Bridge Tip No.13

This timeI would like to show the importance of “protecting in the fourth seat”.

                                      ♠    8 7 2                                Dealer North

                 ♡   A 10 6                             No-one vulnerable

                 ♢   K Q 3 2

♠  K J 4                         ♣   9 7 5                     ♠    Q 10 9 6 5

♡  K 3                                                              ♡  Q 8

♢  9 8 7                                                           ♢   A 10 5

♣  A 10 8 6 4                 ♠    A 3                       ♣   K 3 2

                 ♡   J 9 7 5 4 2

                 ♢   J 6 4

                 ♣   Q J

This hand came up in a recent swiss pairs competition where I was the tournament director.  It was played by 23 different tables and just one table Passed Out.  The N-S pair at that table got an extremely good score as almost all the scores on the Bridgemate traveller were in favour of E-W.

I think the auction should be Pass from North, East and South.  East does have 11 points and a reasonable 5-card suit but when opening with just 11 points they should all be ‘good’ points with the high card points in the long suits, but here the ♡Q is a wasted card.  This leaves West in fourth position with just 11 points.  Because the other three hands are likely to all have 9 or 10 points it is good tactics to open 1NT with 11-14 in fourth rather than 12-14.  On this hand North will then Pass and East, if using transfers, should bid 2H to show a 5-card or longer spade suit.  South is not then able to bid anything as Double would show higher cards in his heart suit.  West will complete the transfer by bidding 2S.  East will bid 2NT to show 11-12 points and an otherwise balanced hand.  West should convert to 3S, showing 3 or 4-card support and a minimum point count of 11 or 12, which will be the final contract.  E-W pairs playing in 3S scored well over average on this board, which is a great improvement over Passing Out.

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

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