Monday 4/18/2011

Right-click here for hands.

Competition Corner
Board 10: West opens a minor in 3rd seat; 1C looks more appealing than 1H. On some hands you may want to open 1D to prepare for a 2C rebid without reversing, but with 4-4 in the minors I usually have no intention of bidding both of them anyway. North overcalls 1H; East may stretch for a negative double, showing exactly 4 spades. A "free" bid of 1S would promise five; there is no difference in the strength required for either response, and it's a good idea to go ahead and compete with such hands if you would've responded over a pass and your response is no higher than usual. South raises to 2H and West bids 2S on the known 4-4 fit. Although the general principle is to compete to the three level on your known fit rather than let the opponents play at the two level in their fit (the fit part is important), North does not have any obvious reason to prefer to declare rather than defend, and so should pass the decision to partner. (A sixth trump, singleton, or good source of tricks in a side suit would tilt toward declaring and justify 3H by North.) 2S is passed around to South, who may well choose to pass with 3334 shape and both sides vulnerable. The fact South has 10 hcp rather than 6 is immaterial -- those cards will be as useful for defense as offense. Today's hand happens to favor declaring, and about half the N/S pairs appear to have competed to 3H. West might bid 3S with his singleton heart, but that could well be down 200 9as today) or chase N/S into a making game -- it is always dangerous to bid again over 3 or 5 of a major. The vulnerability and "poison" Queen in the enemy suit also favor passing: lacking their Queen of trumps, the enemy must be bidding on other values, and partner may be rather light.

East can find arguments for and against every lead; the diamond Ace is probably the worst on average, but may appeal if that's what West opened. Note that East is not eager to ruff with what may well be a natural trump trick if West has a trump honor as here. Spades, at least, can be counted on not to establish long cards for the enemy so East settles on a low spade. (With a stronger hand East would probably lead a trump.) Dummy plays low and West inserts the 8 -- East is known to have exactly four spades and so North cannot have a singleton; the spade won't go away as dummy has no threat suit. Playing the Ace establishes two tricks for declarer immediately, though declarer can finesse for a second spade trick in any case.

The defense should collect a trick in each suit and N/S score +140 for an above average score. 3S is apt to be set two tricks for a bottom, but if N/S can't stand to defend 3S chases them into a doomed 4H. Competitive bidding is as much about knowing when to quit as when to bid one more.

Bidding after a strong 2C
Board 9: North has "only" 20 hcp but counts a likely 9.5 tricks at notrump or diamonds; with 3 aces 2C is clear. With an Ace and KQ, South should be thinking slam if a fit can be found, and spades is an obvious candidate. Although many prefer to have two of the top three honors for a positive suit response to 2C, it will be difficult for South to "catch up" after a 2D response. After 2S, North expects South to provide around 2.5 tricks and can usefully pitch a heart or club on South's expected second high spade, so North should drive the hand to 6D or 6NT.

If 2S pomises two of the top three spades, South must begin with 2D waiting; this may promise some values if playing 2H as a bust, or South may show some values by not bidding a second negative -- but what's the negative over North's 3D? That's one reason I like the 2H bust scheme -- you don't have to figure out what bid is an artificial negative on the next round. North bids 3D, South shows the spades, and North bids 3NT. South must not pass! North will have something like 22-26 points, but is unaware South has 9 rather than 4 or 5. South can raise to 4NT as a general slam invitation (quantitative); 4NT should not be Ace-asking when it is a raise of notrump. But on this ocassion treating 4NT as Blackwood will work out OK as South learns about North's 3 Aces and bids 6NT. South may wonder if he should've rebid the spades but there really was no good opportunity on this auction.

"Steps" bidders respond 2S as South, showing 7-9; North will probably drive to slam after that start. The lead won't matter against 6D, as declarer (South or North as it happens) can pull trumps and try ruffing two spades; the suit splits 3-3 so no finesse is needed, but the club finesse also works. At 6NT by North, East may lead a spade and North will not want to risk the slam on a finesse, although running the diamonds may squeeze the defenders enough for a club or spade to set up. No one reached notrump so playing safe is correct, +990 would be a top and the overtrick an unnecessary risk.

Strong 1444 and bidding over opener's reverse
Board 17: East, with 1444 shape and 17 hcp, has a problem in standard bidding. The textbook sequence is to open 1D and rebid 2C; this promises no extra values, and so could be a shapely 11, but is limited only by the failure to jump, which would show at least 19; 11-18 is an uncomfortably wide range. Responder should try to find a second bid with 8+ hcp, but cannot bid 2NT with less than 11; a preference to 2D is the usual technique, and may be ventured with as little as a small doubleton just to give opener another chance with a strong hand. On today's hand the bidding proceeds 1D-1S-2C-3C-3NT and the normal spot is reached.

This 1D-then-2C sequence has some pitfalls, however: West may be unable to show hearts with a weak 5-4 hand, and a major suit game can be missed. Also, partner's 3C second bid can have a wide range and East may have to guess whether to bid again. Some may prefer to open a diamond with the East hand and reverse into 2H over 1S, showing 17+ points. This may miss a club fit and mislead partner regarding your diamond length, but shows the correct strength and caters to any major suit or notrump game.

Give East one less club and one more diamond (x AKxx AQxxx Axx) and the reverse would be automatic; but many partnerships lack clear agreement on how to proceed over a reverse:

Method 1: West bids naturally with any weak hand, choosing among 2S, 2NT, 3D or 3H. With 8+, West jumps or bids 3C artificially (the fourth suit.) Today's West should therefore jump to 3NT since he has extra values and good club stoppers. This risks missing a spade game or slam or a club slam. Not ideal, but this is probably what you should assume if you've never discussed reverses with partner.

Method 2 (lebensohl over reverse): Opener promises a rebid after his reverse and enough strength for 2NT or 3 of a suit to be sound (17+ hcp or somewhat less with extra shape beyond the expected 4-5.) Responder generally bids naturally with any game-going hand (about 8+), so 3D and 3H show positive fits (3+ diamonds or 4+ hearts.) Responder can bid 3NT with good clubs or 3C artificially to show game values but uncertainty about the proper strain.

With a weak hand (5-7), responder bids 2NT (lebensohl) as a warning and a request for opener to rebid 3C. Responder can pass that bid or correct to 3D or 3H having shown weakness. Opener may choose to bid something other than 3C on a hand with extra shape or strength.

With 5+ spades, responder can rebid 2S whether weak or strong. This is forcing, but if responder follows with 3D or 3H those bids are assumed to be weak. A stronger hand would either bid one of those immediately or jump after bidding 2S. If opener bids 2NT or 3D over 2S, responder may pass with 5-7.

There is a third method involving the cheaper of the 4th suit or 2NT as the weakness relay, but the advantages are marginal and not worth the memory burden for most partnerships. Lebensohl over reverse is easy to remember if you use lebensohl in the other common cases, after a double of  a weak two and after an overcall of partner's 1NT. In all three cases the problem is the wide range of strength possible for hands bidding three of a suit without a jump; lebensohl provides two different paths to reach the same level and so a way to split up the wide range. The cost is losing the ability to bid 2NT naturally but this trade-off is generally worthwhile.