Tip No.11

Bridge Tip No.11

This time I would like to look at a re-opening double.

                                      ♠    K 10 9 7 6 2                    Dealer South

                 ♡   K 8 3                               E-W vulnerable

                 ♢   8 5        

♠  A J 8 5 4 3                ♣   8 6                          ♠    Q

♡  9 6                                                               ♡   Q J 10 7 5

♢  J 2                                                               ♢   9 7 4 3

♣  7 3 2                         ♠    -                            ♣   A Q J

                 ♡   A 4 2

                  ♢  A K Q 10 6

                 ♣   K 10 9 5 4

On this occasion I was playing South (because I wanted to sit near the heater) and I opened with 1D, showing 12-19 points and four or more diamonds.  West overcalled with 2S which is pre-emptive and showed 6-10 high card points and six good spades.  My partner, John, had wanted to call 1S but this had been taken by West.  If he had Doubled it would have been for take-out and not penalty so he decided to Pass and wait.  I often call this “lurking” because he is waiting to see if he might cause the opponents a problem.  East passed and I now had choices.  I thought about showing my club suit but instead decided I would Double.  This double is called a “re-opening double” and is for take-out, asking my partner to bid, and showing at least 3-card support for both of the unbid suits.  I chose this latter action.  West passed and so too did John.  By failing to bid and take out my double he is changing my take-out double into a penalty double.  East could have tried 3H but this would mean an extra trick had to be made and he knew his partner had six good spades so he also passed.  The contract went two down, which gave us 500 points, which is far better than the part score we could have achieved in clubs or diamonds.

Contact June Booty on 07846 397875 or junetaplin@live.co.uk for information about Bridge classes.