.

 

Comment
Hands from 10th October 2017

This week I’ll look at two slam hands starting with Board 10 where I would have hoped that more than one pair would have bid the only makeable slam.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 10

BIDDING

Dealer

East

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  Q5

 

2C

P

2D

♥  AQ8742

P

3D

P

3S

♦  85

P

4C

P

4S

West

♣ J82

East

P

6C

P

P

♠  J876432

 

♠  A9

 

♥  J3

♥  --

♦  2

♦  AKQT73

♣  653

South

♣ AKQT4

Bhcp

13

4          31

12

♠  KT

Hcp

9

2          22

7

♥  KT965

♦  J964

♣ 97

 

After the 2C opening West must bid 2D despite the 7 card spade suit.  If West bids either 2S or 4S then she will end up in an unmakeable 6S contract.  West must realise that she will get the opportunity to show her spades later, probably being able to bid them twice to show 6 plus cards in the suit.

East shows her 2 suits by bidding 3D and then 4C, West bidding spades twice.

East now jumps to 6C asking her partner to choose one of her suits.  West chooses clubs by passing.  After all, she does have ruffing values (a factor which does in fact turn out to be essential).

When dummy comes down East notes that she is missing 6 diamonds.  The most common split is 4/2 and the DJ is more likely to be in the 4 card hand.  Therefore, her plan is to win the opening lead, play the DA and then, crucially, ruff a diamond.

She then draws trumps, the outstanding clubs dividing the normal 3/2.

She now plays the two top diamonds, the DJ falling under the DQ.

One spade, 5 diamonds and a diamond ruff plus 5 clubs equals 12 tricks and slam made.

 

At my table North elected to pass.  Perhaps some diamonds were mixed up with her hearts.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 21

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

N/S vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  T98

P

2C

P

2H

♥  87

P

4C

P

4D

♦  KQJT983

P

4N

P

5S

West

♣ 9

East

P

7H

 

 

♠  AKJ4

 

♠  3

 

♥  QJT63

♥  AK542

3D

X

4D

4H

♦  A2

♦  5

P

?

 

 

♣  82

South

♣ AKQJT6

 

Bhcp

11

22        24

3

♠  Q7652

Hcp

6

15        17

2

♥  9

♦  764

♣ 7543

 

In the first bidding sequence above North elects to pass.

East gets a positive response of 2H, this indicating slam possibility and a 10 card heart fit.

4C and $D are cue bids showing first round controls in the suits bid. 

The 5S response to the RKC Blackwood shows 2 key cards plus the HQ.

It is then easy for East to bid the grand slam, 7H being safer just in case West’s first round control in diamonds is a void.

If North opens 3D (as she should) then East is too strong to overcall; she doubles.

South raises to the level of fit; the weaker you are the more important it is to do so immediately.

West is likely then to bid only 4H although she might feel a little uneasy about underbidding her hand.  From partner’s double she anticipates a double fit in the majors and from N/S’s diamond bidding no losers in that suit.  Her other option is to jump to 5H asking partner to bid 6H if she has a little extra to spare.

If West did bid only 4H would East bid on? 

She is very strong but West might be being competitive with a significantly weaker hand.  In any event, the opening pre-empt has done its job by presenting E/W with doubt.

If East does continue with 4NT then 7H should again be reached.

 

A final bidding point comes from Board 20.  As South you hold:

♠  KQ85

♥  872

♦  KJ4

♣  KJ8

West opens 1S followed by two passes.  Are you going to pass it out?

In this protective position a bid of 1NT should be made with a balanced hand containing 11 – 14 points. 

South should bid 1NT.

As it happened, 7 Wests were declarer in 1S so there were 7 Souths who opted to pass.

On this board, N/S can make 1NT + 1 while E/W can make 1S + 1.

 

Comment
Hands from 3rd October 2017

The bidding on Board 6 was instructive, with most E/W pairs finishing in a hopeless NT contract.  What went wrong?

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 6

BIDDING

Dealer

 

East

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠ T873

 

1C

P

2D

♥ A985

P

P

P

 

♦ T4

 

 

 

 

West

♣ J76

East

 

1C

P

P

♠ 65

 

♠ AJ94

P

 

 

 

♥ Q74

♥ K632

 

 

 

 

♦ QJ98732

♦ K

 

1C

P

1D

♣ 3

South

♣ AK82

P

2H

P

P

Bhcp

9

8                24

19

♠ KQ2

Hcp

5

5                18

12

P

 

 

 

♥ JT

 

 

 

 

♦ A65

 

 

 

 

♣ QT954

 

 

 

 

 

The first question is what should East open?  With 4441 distribution it is best to open with a minor suit.  When the singleton is in Diamonds, as here, your first rebid can be in a major suit.  This suggests that you have five cards in your minor suit but this is less dangerous than falsely suggesting that you hold a five card major suit.  So East opens 1C.  On this hand this makes it hard for South to bid, so it is then a question of what West should respond.

 

A bid that Alan advocated a few months ago comes in useful here.  If partner opens and you have a strong hand the modern way is to bid at the lowest level available - partner has to bid again and as responder you can show your strength with your second bid.  So using a jump response to show a strong hand is redundant.  (Some people use a jump response to show a strong hand with a self-sufficient trump suit, but this bid comes up infrequently.)   Instead, the jump response can be used to show a weak hand with a long suit.  The message to partner is - Pass!  This bid works perfectly on this hand with East making 2D+2.

 

If you are not playing the weak jump response bid, then what should East respond?  One possibility is that East should Pass.  She has fewer than the 6 Hcp that makes a one-level response mandatory.  Again this would work quite well on this hand as East could make six tricks with Clubs as trumps which, given the actual results, would have given E/W a score of 80%.  But with 5 Hcp and a seven-card suit it would be normal for West to bid 1D.  What then should East rebid?  I watched the hand being played a few times and the bidding usually began 1C - (Pass) - 1D - (Pass).  The most popular rebid for East was 2NT.  This is a mistake.  You should only bid NT on the first or second round of bidding with NT distribution.  With 4441 shape your second bid should be a suit bid.  Here East's rebid should be 2H, a jump bid to show the strength of the hand.  West should now Pass.  With 5 Hcp she is not strong enough to make a second bid.  All she should do is give suit preference which, with one Club and three Hearts, can be done by Passing.  The computer cannot make 2H, but on the two occasions when Hearts were trumps East made eight or nine tricks, so  2H would have given E/W a very good score (and even 2H-1 would have been good for E/W).  If West mistakenly bids 3D over 2H, East is entitled to bid 3NT expecting West to be considerably stronger and expecting the contract to make.

 

 

Boards 10 and 11 were both examples of hands where both sides had a double fit.  On these hands it often pays to bid one more - but not always!

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 10

BIDDING

Dealer

 

East

North

Vulnerability

 

All

N

E

S

W

♠ -

 

P

1D

1S

♥ KJT642

2H

3S

4H

4S

♦ 5432

5/6H

P

P

P

West

♣ AJ2

East

 

 

 

 

♠ QJT94

 

♠ A765

 

 

 

 

♥ 73

♥ Q

 

 

 

 

♦ 98

♦ AT7

 

 

 

 

♣ KQ73

South

♣ 98654

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

14

13              14

19

♠ K832

Hcp

9

8                10

13

 

 

 

 

♥ A985

 

 

 

 

♦ KQJ6

 

 

 

 

♣ T

 

 

 

 

 

On Board 10 South opens 1D.  As with East's hand on Board 6, with 4441 distribution it is best to open with a minor suit.  With a solid Spade suit West should overcall 1S.  North can make a natural 2H bid, showing 10+ Hcp and at least five Hearts.  East bids 3S, jumping to the level of fit.  South now knows that N/S have a Heart fit and also that North will have a singleton or, more likely, a void in Spades.  South might bid RKCB and, hearing that North has two key cards, might then bid 6H (assuming that North is indeed void in Spades).  Alternatively South might simply bid 4H.  In that case West is likely to sacrifice in 4S.  In the event 4S would be three off, which assuming that N/S Double, would give E/W what seems like a poor score of -800.  But as N/S can make 6H ...  If West does bid 4S, what should North do?  She knows that her side has a double fit.  There are no Spade losers.  She has the AC.  She might take a punt on 6H.  But in any case she should bid on.  5H is almost certain to make and 4S might well be only two off.  In fact 6H is cold.

 

 

On Board 11 both sides could make game.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 11

BIDDING

Dealer

 

South

North

Vulnerability

 

None

N

E

S

W

♠ 753

 

 

1S

P

♥ 2

2C

X

3S

4H

♦ AQ9

4S

5H

5S

P

West

♣ QT9876

East

P

?

 

 

♠ QJ8

 

♠ -

 

 

 

 

♥ J8763

♥ AQT954

 

 

 

 

♦ J643

♦ KT872

 

 

 

 

♣ 2

South

♣ A3

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

12

9                19

20

♠ AKT9642

Hcp

8

5                13

14

 

 

 

 

♥ K

 

 

 

 

♦ 5

 

 

 

 

♣ KJ54

 

 

 

 

 

Playing four-card majors, following South's 1S opening bid, North is just worth a 2C response.  This can be judged using the "Rule of 14".  Add the number of Hcp to the number of cards in your longest suit.  If the sum comes to at least 14 then the hand is worth a two-level response.  East has a powerful hand with both the unbid suits and should make a take-out Double.  With a five-loser hand, a seven-card Spade suit and a fit for partner's suit, South should jump to 3S.  West knows that her side has a double fit and despite her lack of high cards should bid 4H.  North can now show delayed (three-card) support for partner.  in these situations it is not clear which contracts can be made.  But it is clear to East and South that they each have strong hands with little defence against the opponents' possible five-level contracts.  So both should probably bid again.  When the bidding reaches 5S and comes around to East, she should probably Pass.  On the one hand 6H is unlikely to make.  West is clearly weak and there could be as many as four losers (although in fact 5H makes).  On the other hand if East's two aces stand up, 5S might not make.  Certainly East does not have enough defence to Double.  If 5S does make then East wants to be bidding 6H as a sacrifice.  It is a close call.

Comment
Hands from 26th September 2017

I would be much the richer if I’d had £1 for every time I’ve been asked how many points you need in order to use Stayman after partner has opened 1NT. 

The answer is not 11 pts, or 10 pts or anything like that.  It is zero but, as with any convention, you need to have the right hand for it.  You need 4 cards in both major suits to use Stayman with less than 11 points.

The bidding starts 1NT 2C.

If opener bids either 2H or 2S then responder passes (with relief).

However, if opener rebids 2D then responder bids 2H.  The 2H bid advertises a weak hand with both majors.  Opener then passes or chooses 2S as the contract.

As North on Board 11 you pick up the following hand:

♠  A743

♥  T9853

♦  Q2

♣  53

Partner opens 1NT.  What do you do?

You have a weak hand with at least 4 cards in both majors.  You bid 2C.

When South responds 2D you now show the type of hand you hold by bidding 2H.

South had 3 hearts and 3 spades.  The hearts were stronger so she chose hearts as trumps by passing.

How did 2H fare in practice?

The board was played 10 times: in no trumps 8 times.  Just once it was played in 2H and that N/S pair scored 100% on the board.

 

Tip: do take the trouble to add Stayman with Trash to your bidding armoury.

 

Let’s turn from weakness to strength; Board 16 had a choice of slams for E/W.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 16

BIDDING

Dealer

West

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  Q6

 

 

 

1C

♥  AJ83

P

1S

P

2C

♦  Q8652

P

2D

P

2N

West

♣ 82

East

P

6C/6N

 

 

♠  T8

 

♠  AKJ95

 

West has a perfectly sound opening bid: the hand easily satisfies the rule of 20 and there is a good rebid of 1H (if available) or 2C.

♥  K762

♥  --

♦  7

♦  AKT94

♣  AQJT74

South

♣ K65

Bhcp

13

16        25

6

♠  7432

Hcp

9

10        18

3

♥  QT954

♦  J3

♣ 93

 

Once West opens then East must immediately be thinking about slam but it could be in clubs, diamonds, spades or even no trumps.  East must take it slowly, she bids 1S (the higher of two 5 card suits).

East’s second bid of 2D is forcing and West shows minimum values and something in hearts (the unbid suit) by bidding 2NT.

East’s safest bid is now 6C.  There is a club fit and she has a 4 loser hand opposite an opening hand.  In duplicate, especially if you are not having a particularly successful evening, a bid of 6NT is not a bad gamble.

In the play declarer wins the opening lead.  She then cashes the SA (in case the SQ is singleton).  Then she draws trumps in 2 rounds and leads a spade intending to finesse.  Up pops the SQ and there are now 5 spades, 2 diamonds and 6 clubs for 13 tricks made.

In 6NT only the opening lead of the HA prevents the same 13 tricks being made.

 

Board 23 was one of those cruel sets where N/S can either make 12 tricks or only 6 tricks in hearts, it all depended on the lead and some trust in partner’s signal.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 23

Dealer

South

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

♠  A86

♥  AJQ762

♦  J85

West

♣ 7

East

♠  T532

 

♠  --

♥  854

♥  JT3

♦  AK2

♦  Q974

♣  QJ4

South

♣ AK9865

Bhcp

19

15        15

11

♠  KQJ974

Hcp

14

10        10

6

♥  9

♦  T63

♣ T32

 

Most N/S pairs ended up in 4S going one or more down.  Two Norths played in hearts, one in 6H!

In hearts, if East either leads a trump or the CA followed by the CK then North has 12 tricks with no sweat.

Now let’s see what could happen if the opening lead had been the D4.

West wins with the DK and returns the S5 for East to ruff.

Another diamond to the DA is played and then the S2 (asking for a club) is ruffed.

East trusts  her partner (perhaps more than she should but it works) by playing a small club to West’s CJ.  Another spade is ruffed.

East now cashes her DQ.

That’s the first 7 tricks to the defence.

 

Comment
Hands from 19th September 2017

You pick up a very weak hand with a 6 card suit and your partner opens 2NT.

It happened on 2 boards, North having the decision in both instances. 

What do you do?

Here are the hands in question; in each case South opens 2NT.

Board 15           Board 24

   N                        N

♠  T87654         ♠  83

♥  Q4                ♥  T7

♦  T875             ♦  T96542

♣  7                  ♣  K76

On Board 15 North has a 6 card major and an outside singleton.  The hand is going to win more tricks if spades are trumps. 

South must have at least 2 spades so you will make spades trumps; the only questions are how high and who plays the hand.

It is better if the lead comes around to the strong hand, allowing South to play last to the first trick.

North starts with 3H, a transfer to spades.

Despite the shortage of high cards North’s hand should provide 3 or 4 tricks.  It is worth a game bid of 4S.  In fact, despite South having only a doubleton spade, 11 tricks were an easy make.

Board 24 is very different in one very important aspect; the 6 card suit is a minor.  Now North’s only decision is whether to pass or bid 3NT.

Again, South must have at least a doubleton so there are good prospects of the diamond suit being set up.  There is then the likelihood of the CK providing an entry to the established diamonds.  North bids 3NT.  Only 4 N/S pairs were in 3NT: 10 tricks were an easy make by South.

 

The purpose of pre-empting is to take away bidding space from your opponents in the hope that they will end up in the wrong contract.  On Board 4 there are 12 tricks available in clubs, diamonds or hearts.  Without a pre-emptive interference the slam might well be bid.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 4

BIDDING

Dealer

West

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  --

 

 

 

P

♥  QJT73

1H

P

2C

P

♦  AQT4

2D

P

4H

P

West

♣ AQ95

East

6H

 

 

 

♠  AT875

 

♠  K96432

or

♥  A5

♥  942

 

 

 

P

♦  982

♦  J7

1H

2S

X

4S

♣  763

South

♣ 82

?

 

 

 

Bhcp

23

11        6

20

♠  QJ

Hcp

15

8          4

13

 

♥  K86

♦  K653

♣ KJT4

 

In the first bidding sequence without the 2S bid South’s rebid is 4H which shows opening values.  North now has an easy bid of 6H.

In the second sequence South doubles to show some values and at least one good minor suit.  West jumps to 4S (one level below the level of fit).  True, the slam could still be bid but now it is very much more of a guess.

 

As South on Board 17 you hold:

♠  AT62

♥  T2

♦  AK53

♣  QJ9

The bidding starts:

N          S

1H        1S

2S

You have game values so what do you bid now?

The point to note is that the 2S bid only promises 3 card support.  South’s rebid is 3NT.  If North does indeed have 4 spades then she will correct to 4S.

 

Comment
Hands from 12th September 2017

As responder, how do you show partner 5/4 in the majors and invitational values once she has opened 1NT?  For me, this problem came up on Boards 3 and 4.  Let’s look at them both.

Board 3

   W                       E

♠  KQ94            ♠  T75

♥  KQ764          ♥  93

♦  Q4                ♦  AK72

♣  65                ♣  AK42

South dealt and as West I elected to pass.  East opened 1NT.  The bidding started:

W         E

P          1N

2D        2H

2S

This sequence shows a 5 hearts/4 spades distribution with invitational values (11 – 12 points).

West’s 2D transfer bid indicates 5 hearts, bidding 2S indicates a 4 card spade suit while the rebid of 2S at the 2 level is indicative of only invitational values.  With game vales West jumps to 3S rather than bidding just 2S.

Board 4

   W                       E

♠  K53.             ♠  AJ642

♥  87                ♥  J643

♦  AJT54          ♦  K3

♣ A64               ♣  Q3

West dealt and opened a routine 1NT.  The bidding started:

W         E

1N        2C

2D        2S

This time the sequence is showing a 5spades/4hearts distribution with invitational values.

Stayman is used because if you start with a transfer to spades then with only invitational values it is virtually impossible to find the heart fit if one exists.

Of course, if opener bids a major then responder raises it to the 3 level.

Opener’s 2D bid denies holding a 4 card major so responder’s 2S bid must indicate a 5 card holding.  If so, why did she use Stayman instead of just transferring to spades?  Because she held a 4 card heart suit.

Again, being at only the 2 level, East’s bid of 2S suggests only invitational values.

On both boards opener is in a good position after the 2S bid to choose the best final contract.

 

I am annoyed with myself for not making 12 tricks on Board 25.  I am particularly disappointed because I got just about as helpful a lead as possible.  The fact that I scored 68% is no compensation; it is just because only one declarer made 12 tricks.  That too is disappointing.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 25

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  KQJ98

P

C

P

1H

♥  K7

P

2D

P

3H

♦  J65

P

4H

P

P

West

♣ T53

East

 

That is how the bidding went at my table.

♠  653

 

♠  A2

♥  AJT954

♥  Q3

♦  KT98

♦  AQ74

♣  --

South

♣ AQJ92

Bhcp

16

13        26

5

♠  T74

Hcp

10

8          19

3

♥  862

♦  32

♣ K8764

 

I received a club lead.  I called for the CJ and ruffed the CK.

I then became fixated on getting a spade ruff rather than realising that I now had two spade discards on the top clubs.  I should have crossed to the DA and cashed CA and CQ discarding two spades.  I then had only the HK to lose.

The play is much the same on a different lead.  Let’s assume the SK is led.

You win with the SA, cash the CA discarding a spade and then take a ruffing finesse.  You play the CQ.  If South ducks then you discard a second spade.  If South plays the CK you ruff, cross to the DA and play the CJ to discard that second spade.  Either way, there is only the HK to lose.

I can make some dumb plays at times.

Comment
Hands from 5th September 2017

I am going to start with some very basic bidding which on Board 8 was not found by any of the E/W pairs. 

W         E

            1S

1N        2H

3C        ?

What do you expect to find in the West hand?

Here are the hands from Board 8.

   W                       E

♠  9                  ♠  AK872

♥  874               ♥  AJ92

♦  T54              ♦  7

♣  AQT765       ♣  J84

These hands are ideal text book material.

East has offered two suits as potential trumps while West has limited her hand to 6 – 9 points.

West has ignored both of the suits bid by the strong hand and bid clubs.  Being weak, her suit must be longer that the 5 card spade suit East has shown by her bidding. 

West’s bidding has shown a weak hand with a minimum of 6 clubs.

And what should East do?  She should Pass.

E/W can make 10 tricks in clubs to score +130.  The most common denomination was hearts where only 8 tricks could be made (only +110).

I am disappointed that no E/W pair found the club contract.

 

Disappointment abounds; only one pair bid to 4H on Board 20.  I would have thought it routine.

   N

♠  Q54

♥  AJ942

♦  832

♣  A3

   S

♠  AJ76

♥  T765

♦  AQT

♣  K4

West dealt and passed.  If North decides to open then South must drive to the heart game.

If North Passes then South opens 1NT (she is maximum in Bhcp and hcp).

North bids 2D, a transfer to hearts.  Being maximum with 4 card heart support South should break the transfer by (in this instance) bidding 2S.  North then bids 4H.

However, if South only responds 2H to the transfer then North’s rebid is 2NT to show a hand with invitational values and a 5 card heart suit.  South must now bid 4H.

 

My tail piece is Board 15 where, depending on the opening lead, North could make her doubled contract or be 6 off!!

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 15

BIDDING

Dealer

South

 

North

Vulnerability

N/S vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  Q92

 

 

P

P

♥  Q976

1N

P

P

P

♦  K7

 

There were a number of different contracts but on 4 occasions North was in 1NT (twice doubled).

West

♣ AQ96

East

♠  K875

 

♠  AJT4

♥  KJ4

♥  AT2

♦  QT95

♦  AJ832

♣  53

South

♣ J

Bhcp

18

14        23

5

♠  63

Hcp

13

9          15

3

♥  853

♦  64

♣ KT8742

 

First consider an opening lead by East of the D3 – 4th highest of longest and strongest suit.

North wins with the DK and cashes 6 club tricks; contract made.

Now let’s see what could happen if the opening lead had been the SJ – top of interior sequence.

West wins with SK and returns a spade (East winning the trick).

East switches to a low heart and West wins with the HK.

West now plays the DQ.

E/W make 4 spades, 3 hearts and 5 diamonds for a total of 12 tricks: 6 off doubled and vulnerable - oops.

Not surprisingly, no E/W pair found that defence: all the 4 Norths playing in 1NT made 7 tricks.

 

Comment
Hands from 29th August 2017

As a defender it is important to play the right card because card play is the language defenders have to communicate with their partners.  This is particularly true when holding touching honours.

Let’s say you hold the following suit:

            KQ82.

If you are on lead and play the K you are telling partner that you have the Q but also that you don’t have the ace.  When leading you play the top card in a sequence headed by an honour.

It is quite different if partner has already played to the trick.  You play the lowest card in a sequence when playing to take a trick.  In the sequence above, if the ace has not already been played then you play the Q.  This tells your partner that you don’t hold the jack but may hold the king.

Partner arrived just in time and had not really settled when play on our first board started.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 1

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  AT53

P

P

P

1D

♥  J74

P

1S

X

2D

♦  72

P

2H

P

2N

West

♣ A982

East

 

South’s double was a little frisky but it did suggest a heart lead.

♠  K6

 

♠  QJ872

♥  T9

♥  Q653

♦  QT6543

♦  AJ8

♣  KQJ

South

♣ 6

Bhcp

13

18        15

14

♠  94

Hcp

9

11        10

10

♥  AK82

♦  K9

♣ T7543

 

I led the H4 and partner played.... the HA.  I placed the HK with declarer and pinned my hopes on partner having the SK.  On the diamonds I discarded spades and let the contract make.  Had partner played the HK at the first trick I would have placed her with the HA and we would have made a rather fortunate 4 tricks in hearts to put declarer one off.

 

On Board 5 there were 13 top tricks in clubs, hearts and in No Trumps.  Not surprisingly no pair bid a grand slam but was it biddable?

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 5

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

N/S vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  762

P

1C

P

1H

♥  9

P

2D

P

2S

♦  T97653

P

3H

P

4N

West

♣ T76

East

P

5S

P

6N

♠  AKQ

 

♠  84

P

?

 

 

♥  AK862

♥  QT7

 

West places East with 5 clubs, 4 diamonds, 3 hearts and therefore only 1 spade.

♦  Q4

♦  AJ

♣  842

South

♣ AKQJ93

Bhcp

2

24        25

9

♠  JT953

Hcp

0

18        17

5

♥  J543

♦  K82

♣ 5

 

With West responding East has game values (that wonderful club suit is worth at least an extra 2 points) and so has to make a forcing bid showing strength.  The 2D bid is a reverse showing a minimum of 16 points and presumably 5/4 in the minors.

2S is 4th suit forcing and East shows 3 card heart support.

West jumps to Blackwood and East shows 2 key cards plus the HQ.

West makes the duplicate bid of 6NT.

Should East now bid again?    Her partner is obviously not worried about the spades.  There is a 5/3 fit in hearts.  So if West holds the SA then there should be a good play for 13 tricks.

My advice to East would be that if she were having a good evening and was up amongst the leaders then “go with the room”.  That means, if you expect most pairs to be at the 6 level then that is where you should stay (and be sure of your 50% for the board).  Otherwise, why not go for it?

There is just one point about the play if the final contract is in hearts.  First, play the HA and then the H2/HQ.  The 4/1 split is revealed.  Play the HT and if not covered play low.

 

Finally, on Board 18 you pick up this strong hand.  What do you open (and why)?

♠  AQT

♥  KQ54

♦  QJ42

♣  A5

With this strength you expect to be in game.  That game is most likely to be in either hearts or No Trumps.  You can forget the diamonds unless partner mentions them at some point. 

Open 1H.

Comment
Hands from 22nd August 2017

There was a theme running through a few of the hands, which was that bidding up with a weak hand but with a fit for partner often pays off.  Board 6 was one example.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 6

BIDDING

Dealer

 

East

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠ T9

 

1S

X

4S

♥ T76

P

P

P

 

♦ AJ962

 

 

 

 

West

♣ Q83

East

 

 

 

 

♠ 87432

 

♠ KQJ6

 

 

 

 

♥ A943

♥ K8

 

 

 

 

♦ 873

♦ KT5

 

 

 

 

♣ T

South

♣ A762

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

12

6                23

19

♠ A5

Hcp

7

4                16

13

 

 

 

 

♥ QJ52

 

 

 

 

♦ Q4

 

 

 

 

♣ KJ954

 

 

 

 

 

I watched this hand being played a few times.  Generally West bid 2S on the first round of bidding and the final contract was a part-score.  No E/W pairs managed to bid 4S.  West has only 4 Hcp but 4S is an easy make (partly thanks to the position of the AD).

 

With this sort of bidding it is likely that declarer will be doing a lot of ruffing, so South might as well lead AS and another.  Even then declarer can ruff three Clubs in dummy and two Hearts in hand, making the contract with another trump trick, two hearts, one Diamond and one Club.

 

 

Board 19 provided another example of the same principle.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 19

BIDDING

Dealer

 

South

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠ 9

 

 

P

1S

♥ AJT7

X

2D

5H

P

♦ Q5432

P

?

P

P

West

♣ AQ2

East

P

 

 

 

♠ AKT7643

 

♠ Q52

 

 

 

 

♥ 5

♥ K98

 

 

 

 

♦ J

♦ AKT976

 

 

 

 

♣ K643

South

♣ 7

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

19

16              17

8

♠ J8

Hcp

13

11              12

4

 

 

 

 

♥ Q6432

 

 

 

 

♦ 8

 

 

 

 

♣ JT985

 

 

 

 

 

At eleven out of twelve tables the final contact was 4S, always making.  At only one table N/S successfully sacrificed in 5H, gaining a deserved top.  At one table where 4S was the contract I overheard North, after the hand was played, lament, "But you had five Hearts partner!"  The bidding had started as shown in the diagram but after East's 2D bid South had Passed.

 

South should have reasoned that North's take-out Double suggested a shortage in Spades and that 4S was almost certainly making.  Also, with E/W bidding Spades and Diamonds N/S must have had a double fit.

 

Certainly North must have a Heart suit to make a take-out Double.  Using the Losing Trick Count South has an eight-loser hand and North could be assumed to have a seven-loser hand, having shown the equivalent of an opening bid.  This suggests that N/S can make nine tricks with Hearts as trumps.  Why bid 5H?  Well, if South bids 3H then, as night follows day, E/W will bid 4S.  At favourable vulnerability South would only have to make eight tricks to show a profit, three off being -500 and 4S= scoring -620.  So if you are prepared to bid 5H, do so straight way.  One reason for this is that if 5S is making, which it was on this hand, then by making the advance sacrifice it makes it harder for E/W to judge whether to bid on to 5S.  (Of course, you don't want to jump to 5H if you think that partner might interpret it as a slam try!)  Assuming that South does bid 5H then West, with little defence to 5H might Pass.  Then East must bid 5S or Double.  She has an opening hand opposite partner's opening bid.  E/W have the majority of the points.  If East Passes then N/S will surely score well.

 

 

On Board 14 the play of one suit determined the outcome..

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 14

BIDDING

Dealer

 

East

North

Vulnerability

 

None

N

E

S

W

♠ Q9876

 

1H

P

2H

♥ K7

P

P

P

 

♦ AQ7

 

 

 

 

West

♣ 987

East

 

 

 

 

♠ T3

 

♠ AJ

 

 

 

 

♥ AT54

♥ QJ983

 

 

 

 

♦ J854

♦ KT3

 

 

 

 

♣ QJ5

South

♣ A62

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

15

14              22

9

♠ K542

Hcp

11

8                15

6

 

 

 

 

♥ 62

 

 

 

 

♦ 962

 

 

 

 

♣ KT43

 

 

 

 

 

E/W play in some number of Hearts.  East has a seven-loser hand and West has nine losers, so they should stop short of game.  But whatever the contract declarer's job is to make as many tricks as possible.  Here with normal play declarer has to lose one Spade, one heart and one Club.  To make nine tricks in total she has to limit her Diamond losses to one trick.  Unless the defence are kind enough to lead a Diamond, then at some point a Diamond will be led from dummy.  Declarer can draw trumps and eliminate Spades and Clubs before tackling Diamonds.  North should have planned what to do in advance.  As soon as dummy went down North could see that the low Diamond lead from dummy was likely to happen.  If South holds the KD then North could  safely play low.  What if, as seems likely, declarer holds the KD?  If North rises with the AD then she will have to lead away from the QD or give a ruff and discard.  If North plays the QD then declarer has only one Diamond loser.  So North must play low.  And North, having worked this out in advance, can play smoothly low.  This doesn't really give declarer a problem.  If declarer plays the KD then it will either win or lose to South's AD but in either case the QD will still make the second defensive Diamond trick.  So declarer has to finesse the TD, which in this case works.  But it is only by playing smoothly low on the Diamond lead that North can give declarer the opportunity to make a mistake - which is what happened when I watched the hand being played!

 

 

There is one last thing I would like to mention.  I watched a particular hand being played, I won't name the hand or the players.  After nine tricks declarer made a claim that he would make the last four tricks.  The claim was accepted.  I could see that in fact the defence could have made another two tricks.  As the defence accepted the claim there was nothing that I could do.  But do check if a claim is made that it is correct.  And if in doubt, call the director.

Comment
Hands from 15th August 2017

When the Acol system was being developed the founding fathers adopted 2C as their strongest opening bid.  They gave two criteria for its use.  The first was a minimum of 23 hcp.  The second was a hand which had such distributional playing strength that it virtually contained game values.  However, there was an additional aspect to this second criterion; it also had to have defensive values.  This was designed to eliminate single suited hands with essentially all the values concentrated in that suit from the 2C opening bid.

 

Nowadays, we interpret this second criterion to be a 4 loser hand with a good 5 card (or longer) major or a 3 loser hand with a good long minor suit.  However, we still reject highly distributional hands with little or no defensive values.

 

Let’s look at South’s problem on Board 33.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 33

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  KT92

 

After 2 passes, what should be South’s opening bid?

She has a very good long minor and only 3 losers.  Should she open 2C?

No, because here she has only 1 defensive trick.

South should open 1D.

♥  KQ983

♦  8

West

♣ T75

East

♠  753

 

♠  AJ64

♥  J64

♥  T752

♦  --

♦  T753

♣  AKQ9864

South

♣ 2

Bhcp

13

14        9

24

♠  Q8

Hcp

8

10        5

17

♥  A

♦  AKQJ9642

♣ J3

 

At my table South opened 3D, a bid suggesting a much weaker hand and which in the end proved fatal.  West came in with 4C and when the bidding reached 5D East, on the basis of his partner’s strength and his diamond holding, doubled for a complete top.

 

Now for Board 11.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 11

BIDDING

Dealer

South

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

 

South opens 1S.

Whether or not West comes in with 2D, North should jump straight to 4S, a shut-out bid showing typically about 6 – 8 hcp and a void or singleton.

East now has to decide whether to come in at the 5 level.

♠  Q8765

♥  T92

♦  K9863

West

♣ --

East

♠  4

 

♠  92

♥  Q864

♥  KJ3

♦  AQ542

♦  --

♣  985

South

♣ AKQJT743

Bhcp

8

11        21

20

♠  AKJT3

Hcp

5

8          14

13

♥  A75

♦  JT7

♣ 62

 

Let’s look at the play with South in 5S and a club lead.

The C9 is ruffed and trumps drawn ending in the South hand.

And then?

You want to set up the diamonds to give you some heart discards.

Play the D7.  If West plays low, as well she might expecting East to have either DJ or DT, then you let it run.  The D7 wins.

Now the DT is played.  As there is an entry to the North hand by ruffing a club, West can only make 1 diamond trick and declarer gets 2 heart discards on the long diamonds.

Declarer makes 5 spades, 1 heart, 4 diamonds and 2 club ruffs = 12 tricks.

One N/S pair did indeed make 12 tricks and got a well deserved top; well done them..

 

Most of us play transfers but do we know when to break the transfer?

Breaking the transfer means opener bidding something other than 2H/2S when responder replies 2D/2H to an opening bid of 1NT.

Let’s consider the situation when opener has 4 card support for responder’s 5 card major.  There is a 9 card fit.  Therefore, if responder is weak then the opening pair is the weaker pair.

Bidding to the level of fit is for the weaker pair to do.  Hence, with 4 card support, responder breaks the transfer safe in the knowledge that 3S is their safe competitive level.

On the other hand, if responder has strength, it might get them to game or even a slam.

Let’s look at Board 24.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 24

BIDDING

Dealer

West

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  KT75

 

 

 

P

♥  A965

1N

P

2H

P

♦  K7

3C

P

3D

P

West

♣ A43

East

3H

P

4N

P

♠  84

 

♠  96

5D

P

6S

 

♥  Q8743

♥  KT2

 

North has 4 card support for South’s spades.

3C breaks the transfer.

♦  Q843

♦  JT952

♣  Q6

South

♣ T97

Bhcp

19

9          9

23

♠  AQJ32

Hcp

14

6          4

16

♥  J

♦  A6

♣ KJ852

 

Responder has good values; a 5 loser hand and now knows of a 9 card spade fit.

South cue bids 3D, showing the DA.

In return, North cue bids 3H.  Now South knows there are no heart losers and checks on key cards.  North’s 5D bid indicates 3 key cards and the slam is bid with confidence.

Only one pair reached slam.

 

Comment
Hands from 8th August 2017

Board 5 presented some difficult bidding problems for N/S.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 5

BIDDING

Dealer

 

North

North

Vulnerability

 

N/S

N

E

S

W

♠ T852

1D

2D

2S

P

♥ AKJ

3C

P

3NT

P

♦ AKJ972

P

P

 

 

West

♣ -

East

 

 

 

 

♠ 6

 

♠ AQJ97

2C

P

2NT

P

♥ Q96

♥ 75432

3NT

P

P

P

♦ 53

♦ 8

 

 

 

 

♣ JT87652

South

♣ KQ

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

23

6       17

14

♠ K43

Hcp

16

3      12

9

 

 

 

 

♥ T8

 

 

 

 

♦ QT64

 

 

 

 

♣ A943

 

 

 

 

 

Some Norths chose to open with a strong two bid of some sort.  With a five-loser hand and maybe seven playing tricks I feel the hand is slightly too weak for anything other than the obvious 1D opening bid.

 

East has a good 1S overcall, or with five cards in both majors she could make a Michaels 2D overcall.

 

With 9 Hcp South might think that her hand is one point shy of an Unassuming Cue Bid, which normally shows 10+ Hcp as well as four-card support for partner's suit, but the KS and the AC are good cards so maybe it is worth stretching a little.  If North considers the Losing Trick Count then a UCB becomes more attractive, as it usually shows about 8 losing tricks, which is what South has here.  2S is a UCB and does not show a Spade suit as East has shown five Spades.

 

From North's point of view a game is now certain and a slam decidedly possible.  With at least nine Spades in the North and East hands South is likely to be short in Spades.  There can be no harm in bidding 3C.

 

South can now effectively show the KS and AC by bidding 3NT.

 

North should now consider that there is likely to be at least one Spade loser and that the Heart finesse is probably wrong and should Pass.  Even if 6D is making, 3NT is likely to score well, beating those pairs in 5D.

 

The general rule on these type of hands is that you should play in 3NT or in 6 of your minor, but not in the minor suit game.  On this particular hand the Heart finesse was working but 6D was not making, so those pairs playing in 3NT scored the best.  I saw one pair bid according the second sequence shown in the diagram.  Whilst I wouldn't recommend either of North's bids, it has to be acknowledged that they scored 81% on the hand.  I think that North looked at his hand and sensibly thought, "Looks like 3NT might be the best contract."  When South bid 2NT his rebid was a reflex.  (By the way, if North does open 2C, I would bid 2S with the East cards.)

 

 

On Board 6 E/W could make a slam but with only 21 Hcp in the combined hands it was unlikely that any pair would bid it.  Nevertheless it was perhaps surprising that four E/W pairs allowed N/S to play undoubled in their Club fit.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 6

BIDDING

Dealer

 

East

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠ Q5

 

P

P

1NT

♥ J986

2C

3C

5C

5S

♦ J4

P

P

P

 

West

♣ AQJ64

East

 

 

 

 

♠ AJ843

 

♠ KT97

 

 

 

 

♥ AQ3

♥ T752

 

 

 

 

♦ K95

♦ AT832

 

 

 

 

♣ 98

South

♣ -

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

17

19         12

12

♠ 62

Hcp

11

14         7

8

 

 

 

 

♥ K4

 

 

 

 

♦ Q76

 

 

 

 

♣ KT7532

 

 

 

 

 

None of the bids shown are automatic.

 

Playing 1NT as showing 12-14 Hcp West might feel that with 14 HCP and a five-card Spade suit 1S is a better opening bid and certainly there would be a 2S rebid available in most likely bidding sequences.

 

If West does open 1NT then, if N/S are playing a conventional defence to 1NT, the natural 2C overcall would not be available.  Let's assume that it is.  In that case East can make use of a useful part of the Stayman convention - but one which might well be forgotten by one or other of the partnership!  In this sequence the 3C bid means that, the Stayman 2C bid having been taken away, East is showing exactly four cards in both majors.

 

Knowing of a five-card Club suit opposite (and rightly suspecting that E/W can make a major suit game), South bids to the level of fit and then West has to decide whether to Double or bid on.  With E/W vulnerable and N/S non-vulnerable it must be right to bid on.  If N/S are only two off in 5C then +300 will be beaten by any E/W pairs who are allowed to play in 4S.  Also, if N/S have bid to the level of fit, then West knows that East is void in Clubs.  ("Come to think about it, if East is void in Clubs, maybe I should be 6S?")  As it happens 6S doesn't even need the Heart finesse to be right to make.  West can draw trumps, concede a Diamond and discard both Heart losers on the long Diamonds.  (The Spade slam is not certain.  West needs to be able to find the QS and play the Diamonds for one loser.  But it is a reasonable slam to be in.)  After South's 5C bid the one thing that West shouldn't do is Pass.

 

 

On Board 16 N/S could make twelve tricks in Spades but two thirds of the N/S pairs failed to bid game.  The LTC would have helped.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 16

BIDDING

Dealer

 

West

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠ 984

 

 

 

P

♥ K9

P

1C

1S

3C

♦ QT9652

3S

P

4S

P

West

♣ A6

East

P

P

 

 

♠ J5

 

♠ Q2

 

 

 

P

♥ 87642

♥ J3

P

1C

1S

2C

♦ J3

♦ AK74

3C

P

4S

P

♣ Q875

South

♣ KJT43

P

P

P

 

Bhcp

13

7          21

19

♠ AKT763

Hcp

9

4         14

13

 

 

 

P

♥ AQT5

P

1C

X

3C

♦ 8

3D

P

3S

P

♣ 92

4S

P

P

P

 

After East's routine opening bid South has to decide whether to Double or overcall 1S.  With a five-loser hand and ability to bid her strongest suit on the second round of bidding, Double is possible.  I have shown a possible bidding sequence in which South makes a take-out Double.

 

Assuming that South overcalls 1S, what should West bid?  One idea is that with a weak hand and four-card support for partner you should bid pre-emptively to one level above the assumed level of fit.  So assuming that East holds four Clubs, West should bid 3C.  in this case, with three Spades and with useful cards in the other three suits, North can support partner's suit.  With a five-loser hand South will push on to game.  If West is frightened by the adverse vulnerability and only bids 2C then North has enough bidding space to make an UCB.  As with South's hand on Board 5, North has only 9 HCP but here North has a seven-loser hand.  (Despite having a seven-loser hand, North shouldn't go straight to 4S as South may have overcalled with less than opening values.)  Again South is happy to bid the game.

 

In these sequences there is little point in East bidding 4C.  Sometimes this will push N/S into a making 4S contract that they wouldn't otherwise have bid.  And if N/S are anyway heading for 4S then bidding 4C won't stop them.  East has instead to decide whether she is prepared to sacrifice in 5C.  At adverse vulnerability the answer should be a firm "No".

 

 

The play on Board 21 is of interest because although the contract was unsurprisingly the same at every table, the outcome was not.  The app says that 3NT can be beaten, but at seven out of ten tables N/S let it make.  I suspect the outcome depended on the opening lead but unfortunately no one recorded it, although the app allows this to be done.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 21

BIDDING

Dealer

 

North

North

Vulnerability

 

N/S

N

E

S

W

♠ Q93

P

1NT

P

2C

♥ KT3

P

2D

P

3NT

♦ 984

P

P

P

 

West

♣ QT82

East

 

 

 

 

♠ AK87

 

♠ J6

 

 

 

 

♥ 752

♥ QJ9

 

 

 

 

♦ QJ65

♦ AT32

 

 

 

 

♣ A6

South

♣ KJ97

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

12

19          19

10

♠ T542

Hcp

7

14         12

7

 

 

 

 

♥ A864

 

 

 

 

♦ K7

 

 

 

 

♣ 543

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously ignoring Diamonds, South has a choice of three suits to lead.

 

With the AH Hearts is South's "longest and strongest" suit, so the 4H might be selected.  If so then N/S can play three rounds of Hearts, establishing the thirteenth Heart in South's hand to be cashed after  South wins the KD.  Suppose that the play starts in this way, East having taken a losing Diamond finesse after entering dummy with the AC.  South will play a Spade after cashing the Heart winner but then declarer can cash three Diamonds, take the winning Club finesse and cash the other top Spade to make her contract with two Spades, one Heart, three Diamonds and three Clubs.

 

How about a Spade lead?  Declarer can run this  to her JS.  North will win with the QS and has a choice of returns.  A Spade return doesn't seem very useful with the AK sitting in dummy.  A Diamond will run up to dummy's strong holding in that suit.  The 2C might work, especially if South holds one good Club.  Suppose that the 2C is led and declarer wins with the 7C.  Now declarer can cash the JS, enter dummy with the AC, cash the AK of Spades and take the losing Diamond finesse.  Again declarer has nine tricks, three Spades, three Diamonds and three Clubs.  So let's suppose that after winning the first trick North returns the 2H.  Now N/S can cash three Hearts to establish the thirteenth Heart in South's hand ready to be cashed when South wins the KD.  So N/S will make one Spade, three Hearts and one Diamond to defeat the contract.  Suppose that declarer wins the first Spade in dummy.  In that case she can make eight tricks easily enough with one out of the two minor suit finesses working but the ninth trick will (probably) have to come from Hearts.  She takes a losing Diamond finesse and South leads a second Spade.  It is too late to promote the JS so let's assume that declarer wins the second Spade in dummy, cashes the Diamond winners and leads AC and another Club to make her three Club tricks.  If she now leads the QH from hand then North can win and N/S will make the remainder with winners in Spades, Hearts And Clubs.  It seems that Spade lead can lead to the defeat of the contract.

 

Finally, what about a Club lead?  If declarer wins in dummy and takes an immediate Diamond finesse then South can switch to one of the major suits.  A Heart switch will give declarer a Heart trick and the contract.  A Spade switch can be run to declarer's JS but will be won by North's QS.  Now a Heart return by North is too late as declarer has time to make three Spades, three Diamonds and three Clubs.

 

So it seems that only a Spade lead will defeat the contract.  But notice that South mustn't lead the TS as if she does then one of dummy's small-ish Spades might prove to be declarer's ninth trick.  If you lead top of nothing from a four-card (or longer) suit it is usually best to lead the second highest card in case the highest card is needed to take a trick later in the play.

 

Again the hand illustrates the point that leading away from an honour against 3NT is usually a bad idea.

Comment
Hands from 1st August 2017

On Board 3 virtually every declarer made 12 tricks but only 2 pairs bid the slam.

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 3

BIDDING

Dealer

South

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

N

E

S

W

♠  AQ93

   

1D

3C

♥  QJ52

4C

P

6D

 

♦  AQ842

 

You open the higher ranking of two 5 card suits, not the stronger one.

3C was a weak jump overcall.

4C is strong support for diamonds. 

 

West

♣ --

East

♠  K74

 

♠  T865

♥  9763

♥  AK84

♦  --

♦  T76

♣  QJ9765

South

♣ 42

Bhcp

21

9          11

19

♠  J2

Hcp

15

6          7

12

♥  T

♦  KJ953

♣ AKT83

 

The key in the bidding is for North to indicate that she is certainly strong enough to go for 11 tricks but is not averse to going higher.

In the play you need to ruff 3 clubs so don’t draw trumps too soon.

 

Now for another N/S slam (sorry to all you playing E/W).

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 10

BIDDING

Dealer

East

North

Vulnerability

Game all

N

E

S

W

♠  AKQ83

 

P

2H

P

♥  J95

2N

P

3S

P

♦  --

6H

     

West

♣ AQJT4

East

 

Once your opponents have bid to show a weak hand all your bids should be strong (opening values).

Therefore, West should pass.

♠  972

 

♠  JT54

♥  A

♥  864

♦  QT9765

♦  A432

♣  832

South

♣ K6

Bhcp

25

9          12

14

♠  6

Hcp

17

6          8

9

♥  KQT732

♦  KJ8

♣ 975

Let’s say West leads a club.  If you take a losing finesse then it is all over at the first trick.

Declarer calls for the CA and plays 3 rounds of spades to discard her 2 losing clubs.

South plans to ruff a club in order to ruff diamonds.  She calls for the C4 and up pops the CK.  She changes tack as there are now 3 top clubs in dummy.  Having ruffed the club she plays a trump, taken by West.

West switches to diamonds but dummy ruffs.

The CQ is then played.  If East ruffs he is over-ruffed and his last trump drawn when declarer crosses to the HJ.  If he doesn’t ruff then declarer discards.

 

I want to finish with a bidding point from Board 16.

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 16

BIDDING

Dealer

West

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

N

E

S

W

♠  Q53

     

1D

♥  AJ965

1H

?

   

♦  T4

 

 

 

 

West

♣ K73

East

 

 

 

 

♠  4

 

♠  A987

 

 

 

 

♥  KQ4

♥  72

 

 

 

 

♦  K6532

♦  AQ8

 

 

 

 

♣  AQJ2

South

♣ T854

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

15

21        14

10

♠  KJT62

Hcp

10

15        10

5

 

 

 

 

♥  T83

 

 

 

 

♦  J97

 

 

 

 

♣ 96

 

 

 

 

 There are two ways for East to show her spade suit.  She can bid 1S or she can show the unbid major by making a negative double.

Convention has it that the negative double shows exactly 4 spades while a bid of 1S shows a minimum of 5 spades.

Of course, South should raise to the level of fit by bidding 2H.  At my table she was silent.

What then is West’s best rebid?

The problem with bidding 2C is that it could be made on a much weaker hand.  I chose to show my extra strength by bidding 1NT.  After all, my partner had shown some holding in the suit.

 

Comment
Hands from 25th July 2017

On Board 8 the question was, should East enter the bidding?

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 8

BIDDING

Dealer

 

West

North

Vulnerability

 

None

N

E

S

W

♠ 76

 

 

 

P

♥ AT75

1D

P

P

P

♦ AKJ97

 

 

 

 

West

♣ Q2

East

 

 

 

P

♠ QT42

 

♠ A85

1D

X

P

2S

♥ J2

♥ KQ96

P

P

P

 

♦ Q53

♦ 864

 

 

 

 

♣ AJ86

South

♣ K54

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

20

16              16

8

♠ KJ93

Hcp

14

10              12

4

 

 

 

 

♥ 843

 

 

 

 

♦ T2

 

 

 

 

♣ T973

 

 

 

 

 

After North's opening bid East might Pass or Double.  If East Passes then North will peacefully make 1D for +70.

 

If East Doubles then West will bid 2S, jumping to show 8+ Hcp.  North is too weak to compete at the three-level and East, knowing that partner Passed on the first round of bidding, will Pass too.  Against 2S North leads the AD, showing possession of the KD, but doesn't lead the KD to the second trick.  Thinking that the QC might make a trick and that a Heart lead might allow declarer to discard losers from hand on dummy's Hearts, North might lead a trump to the second trick.  This will allow South to win the KS in time to lead a Diamond through declarer's QD and give the defence three Diamond tricks.  Altogether the defence will make three Diamonds, one Spade and one Club, so that 2S will make giving N/S a score of -110.  So on this hand at least a light take-out Double seems to work.

 

 

Board 9 is curious for what might have been.. 

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 9

BIDDING

Dealer

 

North

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠ AJ86

1NT

P

P

2C

♥ KQ3

P

3C

P

P

♦ QT75

P

 

 

 

West

♣ 52

East

 

 

 

 

♠ 3

 

♠ QT72

 

 

 

 

♥ 964

♥ JT8

 

 

 

 

♦ AK64

♦ 2

 

 

 

 

♣ KQ843

South

♣ AJT97

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

18

16              15

11

♠ K954

Hcp

12

12                8

8

 

 

 

 

♥ A752

 

 

 

 

♦ J983

 

 

 

 

♣ 6

 

 

 

 

 

(Incidentally, the diagram illustrates the benefits of the Bhcp system.  Using Hcp the East and South hands seem to be equal but the Bhcp evaluation rates the East hand a significantly the better hand.)

 

With the strength pretty equally divided between the four hands the bidding, and certainly the final contract, is likely to vary from table to table.  North played 1NT three times, each time going one off.  Three times E/W played in some number of Clubs and five times N/S finished in a Spade contract.  At my table my partner and I bid Hearts to the three-level and, fortunately (albeit reasonably) E/W continued to 4C which, going one off, gave us a fair result.  I was wondering how 3H would have fared?  On the face of it, with Hearts breaking 3-3 and with both Spades and Diamonds breaking 4-1, you would think that 3H would be a good contract.  But the app shows that whilst 3D and 2S can be made, N/S cannot make even 1H.  Why?  The reason is that, in a Heart contract, the uneven splits in the side suits allow E/W to score tricks by ruffing.  A key play is for East to lead a low Club after the first Diamond ruff.  Then East can score a second Diamond ruff.  The poor trump splits do not prevent N/S from making Spade or Diamond part-score contracts.

 

 

Board 17 presented a challenge for those Easts who sacrificed in 4S. 

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 17

BIDDING

Dealer

 

North

North

Vulnerability

 

None

N

E

S

W

♠ 8

P

1S

X

P

♥ 96542

3H

4S

X

P

♦ JT95

P

P

P

 

West

♣ AQ5

East

 

 

 

 

♠ J5

 

♠ AQT9762

 

 

 

 

♥ T873

♥ -

 

 

 

 

♦ Q72

♦ A863

 

 

 

 

♣ 7643

South

♣ J8

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

11

6                16

27

♠ K43

Hcp

7

3                11

19

 

 

 

 

♥ AKQJ

 

 

 

 

♦ K4

 

 

 

 

♣ KT92

 

 

 

 

 

East has a rule of 20 opening bid and is too strong to open 3S.  South is too strong to bid 1NT which would show 16-18 Hcp so chooses to Double.  North has an eight-loser hand in support of Hearts, so placing South with a seven-loser hand and a Heart suit bids 3H.  East can see that 4H will make so bids 4S straight away.  South could bid on to 5H (which makes) or Double with the confidence that 4S is unlikely to make.

 

The question then is, by how many tricks will East fail?  If the contract is two off then N/S will score +300 which with 4H making will give E/W a good result, but if East is defeated by three tricks then N/S will make +500, which is better than the +450 they would get for 5H=.

 

South will make the obvious opening lead of the AH which East ruffs.  East can see a possible six losers, one Spade, three Diamonds and two Clubs.  This is no good.  How to reduce the losers by one?  There are two finesses available.  If either the KS is with North or the KD is with South then one loser could be avoided.  East should reflect that South has shown a strong hand in the bidding.  Suppose that South holds both the KS and the KD?  In this case the KS has to be a loser (unless it is a singleton) but the QD can be East's eighth trick.  Suppose that East starts by leading AD and another Diamond.  This will promote the QD and it may seem that in addition the QD will be an entry to dummy to take the (probably losing) Spade finesse.  But look what happens.  South can win the KD at trick 3, lead a low Club to partner and then receive a Diamond ruff.  East is back to having six losers.  Far better is to play AS and another Spade at tricks 2 and 3.  Now, assuming that the KD is with South, East cannot be prevented from taking eight tricks and securing a good result.

 

The key thing is for East to realise that her only target is to make eight tricks.

 

 

Finally Board 27 illustrated the benefits of using the Losing Trick Count.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 27

BIDDING

1HDealer

 

South

North

Vulnerability

 

None

N

E

S

W

♠ AK73

 

 

P

P

♥ T6432

1H

P

1S

P

♦ 6

2S

P

4S

P

West

♣ AK7

East

P

P

P

 

♠ 9

 

♠ J52

 

 

 

 

♥ K75

♥ AJ9

 

 

 

 

♦ J853

♦ AQT

 

 

 

 

♣ QT932

South

♣ J864

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

19

10              20

11

♠ QT864

Hcp

14

6                13

7

 

 

 

 

♥ Q8

 

 

 

 

♦ K9742

 

 

 

 

♣ 5

 

 

 

 

 

The first three bids by N/S are standard.  What should South bid after hearing that North has Spade support?  South might look at her measly 7 Hcp and Pass, but she should look again!  Her hand has only seven losers and North should also have seven losers to justify an opening bid.  Using the Losing Trick Count you add up the partnership losers and subtract the total from 18.  This suggests the level at which the partnership can make a contract - but only if there is a known fit.  Here the answer is four, so South should bid 4S.  4S is a fairly easy make.  If E/W fail to lead trumps then the contact can be made on a cross-ruff.  Otherwise the 3-3 Heart break allows North's Heart suit to be established.  In practice seven N/S pairs played in 4S but strangely only three made their contract; three played in 2S and at one table E/W played in 3NT, which did not work out well for them.

Comment
Hands from 11th July 2017

I am going to start with the bidding on two slam hands where regrettably few pairs ended up in anything but a game contract.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 19

BIDDING

Dealer

South

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  A9876

 

 

P

1H

♥  T9

P

1S

P

2D

♦  J73

P

4H

P

4N

West

♣ T42

East

P

5C

P

5D

♠  2

 

♠  KJT5

P

5S

P

6H

♥  A7643

♥  KQJ82

 

For those of you who play Jacoby West’s response will be 2NT.

♦  AK854

♦  Q9

♣  A3

South

♣ K8

Bhcp

9

19        23

9

♠  Q43

Hcp

5

15        15

5

♥  5

♦  T62

♣ QJ9765

 

In standard Acol East makes the delayed game response of 1S and then jumps to the heart game at her second turn.

West knows that her rebid of 2D could be made on a minimum opening hand yet East has confidently gone to game; she must have opening values.  West has a 5 loser hand so that suggests 12 tricks could be made.

Blackwood is used and 5C shows one key card (HK).  West’s 5D bid asks whether East holds the queen of trumps.  East’s 5S bid indicates that she holds the HQ and the SK.

West confidently bids the slam.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 21

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

N/S vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  8652

P

P

P

2C

♥  QJ

P

2N

P

3H

♦  K862

P

3S

P

4N

West

♣ KT6

East

P

5H

P

6H

♠  KQ73

 

♠  A4

 

West has a good 6 card major, a 4 loser hand and at least 16 hcp (24 Bhcp).  The hand qualifies for an opening bid of 2C.

♥  AK9652

♥  T873

♦  AQ

♦  75

♣  2

South

♣ AJ875

Bhcp

14

24        13

9

♠  JT9

Hcp

9

18        9

4

♥  4

♦  JT943

♣ Q654

 

East’s hand is strong enough to make a positive bid.  I don’t like to bid a 5 card minor suit at the 3 level; 2NT is better.

East’s rebid of 3S cannot possibly be a suggestion that spades be trumps; with spades she would have bid them earlier in preference to 2NT.  The 3S bid agrees hearts and indicates that the SA is held.

West goes into Blackwood, 2 key cards without the HQ are shown and the slam bid.

 

Only one pair on Board 19 and 3 pairs on Board 21 bid a slam.

 

So many pairs don’t bother with the Unusual No Trump or Michaels Cue Bid because “they never come up”.  They come up much more frequently than you might think.

 

As South on Board 1 you are dealt:

♠ K J 10 3 2

 A J 9 7 4

 2

♣ 7 4

North dealt, passed and East opened 1C.  What do you bid?

An overcall of a Michaels Cue bid of 2C shows 5/5 in the major suits. 

On the very next board (Board 2) West picked up:

♠ 9

 Q J 7 6 3

 A 10 5 3 2

♣ K 7

East dealt, passed and South opened 1C.  What should East bid?

An overcall of 2NT is the Unusual No Trumps showing 5/5 in the two lowest unbid suits (in this case diamonds and hearts).

On both boards it happens that overcaller’s partner had heart support and so, although weak, should immediately bid to the level of fit.  The aim is to take away bidding space from the stronger pair and so make life more difficult for them.

 

Finally, here is a question about opening leads.  As West on Board 11 you have:

♠ 8 7 3

 7 5 3 2

 7 3

♣ K 5 4 3

South has bid spades strongly, North has shown diamonds and South is declarer in 6NT.

What do you lead?

Partner can have very little, probably about 4 hcp.  What are the chances that those few points are in clubs? 

Those points could be in any suit so the chance of them being in clubs is one in four.  It is probable that a club lead will just help declarer so that leaves the hearts.

On that basis I would select the H7 as my opening lead hoping declarer (the strongest hand at the table) held the CA so that my CK would make a trick.

That is all good logic but woe is me, this is the one time in four:  Partner’s 4 hcp happened to be the CA!!  A club lead would have put declarer one off while a heart lead allowed him to make an overtrick.

 

Comment
Hands from 4th July 2017

Board 8 illustrated two simple ideas that both come up quite often.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 8

BIDDING

Dealer

 

West

North

Vulnerability

 

None

N

E

S

W

♠ K532

 

 

 

P

♥ KJ2

1NT

P

3NT

P

♦ AJ6

P

P

P

 

West

♣ QT7

East

 

 

 

 

♠ Q64

 

♠ A9

 

 

 

 

♥ 763

♥ Q985

 

 

 

 

♦ T842

♦ 975

 

 

 

 

♣ A92

South

♣ J863

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

21

9                10

20

♠ JT87

Hcp

14

6                  7

13

 

 

 

 

♥ AT4

 

 

 

 

♦ KQ3

 

 

 

 

♣ K54

 

 

 

 

 

The first point of interest is South's response to North's 1NT opening bid.  With 13 Hcp South is going to bid game.  Should South bid Stayman?  With 4333 distribution (and here with honours in all three of the three-card suits) South should forget Stayman and bid a direct 3NT.  This is because there are no ruffing values in the South hand and it is almost certain that the same number of tricks will be available in NT as in Spades (should North prove to have a four-card Spade suit).  The 10 extra points in NT could make a big difference in the overall result.

 

The second point of interest lies in East's choice of opening lead.  I watched the hand being played four times and every time the opening lead was the 5H, the fourth-highest of the longest suit.  But leading away from a Q when declarer has opened 1NT is very likely to give away a trick.  Don't do it!  Here the lead of the 9D, top of nothing, gives away nothing.  It is true that declarer has a two-way finesse against the QH but that gives the defence a 50% chance of scoring the QH instead of a 0% chance!

 

 

Another simple point arose twice, on Boards 12 and 19.  On both these hands one side could make 3NT with overtricks (but not 6NT) or a small slam in a minor suit.  After playing one of these boards one player spoke to me, lamenting that, "I made a brilliant bid [5D] but scored 0%!"  The brilliant bid would have been 6D.  The lesson is that, if your bidding goes beyond 3NT when you have a minor suit fit, you are better off bidding a small slam than settling for the minor suit game.  If the slam fails you will score close to 0% but you won't do much better scoring say +400 in 5D when most of the field are scoring say +430 in 3NT+1.

 

 

Board 17 was maybe closer to poker than bridge.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 17

BIDDING

Dealer

 

North

North

Vulnerability

 

None

N

E

S

W

♠ K7

1C

P

1H

X

♥ T8642

4H

4S

5C

5S

♦ -

6C

6S

P

P

West

♣ AQ9753

East

X

P

P

P

♠ AQJ43

 

♠ T8652

 

 

 

 

♥ 7

♥ 53

P

P

1H

2H

♦ KQT973

♦ AJ852

4H

4S

5H

5S

♣ 6

South

♣ 8

X

P

P

P

Bhcp

13

18                8

21

♠ 9

Hcp

9

12                5

14

 

 

 

 

♥ AKQJ9

 

 

 

 

♦ 64

 

 

 

 

♣ KJT42

 

 

 

 

 

When both sides have massive double fits it can be hard to judge whether to bid on, Pass or Double when the auction reaches the five-level.  I have shown two possible bidding sequences.  Neither of these can be recommended at the

 

In the first North makes a light opening bid on 9Hcp.  Is this sound?  If you use the Rule of 20 then it is sound.  The Rule of 20 states that if your Hcp added to the length of your two longest suits adds up to 20 or more then you hand warrants an opening bid.  Here North has 9 Hcp + 11 cards in Hearts and Clubs = 20.  The advantage of this on this hand is that when North subsequently shows strong support for partner's Hearts, South knows that they have a double fit, which is very useful in judging how to bid at the end of the auction.  The key bid is South's bid of 5C which lets North know about the double fit.  This allows North, with a Diamond void, to bid 6C.  North chooses 6C instead of 6H in case South has a doubleton Spade, as in 6C the KS will be protected from the opening lead, although it seems likely that South will have at most one Spade.

 

In the second suggested bidding sequence N/S don't uncover their Club fit, making it more likely that they will allow E/W to play in 5S.

 

In both bidding sequences East knows that her side has a double fit, which suggests that they will have little defence against 6C or 6H and that therefore 6S will be a good sacrifice.  West's Double of 1H in the first sequence shows the two unbid suits.  Her 2H bid in the second sequence is Michaels, showing the two highest unbid suits.  The par contract is 6SX.

 

There is, by the way, not much point in making a penalty Double of a slam.  If the slam goes off then the defence will score well compared to all the other pairs who defended against making game contracts.  If the slam makes then the Double will have turned a below average result into an outright bottom.  On this hand 6H was bid and made twice.  One N/S pair bid 6C which would have scored less well than 6H - except that E/W kindly Doubled, giving N/S a top!

 

 

 

When I looked at Board 20 my instinct was that South should bid 3NT.  Three N/S pairs bid NT and made ten or eleven tricks but only one of these pairs bid 3NT.  At one table the E/W bidding should have allowed South to be held to eight tricks, but West forgot the bidding during the play!

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 20

BIDDING

Dealer

 

West

North

Vulnerability

 

All

N

E

S

W

♠ Q53

 

 

 

P

♥ QJT7

P

P

1D

1H

♦ J86

1NT

2H

2NT

P

West

♣ 953

East

P

P

 

 

♠ 74

 

♠ KJT86

 

 

 

 

♥ A9863

♥ K54

 

 

 

P

♦ T3

♦ 95

P

P

1D

1H

♣ K864

South

♣ QJ2

1NT

2S

2NT

P

Bhcp

11

10              16

23

♠ A92

Hcp

6

7                10

17

P

P

P

 

♥ 2

 

 

 

 

♦ AKQ742

 

 

 

 

♣ AT7

 

 

 

 

 

My feeling was that South should have bid 3NT not 2NT, reasoning that North's 1NT bid shows a Heart stopper and that with one Heart trick, six Diamonds and the two black aces she would be able to make nine tricks.  This would be a good punt and if E/W kindly start the defence with three rounds of hearts then South will make ten tricks, as above but with two heart tricks.  But if E/W refuse to lead a second round of Hearts, South will be held to eight tricks.  The key to achieving this lies in the bidding.

 

The two bidding sequences shown are the same except for East's bid on the second round.  Suppose East bids 2H, saying to herself, "Partner has five Hearts.  I can bid 2H as that is to the level of fit."  West then leads the 6H against 2NT.  East wins with the KH and can see that she can't profitably attack Spades from her side of the table.  Suppose she returns a heart to partner's AH.  What should West lead?  By now it doesn't matter!  If West leads a black suit, South can win with the ace, cross to dummy's JD, cash the two heart tricks and return to her Diamonds and remaining black suit ace.

 

In the second bidding sequence, East bids 2S.  Maybe she used the "suit quality test".  This states that a suit can be bid at the level indicated by adding the number of cards to the number of the top five honours.  Here she has five spades including three of the top five honours, so the suit can be bid at the two-level.  Now West has the chance to shine.  She should listen to partner and lead a Spade.  Suppose dummy plays low.  West plays the TS and South might duck.  In that case west leads a low Heart to partners AH and West returns a second Spade.  Say dummy ducks again.  West plays the JS and declarer can either win the AS now or at the next trick.  Declarer can still enter dummy once, with the JD, but there are no established heart tricks to enjoy and now declarer will only make eight tricks.  When I watched the hand being played, East found the key 2S bid and then West led a low Heart!  Bridge is a partnership game!

Comment
Hands from 27th June 2017

At eight tables Board 3 was played by North in 2C, probably with the first bidding sequence shown in the diagram, giving N/S (and E/W) a score of 50% when the contract was defeated by one trick.  On the surface it would seem that this was a fairly uninteresting hand.  But when the score was entered E/W will have seen that they could make 3D or 3H - and the one E/W who did so scored 100%.  So, should E/W have entered the bidding?

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 3

BIDDING

Dealer

 

South

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠  JT6

 

 

P

P

♥  QJ2

1C

P

1D

P

♦  T

2C

P

P

P

West

♣ AKJ965

East

P

 

 

 

♠  984

 

♠  AK7

 

 

 

 

♥  K9864

♥  AT3

 

 

P

P

♦  AJ53

♦  9642

1C

X

1D

1H

♣  8

South

♣ QT2

2C

2H

3C

3H

Bhcp

20

11              19

10

♠  Q532

Hcp

12

8                13

7

P

P

P

P

♥  75

 

 

 

 

♦  KQ87

 

 

P

P

♣ 743

1C

P

1D

1H

2C

2H

3C

3H

P

P

P

P

 

The first point to make is that E/W were vulnerable and N/S were non-vulnerable.  This might make E/W reluctant to bid, but bear in mind that if N/S go off undoubled when non-vulnerable then it will only cost them 50 points per undertrick.  It is generally better to let the opposition play a partscore when they are vulnerable.  (There is no bonus for making a vulnerable partscore but there is a bonus for defeating a vulnerable partscore.)

 

Maybe East could have found a Double after the 1C opneing bid?  She has at least three cards in each of the unbid suits and honours in both majors.  Or maybe West could have bid 1H after the 1D response?  West has only 8 Hcp but she should be aware that her partner may have Passed with quite a few points but with no five-card suit.  If either East or West venture a bid then in all probablity E/W will buy the contract at the three-level and get a good result.  Two possible bidding sequences are shown in the diagram.  At Pairs try to get into the bidding if at all possible.

 

 

When Board 4  was played the focus was on the player with apparently the worst hand.  South had 2 Hcp but a key role to play in the bidding.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 4

BIDDING

Dealer

 

West

North

Vulnerability

 

All

N

E

S

W

♠  J86

 

 

 

1D

♥  AK

X

1S

2H

2D

♦  A92

3C

P

4C

P

West

♣ AQJ64

East

?

 

 

 

♠  KQ5

 

♠  AT9742

 

 

 

 

♥  J983

♥  T2

 

 

 

1D

♦  QJT74

♦  K65

X

1S

2H

2D

♣  K

South

♣ 87

3C

P

5C

P

Bhcp

26

19              11

4

♠  3

Hcp

19

12                7

2

P

P

 

 

♥  Q7654

 

 

 

 

♦  83

 

 

 

 

♣ T9532

 

 

 

 

 

West has just got an opning bid.  There are 12 Hcp but you might devalue the singleton KD.  On the other hand the rule of 20 suggests an opening bid.  Adding the Hcp to the number of cards in the two longest suits gives 21 so you can afford the devalue the KD and still bid.  And using the Losing Trick Count there are seven losers, again suggesting that an opening bid is correct.  The solid nature of the Diamond suit confirms this decision.

 

What should North bid over the 1D opening bid?  With only five cards in the majors it might seem that a 2C overcall is best, but with so many Hcp it is best to Double and then to bid your suit in the next round.  This conveys that you have a strong one-suited hand.

 

East can then make her normal 1S response and it is then South's turn to think.  The 1S bid to her right means that she only has to consider the two undid suits, Hearts and Clubs.  Her first thought might be, "I only have 2 Hcp, I'd better Pass".  But her second thought should be, "I have an eight-loser hand in support of Hearts or Clubs, so I have to bid".  Does she bid 2C or 2H?  It is normal to bid the higher ranking suit first.  At her next bid North will bid Clubs.  South will understand that this shows a strong hand with at least five Clubs and with five-card support she should raise Clubs to the level of fit.  Having in addition shortages in both of the opposition's suits maybe South should even bid 5C?  N/S will then play in 4C or 5C and in either case this would give them a good result.

 

 

The play was of interest in Board 5.  All E/W pairs played in some number of Spades (one possible bidding sequence is shown) and at five tables 10 tricks were made giving E/W a good score.  But as can be seen from the diagram N/S can take five tricks (one Spade, three Hearts and the AD).  How did some N/S pairs go wrong?

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 5

BIDDING

Dealer

 

North

North

Vulnerability

 

N/S

N

E

S

W

♠  J5

2D

X

3D

3S

♥  QT4

P

4S

P

P

♦  AJT983

P

 

 

 

West

♣ T5

East

 

 

 

 

♠  A832

 

♠  QT974

 

 

 

 

♥  8653

♥  K72

 

 

 

 

♦  K62

♦  Q

 

 

 

 

♣  K4

South

♣ AQ96

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

15

13              19

13

♠  K6

Hcp

8

10              13

9

 

 

 

 

♥  AJ9

 

 

 

 

♦  754

 

 

 

 

♣ J8732

 

 

 

 

 

If North is on lead, what opening lead should be made?

 

The first point is that N/S's Spade trick vanishes if N/S lead Spades.  If Spades are first led from the East hand then South must duck unless the QS is the card led.  If the TS is led then South should think, where are the AS and JS?  If they are both with West then there are no Spade tricks for the defence.  If North has the AS then N/S will have two Spade tricks (but don't play the KS in case North's AS is singleton).  If North has the JS then ducking the TS will mean that either the JS or the KS will win a trick.  If Spadees are first led from the West hand then the KS will obviously win a trick.

 

The second point is that North should not lead a Diamond.  Leading from an unsupported ace (i.e. when you don't also hold the king) often costs a trick.

 

It is usually not a good idea to lead from a doubeton - all too often it gives declarer an easy way to capture an honour held by partner.

 

It does not seem attractive to lead a Heart.

 

Suppose that North leads a trump (costing a trick as above).  N/S can still hold E/W to 9 tricks as long as North plays Hearts correctly.  E/W will have to play on Diamonds after drawing trumps and eliminating Clubs.  North wins the first round and must then lead a Heart.  If she leads anything else after winning the AD then a Heart can be discarded from the West hand on the KD leaving E/W with only two Heart losers.  Which Heart should North lead?  If she lead the 4H then West can play low and South will win with the JH or the 9H (not the AH).  If South then leads a Dimaond back then as before a Heart loser will be discarded on the KH.  So North must lead the QH or the TH.  Then she will retain the lead if the KH is ducked and the other two defensive Heart tricks can be taken.

 

If South is on lead then she will lead a Dimaond (partner's suit) and, after winng the AD, North will have to lead the QH or TH after which E/W will be held to 8 tricks.

Comment
Hands from 20th June 2017

On Board 1 I picked up this hand as dealer: ♠ AJ42  ♥ KJT8  ♦ KT87  ♣ T.  Playing four-card majors, should I have opened the bidding?  The problem with 4441 hands is the rebid.  Always imagine that partner responds in the suit in which you hold a singleton.   If you open 1H or 1S, partner bids 2C and you rebid 2D then you have said that you hold at least five cards in your first bid suit.  With only 12 Hcp there is a danger that you will play a Heart contract in a 4-3 fit at an uncomfortably high level.  If you open 1D and partner bids 2C then bidding 2H or 2S would show 16+ Hcp.  With only 12 Hcp and 4441 distribution my recommendation is to Pass.  (On this particular hand an openjing bid of 1H would work out satisfactorily, as partner heppens to hold a four-card Spade suit, as the second bidding sequence shows.)

 

If North Passes as dealer then the bidding might proceed as shown.  After West's 1NT opneing bid North can Double for take-out.  As North passed as dealer this clearly does not show the usual 16+ Hcp but rather a willingnes to compete.  East's Redouble is SOS after which West would bid 2C, but here South is happy to bid 2S.  (There are various systems available to compete over an opening 1NT bid and also to rescue partner from 1NTx.  If you play in a regular partnership you should decide how to bid in both such situations.)

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 1

BIDDING

Dealer

 

North

North

Vulnerability

 

None

N

E

S

W

♠  AJ42

P

P

P

1NT

♥  KJT8

X

XX

2S

P

♦  KT87

P

P

 

 

West

♣ T

East

 

 

 

 

♠  K3

 

♠  875

1H

P

1S

P

♥  A72

♥  Q653

2S

P

P

P

♦  J532

♦  Q4

 

 

 

 

♣  KQJ8

South

♣ 9764

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

20

20                6

14

♠  QT86

Hcp

12

14                4

10

 

 

 

 

♥  94

 

 

 

 

♦  A96

 

 

 

 

♣ A532

 

 

 

 

 

 

Board 9 was one of those rather frequent hands where only a miniority of pairs bid a cold slam.  Why did six out of eight pairs settle for game?

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 9

BIDDING

Dealer

 

North

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠  K97

1H

P

4NT

P

♥  K9652

5C

P

6H

P

♦  A6

P

P

P

 

West

♣ AK2

East

 

 

 

 

♠  A85

 

♠  QJT432

 

 

 

 

♥  743

♥  8

 

 

 

 

♦  432

♦  J9

 

 

 

 

♣  QT65

South

♣ J743

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

22

9                10

19

♠  6

Hcp

17

6                 5

12

 

 

 

 

♥  AQJT

 

 

 

 

♦  KQT875

 

 

 

 

♣ 98

 

 

 

 

 

Playing a weak NT North opens 1H.  East might think of overcalling but maybe at red vulnerability she should Pass.  But in any case South should make a slam try.  One way of looking at her hand is to use the Losing Trick Count.  The LTC is only used when you have a known fit with partner.  South has a five-loser hand.  An opening bid will be based on at most seven losers.  Add the number of losers together, subtract from eighteen andf the answer is the level at which you can probably make a contract.  Here the answer is six.  Check that there aren't two aces missing and bid 6H.

 

My suggested bidding sequence (in which the 5C response to the 0314 RKCB enquiry shows 0 or 3 key cards) is is not perfect.  It is usually said that you shouldn't use Blackwood with two losers in a side suit and it is possible here that there will be two quick losers in Clubs.  On the other hand it is quite possibile that North will have at least the KC, which would be protected from the opening lead.  And if EW have both the top Clubs then they may have one each in which case a Club may well not be led.  A more sophisticated bidding sequence using cue bids might be used but, if there are two Club losers the bidding sequence might alert EW to the need to lead Clubs.  Sometimes on a hand like this where there are two quick losers, pairs who bid directly to the slam make 6H=, pairs who bid directly to game make 4H+2, and pairs using a scientific bidding sequnece make 5H= and score a bottom.  On this hand of course, North had the Clubs covered.

 

 

Finally Board 26 illustrated some of the finer points of using transfers over 1NT.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 26

BIDDING

Dealer

 

East

North

Vulnerability

 

All

N

E

S

W

♠  AQ7

 

P

P

P

♥  J8

1NT

P

2D

P

♦  K6543

2H

P

2NT

P

West

♣ Q96

East

P

P

 

 

♠  J964

 

♠  532

 

 

 

 

♥  Q765

♥  AT

 

P

P

P

♦  A

♦  QT72

P

 

 

 

♣  T432

South

♣ KJ87

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

17

11              16

16

♠  KT8

Hcp

12

7                10

11

 

 

 

 

♥  K9432

 

 

 

 

♦  J98

 

 

 

 

♣ A5

 

 

 

 

 

North has a minimum weak 1NT opener.  (Some might Pass, especially being vulnerable.)  With a five-card heart suit South bids 2D and North duly bids 2H.  What should South now bid?  She has 11 Hcp and wants to invite game.  Also she has only five hearts (which she has already shown) and she also has a hand suitable for a NT contract.  So she bids 2NT.  North can now Pass (with a weak hand and only two Hearts), bid 3H (with a weak hand and at least three Hearts), 3NT (with a strong hand and only two Hearts) or 4H (with a strong hand and at least three Hearts).  Here, with a minimum hand and only two Hearts, North Passes.

 

But think back to the opening bid.  Using the Bhcp evaluation scheme you need 18 Bhcp to open 1NT, so North should Pass.  This would result in the hand being pased out.  As six out of eight NS pairs went off, in a variety of contracts, maybe this hand illustrates the value of the Bhcp evaluation method?

Comment
Hands from 30th May 2017

The Rule of 7 is a guide to how many times declarer should hold up before taking her trick in her opponents’ strong suit.  It is usually but not exclusively used in No Trump contracts.

The rule states that when your opponents lead their strong suit you calculate the number of times you should hold up by adding the total number of cards you and dummy hold between you in the suit and subtract that number from 7.  The answer is the number of times you should hold up.  For example in their suit you hold:

                7

            A642

You have a total of 5 cards in the suit: 7 – 5 = 2 so you hold up for 2 rounds and refrain from taking the ace until the third round.

The reason why it works is because you fear that one of your opponents holds a 5 card suit.  You hold up until the round where your other opponent is to play his last card in the suit.  This would leave him with none to play if he gains the lead later; communications in their suit have been cut.

It is a simple rule but the problem is that it does not always give the right answer.  In fact, on Boards 21 and 22 it gave the wrong answer both times.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 21

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

N/S vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  43

P

1D

1H

X

♥  84

P

1N

P

3N

♦  A9764

After the 1H overcall West has 2 ways of showing a spade suit.

Double shows exactly 4 spades.  Bidding 1S shows 5 or more spades.  The strength is unlimited in both cases.

West

♣ KJ74

East

♠  AQJ8

 

♠  K96

♥  932

♥  AK7

♦  K2

♦  Q853

♣  9652

South

♣ AT3

Bhcp

11

14        22

13

♠  T752

Hcp

8

10        16

6

♥  QJT65

♦  JT

♣ Q8

 

South leads the HQ.  East counts her hearts, there are 6 in total.  Using the Rule of 7 we get 7 – 6 = 1, holding up for 1 round.

The trouble is that this is wrong.
Why?

If South has 5 hearts then North can only have two.  East can take both of North’s hearts with her HA and HK.  There is no need to hold up.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 22

BIDDING

Dealer

East

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  76

 

1S

2C

2H

♥  762

3C

3H

4C

4H

♦  K964

 

4H was a common contract and on the normal club lead 10 tricks are easy.

What are the options if a diamond (the unbid suit) is led?

West

♣ QT54

East

♠  Q3

 

♠  KJT54

♥  AKT953

♥  QJ4

♦  JT52

♦  A87

♣  2

South

♣ 76

Bhcp

8

16        17

19

♠  A982

Hcp

5

10        11

14

♥  8

♦  Q3

♣ AKJ983

 

There are 4 losers; one spade, 2 diamonds and 1 club.  That is one too many.

On the diamond opening lead West applies the Rule of 7: she has 7 diamonds so the rule suggests that she should take the trick with the DA immediately.

That is wrong.

As soon as trumps are drawn declarer must try to set up the spades for discards but it is too late, N/S take their winners and West is 1 off.

Declarer reasons as follows.  South overcalled so let’s hope he holds both black aces.  North has led the D4, suggesting length so South is likely to be short, hopefully a doubleton. 

West decides to duck and South wins with the DQ.  Now the N/S communications are cut and 10 tricks are still to be had whatever South leads next.

 

Tip: don’t rely too much on the Rule of 7; it often gives the wrong answer.

 

A deceptive play which puts your opponents on the wrong track s one of the great joys of bridge.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 13

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  54

P

2N

P

3H

♥  KT65

P

3S

P

P

♦  J752

 

A 4 loser hand with a minor suit is not a 2C opener while East’s hand is too strong for 1C.  With two decent doubletons an opening bid of 2NT is best.

West

♣ 986

East

♠  J9832

 

♠  KQ7

♥  J82

♥  A7

♦  986

♦  K3

♣  73

South

♣ AKJT52

Bhcp

7

4          28

21

♠  AT6

Hcp

4

2          20

14

♥  Q943

♦  AQT4

♣ Q4

 

South’s opening lead is the H3: no other suit is at all reasonable.

Declarer calls for the H2 and what does North play?

South’s H3 indicates an honour in the suit.  North can see three honours, but not the HA or the HQ.  South would not lead away from the HA so must hold the HQ.  North plays the HT.

East assesses the situation.  He has 1 spade loser, 1 heart and possibly 2 diamonds.  If the diamonds are unkind then it will all depend upon getting the clubs right.

Not wanting North to switch to diamonds East takes the trick with the HA.

Then, before tackling trumps, East plays the CA to the C4, C3 and what card from North?

North should think it a little strange for the CA to appear.  It looks like declarer has a long club suit with a hole in it; probably missing the CQ.  Time for a little deceptive play: North plays the C8.

East switches to the SK, South ducks.  East continues with the SQ, South takes the trick and gets off lead with her third spade.

East calls for a club from dummy.  North plays the C9.

As North has played the 8 and then the 9, East could well place the C6 with South. If he does so he will deduce that whichever opponent has the CQ, the play of the CK will lose a club trick and will then have no guaranteed entry (distributions 98/Q64 or Q98/64).  However, if he finesses then he will have a 50% chance of making all those clubs, discarding all his losers.

If East takes the bait and finesses then N/S make the club, a heart and 2 diamonds which together with the SA puts declarer 1 off.

 

 

Comment
Hands from 16th May 2017

Bidding the slam on Board 4 was difficult.  One pair did bid it so ‘well done’ to them.  However, 12 tricks should have been routine but only 3 declarers made 12 tricks.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 4

BIDDING

Dealer

West

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  KT42

 

 

 

1H

♥  53

P

2D

P

3D

♦  J943

P

4H

 

 

West

♣ 972

East

 

The only real reason West might bid on is that a double fit usually produces one more trick than the point score suggests.

♠  QJ7

 

♠  A65

♥  KJT82

♥  Q96

♦  A876

♦  KQT5

♣  K

South

♣ A53

Bhcp

7

21        21

11

♠  983

Hcp

4

14        15

7

♥  A74

♦  2

♣ QJT864

 

North’s opening lead is a choice between a trump and the C9.  I chose the C9 so let’s take it from there.

West wins with the CK and plays a heart to the HQ.  South ducks.

Declarer continues with trumps; South wins with the HA and returns another heart.

Declarer has two things to consider: how to play the diamonds and what to discard on the CA.

If the diamonds split 3/2 then there is no problem but what if they divide J9xx?

If it is South who holds the four diamonds then there will always be a diamond loser because South’s J9 surround East’s DT.  However, if it is North who has the four diamonds then there are 4 diamond tricks so long as you first play the DK and then cross to West’s DA.  On the second round South shows out so on the third round declarer takes the marked finesse, covering North’s diamond to make 4 tricks in the suit.

Now declarer calls for the CA and discards her S7.  She then ruffs a club to get back to hand and leads the SQ.  It doesn’t matter if North covers or not, there are no spade losers and 12 tricks are made.

 

Board 22 had the potential to present North with problems in both the bidding and the play.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 22

BIDDING

Dealer

 

East

 

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠  AQ5

 

P

P

1D

♥  K42

1NT

P

P

?

♦  J842

 

 

 

 

West

♣ KQ2

East

 

P

P

1D

♠  J76

 

♠  T98

X

P

2C

2D

♥  JT5

♥  A873

3C

P

P

P

♦  AKQT53

♦  97

 

 

 

 

♣  A

South

♣ JT94

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

21

23               9

7

♠  K432

Hcp

15

15              5

5

 

 

 

 

♥  Q96

 

 

 

 

♦  6

 

 

 

 

♣ 87653

 

 

 

 

 

The first three calls are routine.  But after 1D what should North bid? 

When I held the North cards I bid 1NT, but really the North hand is about 1 point short of a 1NT overcall.  When my bid was passed round to West, she sensibly passed.  On the obvious diamond lead she would have a more or less certain six tricks, which would mean that if partner could take one trick the contract would be defeated.  If on the other hand North Doubles the 1D opening bid then NS are likely to finish in 3C or 2S, both of which make.

 

Supposing that East finishes in a Diamond contract, what card should North lead?  As the cards lie the lead of a high Club or any Diamond gives away a trick.  A Heart lead is problematic.  Most Wests who declared a Diamond contract made only seven tricks, suggesting that North found a safe lead.  If NS take their three Spade tricks and lead a Club from the South hand (or a low Club from the North hand), how should West play Hearts?  If she leads the JH intending to run it if North plays low, then if North does play low then South wins the QH and later West will have to lose another Heart, probably the 9H.  If on the other hand North plays high on the first round of Hearts then West can win dummy's AH and lead back towards her TH, losing only one Heart.  From North's point of view the principle is that you should cover the second of two touching honours not the first.  Of course this is made more difficult if the touching honours are hidden in declarer's hand.

 

On Board 2 there was a wide variety of results.  Four EW pairs reached the best contract of 4S whilst four pairs languished in 3S.  (Two NS pairs were allowed to play in a Heart part score, which gave them good results.)

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 2

BIDDING

Dealer

 

East

 

North

Vulnerability

 

N/S

N

E

S

W

♠  32

 

1S

2D

3S

♥  QJ98642

P

4S

P

P

♦  62

P

 

 

 

West

♣ A2

East

 

 

 

 

♠  QT94

 

♠  KJ765

 

 

 

 

♥  A753

♥  T

 

 

 

 

♦  A75

♦  K9

 

 

 

 

♣  J4

South

♣ KT987

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

10

16              16

18

♠  A8

Hcp

7

11              10

12

 

 

 

 

♥  K

 

 

 

 

♦  QJT843

 

 

 

 

♣ Q653

 

 

 

 

 

Using the rule of 20 East's hand is worth an opening bid.  (Add the number of cards in the two longest suits to the number of Hcp.  If this reaches 20 then the hand meets the basic criteria for opening the bidding.  On borderline hands there are other things to consider: is there a good rebid, are most of the points in your long suits).  

South overcalls 2D and with 10-12 Hcp and four card support West bids 3S or, if playing the Unassuming Cue Bid (in which case raises of partner's suit are pre-emptive), she bids 3D.  East then uses the losing trick count.  She has six losers and West should have eight losers for her three-level response.  This suggests that EW can make 4S. 

Why then did half of the declarers in a Spade contract fail to make 10 tricks? 

Presumably, South was allowed to ruff a heart with the 8S. 

This is a typical ‘dummy reversal’ hand where you trump in the long hand and draw trumps with the high trumps in the short hand.  Therefore, the high trumps in East’s hand should be used for ruffing.

Say that South leads the KH.  North wins the HA and leads a second round of Hearts, East should ruff high and lead a small spade towards West’s high trumps.

 

 

Cheers

James

 

Comment
Hands from 9th May 2017

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

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 1

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  Q76

P

1N

P

2H

♥  JT986

P

2S

P

3D

♦  8

P

3H

P

4D

West

♣ J862

East

P

4H

P

6D

♠  AT953

 

♠  KJ

 

 

 

 

♥  K5

♥  A74

 

 

 

 

♦  AKJ92

♦  QT763

 

 

 

 

♣  9

South

♣ Q43

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

8

21        18

13

♠  843

Hcp

4

15        12

9

 

 

 

 

♥  Q32

 

 

 

 

♦  54

 

 

 

 

♣ AKT75

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 15

BIDDING

Dealer

South

 

North

Vulnerability

N/S vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  AKJT2

 

 

1D

P

♥  KJ742

1S

P

2D

P

♦  4

2H

P

4H

P

West

♣ K8

East

4N

P

5H

P

♠  53

 

♠  Q9874

6H

 

 

 

♥  63

♥  Q8

 

 

 

 

♦  J632

♦  AQ7

 

 

 

 

♣  JT742

South

♣ 965

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

22

5          14

19

♠  6

Hcp

15

2          10

13

 

 

 

 

♥  AT95

 

 

 

 

♦  KT985

 

 

 

 

♣ AQ3

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 24

BIDDING

Dealer

West

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  KQ972

 

 

 

1C

♥  KQ865

2C

P

3H

?

♦  T3

North’s 2C is Michaels showing 5/5 in the majors.

The weaker you are the more important it is to bid to the level of fit immediately.  Even if East bids 2D South comes in with 3H.

West

♣ Q

East

♠  AJ65

 

♠  3

♥  4

♥  A32

♦  AK9

♦  QJ8762

♣  AKT82

South

♣ J53

Bhcp

18

26        12

4

♠  T84

Hcp

12

19        8

1

♥  JT97

♦  54

♣ 9764

 

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.

 

 

Comment
Hands from 2nd May 2017

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 3

BIDDING

Dealer

South

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  QT42

 

 

1H

X

♥  853

2H

2S

3H

P

♦  853

P

P

P

 

West

♣ Q95

East

 

This is not an unreasonable auction.

E/W were in spades five times and N/S in hearts six times.

E/W can make 8 tricks in spades and N/S 9 tricks in hearts.

♠  AJ96

 

♠  K8753

♥  4

♥  QT76

♦  J64

♦  T72

♣  AKJT4

South

♣ 6

Bhcp

7

21        9

23

♠  --

Hcp

4

14        5

17

♥  AKJ92

♦  AKQ9

♣ 8752

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 28

BIDDING

Dealer

West

 

North

Vulnerability

N/S vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  T73

 

 

 

2S

♥  84

P

2N

P

3H

♦  KQ93

P

4S

 

 

West

♣ QT72

East

 

This was the bidding at my table; not unreasonable.

Six declarers were in 4S.

♠  K98654

 

♠  A2

♥  953

♥  AJ7

♦  A2

♦  54

♣  53

South

♣ AKJ984

Bhcp

12

9          23

16

♠  QJ

Hcp

7

7          17

9

♥  KQT62

♦  JT876

♣ 6

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 14

BIDDING

Dealer

East

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  873

 

1N

P

?

♥  A842

 

Should West bid 2C?

 

What should she do when East responds 2D?

♦  Q73

West

♣ K98

East

♠  T542

 

♠  Q96

♥  KJT9

♥  Q6

♦  A98

♦  KT5

♣  T3

South

♣ AQ652

Bhcp

12

14        19

15

♠  AKJ

Hcp

9

8          13

10

♥  753

♦  J642

♣ J74

 

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.

 

Comment
Hands from 25th April 2017

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 25

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  QJ94

P

1D

2C

2H

♥  T764

P

6D

 

 

♦  862

 

This was the auction when the slam was bid.

 

West’s 2H bid should indicate a 5 card suit but the points were there.

West

♣ T4

East

♠  T852

 

♠  AK6

♥  KJ32

♥  8

♦  Q3

♦  AKJT754

♣  AQ9

South

♣ 75

Bhcp

7

18        21

14

♠  73

Hcp

3

12        15

10

♥  AQ95

♦  9

♣ KJ8632

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 30

BIDDING

Dealer

East

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  K3

 

1S

X

2S

♥  AQ985

4H

P

P

?

♦  KQ

 

After the double West’s 2S bid indicates 0 – 5 hcp.

 

Well, once N/S have gone to 4H are you going to bid with that West hand?

West

♣ QT65

East

♠  7652

 

♠  AT984

♥  J6

♥  43

♦  963

♦  AT752

♣  J982

South

♣ A

Bhcp

23

4          17

16

♠  QJ

Hcp

16

2          12

10

♥  KT72

♦  J84

♣ K743

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 8

BIDDING

Dealer

West

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  QT763

 

 

 

1H

♥  KT43

?

 

 

 

♦  QT95

 

If North overcalls 1S then when East is declarer in either no trumps or clubs then an opening lead of the S9 is very likely: 3 spade tricks to E/W.

West

♣ --

East

♠  5

 

♠  AKJ

♥  AQJ85

♥  62

♦  863

♦  A2

♣  AJ97

South

♣ Q86432

Bhcp

13

17        19

11

♠  9842

Hcp

7

12        14

7

♥  97

♦  KJ74

♣ KT5

 

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.

 

Comment
Hands from 11th April 2017

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 7

BIDDING

Dealer

South

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  AT643

 

 

1N

P

♥  J854

2C

P

2D

P

♦  A963

2S

P

P

P

West

♣ --

East

 

Here we see Sequence A getting N/S to the correct contract.

♠  QJ52

 

♠  7

♥  7

♥  AKQ92

♦  KJT82

♦  74

♣  J53

South

♣ Q8764

Bhcp

13

14        15

18

♠  K98

Hcp

9

8          11

12

♥  T63

♦  Q5

♣ AKT92

 

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

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 22

BIDDING

Dealer

East

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  J

 

1N

2S

3N

♥  J9752

 

West has game values but bidding clubs should not cross her mind.  If 5C is going to make then it is odds on that 3NT will have an overtrick.

 

♦  K984

West

♣ 953

East

♠  K54

 

♠  T63

♥  AT6

♥  KQ

♦  A6

♦  T532

♣  QJT82

South

♣ AK74

Bhcp

8

21        18

13

♠  AQ9872

Hcp

5

14        12

9

♥  843

♦  QJ7

♣ 6

 

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

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 10

BIDDING

Dealer

East

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  AKT86

 

1H

X

2H

♥  92

3S

P

4S

P

♦  K875

 

Just over half of the N/S pairs got to the 4S game; the others came to rest in 3S.

West

♣ 84

East

♠  J42

 

♠  7

♥  KT8

♥  AJ6543

♦  J94

♦  T6

♣  T953

South

♣ KQ72

Bhcp

14

10        15

21

♠  Q953

Hcp

10

5          10

15

♥  Q7

♦  AQ32

♣ AJ6

 

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.

Comment
Hands from 4th April 2017

Only 2 pairs bid the heart game on Board 7.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 7

BIDDING 1

Dealer

South

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  KT75

 

 

P

P

♥  82

P

1C

P

1D

♦  KQ83

P

1H

P

2H

West

♣ T43

East

P

4H

 

 

♠  Q32

 

♠  J98

 

♥  J653

♥  KQ97

BIDDING 2

♦  T972

♦  A

N

E

S

W

♣  KJ

South

♣ AQ986

 

 

P

P

Bhcp

13

12        22

13

♠  A64

Hcp

8

7          16

9

P

1C

P

1H

♥  AT4

P

4H

 

 

♦  J654

 

♣ 752

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 22

BIDDING 1

Dealer

East

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  8

 

P

P

2C

♥  J8765

P

2N

P

3S

♦  A4

P

4H

P

6S

West

♣ J9653

East

 

♠  AK7432

 

♠  QJ95

BIDDING 2

♥  T

♥  A2

 

P

1H

2H

♦  8

♦  J76532

4H

4S

P

4N

♣  AKQT8

South

♣ 4

P

5C

P

5D

Bhcp

9

23        12

16

♠  T6

Hcp

6

16        8

10

P

6S

 

 

♥  KQ943

 

 

 

 

♦  KQT9

 

 

 

 

♣ 72

 

 

 

 

 

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.

BIDDING 2

N

E

S

W

 

2D

P

2N

P

3H

P

3S

P

4S

P

4N

P

5C

P

5D

P

6S

 

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 23

BIDDING

Dealer

South

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  T

 

 

1N

P

♥  AKT97

2D

P

2H

P

♦  KJ8

3C

P

3H

P

West

♣ AK63

East

4C

P

4D

P

♠  9732

 

♠  AK854

4N

P

5C

P

♥  J84

♥  52

5D

P

6H

 

♦  Q973

♦  T542

 

♣  T7

South

♣ 52

Bhcp

26

6          10

18

♠  QJ6

Hcp

18

3          7

12

♥  Q63

♦  A6

♣ QJ984

 

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.

 

Comment
Hands from 28th March 2017

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 24

BIDDING

Dealer

West

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  AQJ

 

 

 

P

♥  73

1N

P

2D

P

♦  KQ42

2H

P

4C

P

West

♣ T752

East

4H

P

4N

P

♠  K9

 

♠  T86432

5C

P

6H

 

♥  QJ8

♥  5

In the bidding given the 4NT bid is Blackwood but it shouldn’t have been used; South needs North to hold the SA and not the DA.

♦  JT983

♦  A765

♣  J86

South

♣ K9

Bhcp

18

14        10

18

♠  75

Hcp

12

8          7

13

♥  AKT9642

♦  --

♣ AQ43

 

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 3rd spade.

 

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

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 3

BIDDING

Dealer

South

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  J63

 

 

2D

4S

♥  AQ3

P

P

P

 

♦  AT

If you have a good 4 card major it can give you a poor score if you open with a pre-emptive bid.  The reason is that it will be hear impossible to find your major fit if one exists.  Is South’s heart suit good?

West

♣ KQ972

East

♠  AKQT9754

 

♠  --

♥  75

♥  KT82

♦  98

♦  765

♣  T

South

♣ AJ8643

Bhcp

23

14        12

11

♠  82

Hcp

16

9          8

7

♥  J964

♦  KQJ432

♣ 5

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 1

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  762

P

1H

P

P

♥  Q98

P

 

 

 

♦  KQT4

 

This was a common auction.

West

♣ QT9

East

♠  KJ9

 

♠  AQ54

♥  T

♥  A76542

♦  86532

♦  --

♣  7532

South

♣ AK6

Bhcp

15

7          22

16

♠  T83

Hcp

9

4          17

10

♥  KJ3

♦  AJ97

♣ J84

 

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.

 

Comment
Hands from 21st March 2017

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 10

BIDDING 1

Dealer

East

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  QT6

 

1H

2D

P

♥  A3

P

X

P

3H

♦  732

P

P

P

 

West

♣ QT976

East

 

♠  J742

 

♠  AK95

BIDDING 2

♥  J7

♥  KQT654

N

E

S

W

♦  AJ5

♦  Q6

 

2C

P

2D

♣  8432

South

♣ A

P

2H

P

4H

Bhcp

13

11        25

11

♠  83

Hcp

8

7          18

7

Needless to say BIDDING 1 was down to my opening bid.

♥  982

♦  KT984

♣ KJ5

 

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 12th 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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 15

BIDDING

Dealer

South

 

North

Vulnerability

N/S vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  AK

 

 

P

P

♥  Q3

1D

P

2D

P

♦  A9764

P

?

 

 

West

♣ J965

East

 

Should East bid now?

The indications are that the points are evenly divided.

With both majors East should double.

♠  T865

 

♠  QJ92

♥  AJ97

♥  K642

♦  J5

♦  82

♣  A87

South

♣ Q42

Bhcp

19

15        12

14

♠  743

Hcp

14

10        8

8

♥  T85

♦  KQT3

♣ KT3

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 26

BIDDING

Dealer

East

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  96

 

P

1D

X

♥  QT542

P

2S

?

?

♦  J2

 

West obviously felt she needed to say something.  The point of interest is East’s jump to 2S which indicates 9 – 11 hcp.

West

♣ T853

East

♠  A432

 

♠  QJ85

♥  86

♥  A7

♦  K84

♦  T75

♣  AK76

South

♣ QJ94

Bhcp

7

18        16

19

♠  KT7

Hcp

3

14        10

13

♥  KJ93

♦  AQ963

♣ 2

 

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.

Comment
Hands from 14th March 2017

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 23

BIDDING

Dealer

South

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  KQ42

 

 

P

1S

♥  Q974

P

2D

P

2N

♦  K93

P

3C

P

3N

West

♣ 75

East

 

Only 3 pairs bid to game.

At my table it was East who was in 3NT but it doesn’t really matter whether it is East or West who is declarer.

♠  AJT75

 

♠  6

♥  AKT2

♥  63

♦  AJT5

♦  Q8642

♣  --

South

♣ KQJT3

Bhcp

14

26        13

7

♠  983

Hcp

10

17            8

5

♥  J85

♦  7

♣ A98642

 

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 3rd 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.

 

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 27

BIDDING

Dealer

South

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

 

There are 2 questions.

 

Is South worth an opening of 1NT?

 

If South does open 1NT should North use Stayman?

♠  QT964

♥  J753

♦  --

West

♣ KQT7

East

♠  852

 

♠  A73

♥  64

♥  AKQ2

♦  J7642

♦  AQ3

♣  J62

South

♣ 843

Bhcp

14

4          25

17

♠  KJ

Hcp

8

2          19

11

♥  T98

♦  KT985

♣ A95

 

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).

 

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 4

BIDDING

Dealer

West

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  AK97652

 

 

 

P

♥  983

1S

2N

X

3D

♦  9

3S

P

4S

 

West

♣ KQ

East

 

No pair bid the slam and only 2 declarers made 12 tricks.

♠  J83

 

♠  Q

♥  QT64

♥  J7

♦  A873

♦  QT652

♣  63

South

♣ JT972

Bhcp

16

11        12

21

♠  T4

Hcp

12

7          6

15

♥  AK52

♦  KJ4

♣ A854

 

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.

 

Comment
Hands from 7th March 2017

Let’s start with Board 11

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 11

BIDDING

Dealer

South

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  T72

 

 

1S

P

♥  AKJT

2C

P

2D

P

♦  52

2S

P

P

P

West

♣ Q932

East

 

Most N/S pairs were in some number of spades.  Giving South extra for her good spade suit (which is certainly rebiddable) she has opening values.

♠  A83

 

♠  54

♥  9864

♥  Q753

♦  976

♦  AJ43

♣  KT4

South

♣ AJ8

Bhcp

16

 10       17

17

♠  KQJ96

Hcp

10

 7        12

11

♥  2

♦  KQT8

♣ 765

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 16

BIDDING

Dealer

West

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  J9742

 

 

 

P

♥  T865

P

1D

1H

1N

♦  J985

3H

3N

P

P

West

♣ --

East

P

P

 

 

♠  86

 

♠  AT3

North’s bid of 3H is the level of fit.  It indicates 0 – 10 pints and 4 card heart support.

East bids 3NT on the basis of a 5 card suit and the heart values indicated by West’s bid.

♥  QJ2

♥  K

♦  K4

♦  QT762

♣  J87542

South

♣ AKQ3

Bhcp

5

 11       26

18

♠  KQ5

Hcp

2

 7         18

13

♥  A9743

♦  A3

♣ T96

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 25

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  8752

P

P

2C

2S

♥  8

P

P

3H

P

♦  8654

4H

P

P

P

West

♣ A732

East

 

Not everyone would agree with an opening of 2C but, given that it is bid, an overcall of 2S should be routine.

♠  KQJT964

 

♠  A3

♥  Q5

♥  A764

♦  JT

♦  Q932

♣  54

South

♣ JT8

Bhcp

5

 16       16

23

♠  --

Hcp

4

 9        11

16

♥  KJT932

♦  AK7

♣ KQ96

 

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.

 

Comment
Hands from 28th February 2017

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

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 1

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  AJ7

1H

1S

P

2H

♥  AT632

P

3C

P

4S

♦  9

 

West’s first bid of 2H (her opponent’s suit) is called the Unassuming Cue Bid.  Normally, it shows strong support for partner’s overcall.

 

The other key bid is East’s rebid of 3C.

West

♣ QJ82

East

♠  K953

 

♠  QT862

♥  Q5

♥  K8

♦  KQ84

♦  AJ

♣  AT5

South

♣ K743

Bhcp

18

 20        19

3

♠  4

Hcp

12

 14        13

1

♥  J974

♦  T76532

♣ 96

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 17

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  T9

P

P

1D

?

♥  KQ542

 

West might bid the routine 3S or go 1 level higher and bid 4S.

 

Every declarer was West playing in some number of spades.

♦  96

West

♣ Q875

East

♠  KQJ8654

 

♠  A3

♥  A76

♥  J8

♦  Q

♦  T832

♣  63

South

♣ KJT42

Bhcp

11

 17        15

17

♠  72

Hcp

7

 12        9

12

♥  T93

♦  AKJ754

♣ A9

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 29

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  T

1H

X

2N

P

♥  AQJ864

3D

P

3N

P

♦  J98762

4D

P

5D

P

West

♣ --

East

6D

 

 

 

♠  Q842

 

♠  KJ63

 

The bidding probably requires some explanation but it is what happened at my table.

♥  K72

♥  953

♦  T4

♦  K3

♣  8763

South

♣ KQJ5

Bhcp

13

 8          19

20

♠  A975

Hcp

8

 5          13

14

♥  T

♦  AQ5

♣ AT942

 

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.

 

Comment
Hands from 21st February 2017

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

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 4

BIDDING

Dealer

 

West

 

North

Vulnerability

 

All

 

N

E

S

W

♠  4

 

 

 

P

♥  J9732

P

P

1C

P

♦  T9

2C

P

P

P

West

♣ QT832

East

 

 

 

 

♠  987

 

♠  QJT65

 

 

 

P

♥  AK54

♥  QT

1S

P

P

P

♦  6532

♦  Q874

 

 

 

 

♣  A6

South

♣ 74

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

7

14         13

26

♠  AK32

Hcp

3

11        7

19

 

 

 

 

♥  86

 

 

 

 

♦  AKJ

 

 

 

 

♣ KJ95

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 6

BIDDING

Dealer

 

East

 

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

 

N

E

S

W

♠  J82

 

1H

1S

2D

♥  J93

2S

2H

P

3H

♦  AJT42

P

4H

P

P

West

♣ 32

East

P

 

 

 

♠  63

 

♠  A95

 

 

 

 

♥  Q75

♥  AKT86

 

 

 

 

♦  Q9876

♦  K3

 

 

 

 

♣  AQ9

South

♣ 875

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

12

14         19

15

♠  KQT74

Hcp

7

10       14

9

 

 

 

 

♥  42

 

 

 

 

♦  5

 

 

 

 

♣ KJT64

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 9

BIDDING

Dealer

 

North

 

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

 

N

E

S

W

♠  A74

1N

P

P

P

♥  AQ98

 

 

 

 

♦  Q62

 

 

 

 

West

♣ 863

East

 

 

 

 

♠  932

 

♠  QJ8

 

 

 

 

♥  2

♥  KJT64

 

 

 

 

♦  KJ984

♦  T73

 

 

 

 

♣  KT52

South

♣ A9

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

16

11          18

15

♠  KT65

Hcp

12

7        11

10

 

 

 

 

♥  753

 

 

 

 

♦  A5

 

 

 

 

♣ QJ74

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

Comment
Hands from 14th February 2017

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

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 4

BIDDING

Dealer

West

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  T7

 

 

 

P

♥  KQT64

P

1D

1N

P

♦  65

?

 

 

 

West

♣ A864

East

 

♠  J96

 

♠  K652

♥  85

♥  J97

♦  JT94

♦  KQ87

♣  K532

South

♣ QT

Bhcp

14

 9          17

20

♠  AQ43

Hcp

9

 5          11

15

♥  A32

♦  A32

♣ J97

 

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:

♠ Q J 10 8 6

 9 8 6

 Q J 6

♣ 9 3

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 27

BIDDING

Dealer

South

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  3

 

 

P

1S

♥  AJ52

X

?

 

 

♦  A984

 

Whether you use hcp or Bhcp, West is just too strong to open 2S.

West opens 1S.

 

North makes a take-out double.

West

♣ KQ93

East

♠  KJ9542

 

♠  A

♥  Q8

♥  K764

♦  K65

♦  QT3

♣  J2

South

♣ AT864

Bhcp

19

 15        19

7

♠  QT876

Hcp

14

 10        13

3

♥  T93

♦  J72

♣ 75

 

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.

 

Comment
Hands from 7th February 2017

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 9

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  9863

P

1C

2D

2H

♥  T2

3D

4H

P

P

♦  AJ7

?

 

 

 

West

♣ J943

East

 

On an evaluation with B points East’s hand is worth only an opening bid of 1NT but this was the bidding at my table.

♠  AJT5

 

♠  KQ7

♥  AJ7643

♥  KQ8

♦  3

♦  K82

♣  87

South

♣ Q652

Bhcp

10

 15        21

14

♠  42

Hcp

6

 10       15

9

♥  95

♦  QT9654

♣ AKT

 

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?

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 26

BIDDING

Dealer

East

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  K54

 

1N

P

3N

♥  K853

 

The bidding is routine.  East opens 1NT whichever of hcp or Bhcp she uses.

♦  654

West

♣ J73

East

♠  T82

 

♠  AQJ9

♥  AJ6

♥  QT9

♦  AT

♦  J87

♣  KQT85

South

♣ A96

Bhcp

10

 22        21

7

♠  763

Hcp

7

 14       14

5

♥  742

♦  KQ932

♣ 42

 

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 12th 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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 2

BIDDING

Dealer

East

 

North

Vulnerability

N/S vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  92

 

1D

P

P

♥  AKQJ974

4H

P

P

P

♦  A

 

This was the bidding at my table.  East is too strong for an opening of a weak 2D so bids 1D.

West

♣ JT6

East

♠  K7643

 

♠  Q5

♥  T85

♥  63

♦  53

♦  QJ8642

♣  843

South

♣ AQ7

Bhcp

22

 5          16

17

♠  AJT8

Hcp

15

 3          11

11

♥  2

♦  KT97

♣ K952

 

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.

 

 

Comment
Hands from 31st January 2017

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

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 2

BIDDING

Dealer

 

East

 

North

Vulnerability

 

N/S

N

E

S

W

♠  754

 

P

1NT

P

♥  KQT83

2D

P

2H

P

♦  -

3NT

P

4H

 

West

♣ AT976

East

 

 

 

 

♠  T82

 

♠  QJ63

 

 

 

 

♥  62

♥  A95

 

 

 

 

♦  KQ75

♦  J832

 

 

 

 

♣  Q854

South

♣ K2

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

14

11      16

19

♠  AK9

Hcp

9

 7    11

13

 

 

 

 

♥  J74

 

 

 

 

♦  AT964

 

 

 

 

♣ J3

 

 

 

 

 

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?

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 7

BIDDING

Dealer

 

South

 

North

Vulnerability

 

All

N

E

S

W

♠  AKJ4

 

 

1H

3D

♥  87

X

4D

4H

P

♦  K52

4NT

P

5D

P

West

♣ KQJ7

East

6H

 

 

 

♠  953

 

♠  QT62

 

 

 

 

♥  Q93

♥  6

 

 

 

 

♦  AJT986

♦  Q743

 

 

 

 

♣  9

South

♣ 8632

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

24

11     7

18

♠  87

Hcp

17

 7      4

12

 

 

 

 

♥  AKJT542

 

 

 

 

♦  -

 

 

 

 

♣ AT54

 

 

 

 

 

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).

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 19

BIDDING

Dealer

 

South

 

North

Vulnerability

 

E/W

N

E

S

W

♠  QJ852

 

 

1NT

P

♥  T83

2H

P

2S

P

♦  K7

P

X

P

3D

West

♣ JT3

East

P

P

P

 

♠  64

 

♠  AT

 

 

 

 

♥  AK7

♥  J94

 

 

 

 

♦  T9532

♦  Q864

 

 

 

 

♣  872

South

♣ AQ65

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

13

10     19

18

♠  K973

Hcp

7

 7      13

13

 

 

 

 

♥  Q652

 

 

 

 

♦  AJ

 

 

 

 

♣ K94

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Comment
Hands from 24th January 2017

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

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 25

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W Vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  6

P

1S

3C

4C

♥  QT62

5C

5S

P

6S

♦  T92

 

West

♣ KJ952

East

♠  AT975

 

♠  KQ432

♥  K974

♥  A53

♦  A876

♦  KQ3

♣  --

South

♣ 76

Bhcp

11

 15       19

15

♠  J8

Hcp

6

 11        14

9

♥  J8

♦  J54

♣ AQT843

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 22

BIDDING

Dealer

East

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  73

 

P

1S

P

♥  AJ87643

1N

P

2D

P

♦  J96

2H

P

P

P

West

♣ 4

East

 

♠  AQT4

 

♠  85

♥  KT9

♥  Q5

♦  QT2

♦  743

♣  T62

South

♣ AQ9875

Bhcp

9

 19        11

21

♠  KJ962

Hcp

6

 11         8

15

♥  2

♦  AK85

♣ KJ3

 

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.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 9

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  T93

1H

P

1S

P

♥  A865

2N

P

3N

 

♦  A8

 

West

♣ AKQ8

East

♠  85

 

♠  J642

♥  K32

♥  QT97

♦  KJ654

♦  T92

♣  J92

South

♣ 73

Bhcp

23

 12        7

18

♠  AKQ7

Hcp

17

 8          3

12

♥  J4

♦  Q73

♣ T654

 

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.

 

Comment
Hands from 17th January 2017

I am going to start with Board 4.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 4

BIDDING

Dealer

West

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

N

E

S

W

♠  AJ4

 

 

 

P

♥  AT643

1H

3D

3S

P

♦  T97

4S

P

4N

P

West

♣ K2

East

5H

P

6S

 

♠  T92

 

♠  73

 

East’s 3D is a weak jump overcall with 6 or 7 diamonds.  Even 3D doubled is 1100 to N/S.

♥  Q852

♥  97

♦  82

♦  AKQ6543

♣  JT74

South

♣ 98

Bhcp

18

 7         12

23

♠  KQ865

Hcp

12

 3           9

16

♥  KJ

♦  J

♣ AQ653

 

South’s 3S bid shows strength and a minimum of a 5 card suit, it is forcing.  With only 4 spades South would make a negative double.

Knowing of the fit, North bids 4S.

South has a 4 loser hand so the Losing Trick Count suggests 13 tricks.  South checks on the key card situation and on finding that one is missing settles for 6S.

Only two of the nine declarers playing in spades made 12 tricks yet it should be routine.

Let’s assume a diamond lead, taken by East and the diamond return ruffed by declarer.

If the clubs break either 3/3 or 4/2 then the club suit can be set up to give 12 tricks.  There is a far better likelihood of this working than the heart finesse being right.

Declarer plays off the CK and CQ.  She then plays a small club and ruffs with the SA even if West discards.  Now comes the SJ and then the S4 to the SK and SQ to draw trumps.  Now the CQ draws West’s last club.  Declarer makes 4 club tricks and a club ruff, 2 hearts and 5 spades.

It is true that declarer might think of setting up the heart suit.  However, that would mean ruffing in the long hand.  Also, the HQ is missing so the suit is less robust.

 

On Board 28 West had a less than great hand and yet she had a crucial role to play in the bidding.

   W                       E

♠  T74              ♠  A63

♥  T7653           ♥  AJ4

♦  T6                ♦  AKQ8

♣  732              ♣  AJ8

After two passes it is East’s turn to bid.  She has 23 hcp (which merits an opening of 2C) but only 31 Bhcp (which is worth only an opening of 2NT).

The point of interest is the subsequent bidding after an opening of 2C.  Initially, we have:

W         E

P          2C

2D        2N

?

East is now showing a balanced hand with 23 – 25 hcp.  The 2C artificial bid has been used to announce a super-strong 2NT opening bid.  West should now use the same conventions as she would over an immediate opening of 2NT but make allowance for East’s extra strength.

West should bid 3D, a transfer to hearts.  The full bidding should be:

W         E

P          2C

2D        2N

3D        3H

P

I am amazed that only two declarers were in hearts, all the others being in some number of No Trumps. 

Finally, here is a bidding point from Board 8.  As East you pick up the weak but distributional hand:

♠  J98

♥  QJT8532

♦  T65

♣  --

Partner (West) dealt and opens with a bid of 1C.  North doubles.  As East, what are you going to do?

Recently, modern bidding practices have moved away from using a jump-shift response to show an extremely strong hand to using it to show a weak distributional hand.

To be clear, a jump-shift is when responder bids a new suit one level higher than necessary.  Opener is being warned not to bid again.  For example:

1D        2S.

This use is particularly useful after the intervention of a take-out double.

These days East, with the hand above, should respond 2H.

 

Tip:  consider whether you and your regular partner want to adopt the weak jump response.

 

Comment
Hands from 10th January 2017

Let’s look at the play on Board 20.  12 tricks can be made in No Trumps, spades or clubs but not one declarer made more than 11 tricks.  Mind you, bidding any slam would take aggressive bidding.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 20

Dealer

West

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

♠  8652

♥  K43

♦  QT6

West

♣ 985

East

♠  KQJT43

 

♠  A

♥  --

♥  AQ98762

♦  K954

♦  7

♣  A73

South

♣ KQ64

Bhcp

8

 19        20

13

♠  97

Hcp

5

 13        15

7

♥  JT5

♦  AJ832

♣ JT2

 

First, let’s look at the play for 12 tricks in a No Trump contract.

Declarer counts 6 spade tricks, 1 heart and 3 clubs.  She needs 2 more.  Therefore, she needs the clubs to divide 3/3 and South to hold the DA.  Immediately, while all the other suits are safe, she leads the D7 and so makes her DK now or later.  She also makes 4 club tricks as they do divide 3/3.

In spades on a club lead West wins with the CA and crosses to the SA, drawing one round of trumps.  She ruffs the H2, draws trumps and crosses to the CK.  She ruffs another heart and again crosses to dummy using the CQ.  She cashes the 13th club and then plays the HA.  The rest of the hearts are now good and all 13 tricks are made.

With clubs as trumps the requirements and play are essentially the same as in a No Trump contract.

In all three scenarios declarer needs the cards to be well placed.  Here they are well placed; it is just a pity no declarer managed to profit from it.

 

On Board 26 the distributional hands resulted in competitive bidding at the 5 level.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 26

BIDDING

Dealer

East

 

North

Vulnerability

Game all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  94

 

3D

P

3N

♥  AQ987542

4H

X

P

5D

♦  8

?

 

 

 

West

♣ J2

East

 

The majority of Norths bid 5H and were doubled for a poor score.  However, only one of the Easts in 5D made 11 tricks.

♠  AQJ7

 

♠  86

♥  J3

♥  K6

♦  KQ2

♦  AJT9763

♣  AT94

South

♣ 85

Bhcp

10

 25       12

13

♠  KT532

Hcp

7

 17        8

8

♥  T

♦  54

♣ KQ763

 

South leads the HT against 5D.  North wins and returns a heart for South to ruff.

South then switches to the CK.

East needs to get rid of her club loser.  She crosses to hand in diamonds, drawing the last 2 trumps and takes the successful spade finesse.

She returns to hand, overtaking the DQ with the DA and repeats the spade finesse.  She can then discard her last club on the remaining top spade to make 11 tricks.

ake 11 tricks.

Comment
Hands from 3rd January 2017

Let’s start with Board 5.  I found this very disappointing as not one pair bid the slam.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 5

BIDDING 1

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

N/S vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  AJ8

1C

P

1D

P

♥  K3

1N

P

4C

P

♦  Q94

4N

P

6C

 

West

♣ KQT65

East

 

♠  QT95

 

♠  K6432

BIDDING 2

♥  AT982

♥  Q654

1C

1S

3S

P

♦  873

♦  52

4C

P

4S

P

♣  3

South

♣ J7

6C

 

 

 

Bhcp

22

 10         9

19

♠  7

Hcp

15

 6           6

13

 

♥  J7

♦  AKJT6

♣ A9842

 

The first bidding sequence should be straightforward as there is no interference.

South’s rebid of 4C is a voluntary agreement of a minor at the 4 level and therefore is asking how many key cards are held by North.  4N shows two key cards plus the queen of trumps.

The second bidding sequence involves interference and it is possible that West might get into the action.  A 2S bid by South would show a strong hand and would be forcing.  Therefore, the jump to 3S is a cue bid (a second round control in this case) or it is a splinter bid if that is what you play.  The 3S bid agrees clubs.  Again, 4C is asking about key cards and 4S indicates two without the trump queen.

About half the hands where there is a slam in a trump suit should be in either 6C or 6D.  In many cases you won’t get there unless you adopt the Redwood 4C/4D bids.  They are exactly the same as 4NT except that they start at a different point.

 

There is the possibility of a nice bit of defensive card play on Board 11.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 11

BIDDING

Dealer

South

 

North

Vulnerability

Love all

 

N

E

S

W

♠  KQ972

 

 

1N

P

♥  532

2H

P

2S

P

♦  3

P

P

 

 

West

♣ QJ87

East

 

 

 

 

♠  43

 

♠  JT8

 

 

 

 

♥  AT9

♥  Q864

 

 

 

 

♦  J7654

♦  KT98

 

 

 

 

♣  643

South

♣ AK

 

 

 

 

Bhcp

12

 8          20

20

♠  A65

Hcp

8

 5          13

14

 

 

 

 

♥  KJ7

 

 

 

 

♦  AQ2

 

 

 

 

♣ T952

 

 

 

 

 

It looks as though declarer can draw trumps, lose 2 club tricks to establish 2 tricks in that suit and have the DA for 8 tricks.  Depending upon the guess, there may well be a trick in hearts as well.

Let’s see how this analysis might be thwarted on a club lead.

West leads the C6 (high/hate – don’t lead this back to me).

East takes with the .... CA.  The CA denies the CK.

East then continues with the CK.  West is surprised. 

East is trying to signal.  She has a doubleton club and plays her honours the wrong way round to indicate this.  She wants to get into West’s hand for a club ruff.  West is being asked to give a suit preference signal, to play a low club if she wants a diamond (the lower of the 2 non-trump suits) and a higher club for a heart.

West plays the C4; it is the higher of the 2 clubs she has left.

As so often happens in defence, players have to keep track of the low cards.  In this instance, East notes that the C3 has not been played and so West is doing her beast to ask for a heart.

East switched to a heart and West gives East her club ruff.  One of declarers hoped for club tricks has disappeared.  Further, if declarer miss-guesses and plays the HK there is East’s HQ to cash.  In that case declarer is restricted to 8 tricks.  As every declarer made at least 9 tricks E/W would have got a very good score.

 

Board 25 had one of those bids ‘which never come up’.

 

Crouch End Bridge Club

Board 25

BIDDING

Dealer

North

 

North

Vulnerability

E/W vulnerable

 

N

E

S

W

♠  AK87542

1S

2S

P

2N

♥  QT87

3S

4C

4S

P

♦  Q2

 

West

♣ --

East

♠  QJ

 

♠  9

♥  A6

♥  J5432

♦  KJ9765

♦  3

♣  T76

South

♣ AKQ842

Bhcp

16

 17        14

13

♠  T63

Hcp

11

 11        10

8

♥  K9

♦  AT84

♣ J953

 

North is too strong for a pre-emptive bid so opens 1S.

With 5/5 in hearts and a minor East makes a Michaels cue bid of 2S.

South is not strong enough to bid at the 3 level.  It is better to await developments.

West is not interested in hearts so bids 2NT asking East to show her minor suit (almost definitely clubs but could just be diamonds).

With a 7 card suit, North bids 3S and East bids 4C.  Now South can come out of the woodwork and bids 4S.

At adverse vulnerability, E/W should not compete to the 5 level.  Had the vulnerability been the other way around then a sacrifice of 5C would have been very worthwhile.

Comment