I think it was Hugh Kelsey who said "Don't stop to pick daisies". What he meant was do not muck about, bid what you think is correct and get on with it.  This was a fine example of what West should have done with her hand form the recent Swiss Pairs held at Ramada Inn in Wrexham.

East passed as dealer.  Many would open this hand with either 2♦ or 2♥ showing both Major suits but this was not part of their system. It would have cost them a lot on this hand.

As South I opened with a simple 11-14 No Trump. West passed and my partner tried Stayman.  East, probably looking forward to defending 4♥ (which is cold!) passed and I showed my Major suit.

West, who thought she now had enough information about the hand, decided to bid 3♣ . Big mistake.  The nasty X hit the table...  Of course, this was for takeout but with two Aces and four trumps I decided to leave the double in.  Without the 3♣ bid we would probably have subsided in a quiet 3NT making 9 tricks for +400.

However, in 3♣X the defense was merciless.  Heart to the Ace, Q♦ to the King and Ace, 4♦ to the Jack, A♠, spade to the King and a spade ruff gave us the first six tricks.

A diamond back was ruffed by declarer who then led the K♣ won by the Ace.  Partner had a "safe" exit with another diamond and I eventually won another trick with the J♣ for 4 off an +800 to the "good guys".

West by not bidding 3♣ straight away gave us a chance to evaluate what we had in defence.  If she had bid a direct 3♣ over my 1NT bid it would have been harder for us to leave the double in.

Make your bid immediatley and stick to it but do not blame me if it goes wrong !!!

Some people ended up in 4C doubled -4 (poor defence!) and -5 (-1100) so our +800 was not a complete "top" but still, very nice.