Sunday, July 17th, 2011

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Five in spades, four or six in clubs -- Board 4: After two passes, East opens 1S.  If playing Reverse Fit Drury, West responds 2C to show a game invitational spade raise; East closes the auction with a leap to 4S. Not playing Drury, West's hand is too strong for a simple raise, and lacks the fourth trump expected for a double raise, so 2C natural is the normal action. East raises to 3C, which shows some extra values -- with a minimum hand East could pass since West is a passed hand. West bids 3S to show his support and the same 4S contract should be reached. South leads from the KQ of hearts; East wins, concedes a heart, and eventually ruffs a heart and runs the Queen of spades for 11 tricks.

Six clubs actually makes since West can pull trumps, finesse in spades and pitch his heart loser on a spade. This is a four-or-six hand, since if the finesse fails the defense can collect a spade, heart and diamond. Not a good slam given the wasted values in diamonds opposite the singleton, but move the King of diamonds to spades and six clubs is a near laydown. Nine card fits with singleton and/or long suits on the side can produce a lot of tricks.

Lucky 6 -- Board 7: I would not open South's mangy collection with a weak 2D or anything else, though of course such a bid will sometimes work. West opens 1H, East responds 2C, West rebids 2H. Some play this as showing extra length but the normal expert practice is that the rebid merely limits opener's hand -- bids of 2S, 3C or 3D would show extras. 2NT traditionally showed extras but nowadays commonly indicates a minimum, so 2H can be taken as an unbalanced minimum, or a 15-17 balanced hand that chose not to open 1NT. East has 14 hcp and so must force to game, but 3NT with no spade stopper is too risky. East can improvise with 3D, urging West to bid 3NT with spades stopped. West could rebid the hearts to confirm six, but 3NT looks best with the strong spades and weak hearts. Most pairs reached 3H, however, probably on an auction like 1H-2C-2H-4H.

Against 4H, a trump or club lead should not be considered given the orignal 2C response; you can expect declare to pull trumps, set up clubs and pitch losers, so it's vital to make an attackng lead in an unbid suit. The Jack of diamonds stands a better chance of setting up something than leading the worthless spades. However, the lead is immaterial. West would like to set up the clubs but lacks the entries to accomplish that as well as leading toward his Queen of trumps. Almost any line succeeds since the QJ of spades drops and the King of hearts is bare after playing the Ace.

Second seat preempt -- Board 16: After West passes, North must decide how many diamonds to bid. With a fair 8 card suit and little defense, 4D looks normal. In first or third seat, not vulnerable vs. vulnerable, I'd recommend 5D; you don't want to defend against four of a major, and it's better to bid five now than to give the enemy a fielder's choice of doubling of bidding five of their own suit. In second seat, howeve, one opponent has already passed and the odds are 50% partner has the best hand at the table. Here, a 3D bid, leaving room for 3NT or 4S or to explore for 6D, may be best.

Some number of diamonds was the result at all but one table - South might bid 3H over 3D but should pass partner's retreat to 4D. Several declarers stole 11 or 12 tricks but against a preempt, leading an Ace to look at dummy is not a bad strategy. There's less chance the Ace is covering an honor as compared to other bidding sequences. When the KQ appear in dummy, East switches to a low spade and the defense collects the first three tricks.

Neither East nor West has a good hand to act over a 4D opening, but many Wests will be tempted to double or bid hearts. North has given a reasonable description of his hand and should not be tempted to bid 5D -- let partner decide what to do. East bids 4S over a double and South has enough defense to hope to beat it. However, with only one Ace, South does not double. South leads the Ace of diamonds and North drops the King. North could play a high spot card to encourage in diamonds, and it's not hard to place North with a heart void given the preempt and South's length in the suit.