Monday 12/22/2010

Right-click here for hands.

Board 6: East has two Aces, good shape, and good intermediates in his long suits, but is a bit shy of an opening bid. West opens 1D and rebids 1NT if East responds 1S. 2C at this point would be "New Minor Forcing" in the modern style, showing 5 spades and game-invitational values; most pairs do not have an agreed way for East to show his long clubs in this sequence. East can pass or raise to 2NT.

If, instead, East responds 2C, he shows his good hand and source of tricks. In most styles West would rebid 2NT to show a minimum balanced hand, but West has good intermediates also and may leap to 3NT. My preferred style would be that 2C does not deny a major (for a hand such as East's) and West can rebid 2H or 2S on a balanced hand like this without prmising extra values. So, pass-1D-2C-2H-2S, and again an optimistic East who trusts partner to have a good hand for such bidding may jump to 3NT. Four pairs bid game, which makes with 4 club tricks, two red Aces, two spades, and a ninth trick in spades or one of the red suits depending on the defense. 22 hcp will not generally be enough for 3NT even with an establishable six card suit; notice how critical the tens and nines are. 2NT making four yields a decent score.

Board 8: There has been a recent trend of opening very light 6-5 hands with a weak two; I personally feel that bidding very weak hands tends to cause partner more problems that the defenders. Weak two bids in the 8-10 range often catch both defenders with awkward hands; with only 4 points, at least one defender is liekly to have enough strength to bid. I don't have a problem with opening a good 6 card suit within the normal range of a weak two when you happen to have a weak four or five card suit on the side.

Assuming West and North pass, East opens 1C. Doubling with flat hands has never appealed to me -- I'd pass South's hand with little thought -- but South has all Aces and Kings and I suspect most would double. West redoubles to show 10+ hcp and a fairly balanced hand; this invites opener to double anything they bid where he has length. North can expect South to have either a normal takeout double, and so a big spade fit, or a strong balanced hand or strong one-suiter. I feel very strongly one should never double with a singleton in an unbid major; North can thus count on a fit and preempt with 3S or 4S (I'd bid 4S if I trusted partner to have the sort of hand I would double with.) Over 3S, East's 4C should end the auction -- South has no more support than promised and his high cards are equally suitable for declaring or defending; West has nothing extra; North should not second-guess himself. Over 4S, East has a tough guess, but his values are mostly offensive and I'm sure I would bid 5C. Do you see why North should not bid 3S and then 4S? East gets to show his long suit and then pass the decision to West, who doubles 4S for +100 or +300. When preempting, bid as much as you dare and then let it go -- don't give the opps "two bites at the apple." North loses 2 trumps and 2 or 3 hearts at a spade contract.

Board 14: If East opens 3C, North doubles, planning to bid 4D (or 3NT) over a spade response from South. Although it is generally better to bid down-the-line in response to a takeout double -- the doubler won't bid four card suits, so it isn't an up-the-line situation -- I suspect most Souths would bid the strong hearts rather than the crummy spades. North has an easy raise to 4H and can't go wrong doubling 5C or contnuing with 5D or 5H if East or West tries to sacrficie over 4H.

But North should not have it so easy: with an 8 card suit, East should open 4C. (I wouldn't open 5 with such a crummy suit.) Now North and South must guess; North may not be willing to double and then bid 5D over a spade response. His 4D may well end the auction.

Board 17: Nine cards in the majors is too much for a notrump bid in my opinion, and I would expect few experts to disagree. Nothing wrong with opening 1H on the North's fine 20-count, South will respond with as little as 6 including perhaps support points. South is worth 2D in any style (his strong suit and heart fit make this enough for game.) North reverses with 2S; some 2/1 bidders may play this as not showing any extras, but most would interpret it as 15+ or so. South considers the 4-4 fit but slam usually requires strong trumps and so he follows his plan of showing support with 3H. North bids 4NT (Blackwood or Key cards) and settles for 6H when one Ace or Key card is found missing. 6NT runs the risk that partner was counting on some ruffs for his game force.

6NT is actually easier; at 6H, warned off the diamond lead, East may try a club and knock out dummy's late entry. Declraer must either finesse twice in spades (a worse than 25% shot) or lead diamonds before pulling trumps. East likely grabs the first diamond but even if he holds off, a second diamond sets the suit up and declarer can arrange to win the third trump in dummy and pitch away all his spade losers. 6S is of course hopeless; a key card auction should reveal two are missing and allow N/S to either stop at 5S or guess to bid 6H or 6NT. 5S making 5 would yield an average score. With a choice of trump suits for slam, make sure the one you pick is strong.