Friday, November 4th 2011

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Board 3: East opens 1S, South overcalls 2H, West passes in tempo, and East should re-open with a double -- it isn't winnig bridge to pass such an overcall with a small doubleton in the enemy suit. West passes again, converting the double to penalties. North should simply pass, trusting the AK of clubs will prove useful; with a suit like KQJxxx(s), it might be reasonable to try clubs, since North's hand would not be useful to partner. Against 2H doubled, the defense cashes three spades (West pitching a club) and East should switch to the nine of trumps, leading through declarer. Declarer may as well cover with the ten; West wins the Jack and switches to a low diamond (partner must have something outside spades for his opening bid.) Declarer capture East's King, takes two clubs, and should lead toward the J9 of diamonds. West wins and exits with a low trump, but South can cash the last diamond and lead the Queen of trumps to end-play West, finishing down one doubled for a good score.

Actually, North ought to open 3C -- when you have a good "weak two" in a suit you don't play weak twos (clubs, and for some pairs diamonds) it's a good idea to open a 3 bid not vulnerable (or even vulnerable, if the suit is very sound.) Should East overcall 3S? Ron Klinger suggests 8 hcp for a 1 level overcall, and 2 additional hcp per level, so East has sufficient strength to overcall at the three level; he also suggests a "suit quality test": add the number of trumps and turmp honors, the result should be at least equal to the level of your overcall. East has 5 trumps headed by 3 honors, one short of the 9 suit quality points recommended. What's more, you should have a better hand when vulnerable. However, he has extra strength and AKQ is a suit that screams "bid me", so a 3S overcall would probably be the popular choice and not egregiously wrong. The Queen in North's suit. however, suggests defending rather than declaring, and as it happens 3S has no play. E/W should collect 3 spades, a diamond and a trump for +50.

Board 10: South opens 1C and North responds 2H (strong) or 1H (if 2H would be weak.) South raises either bid and North might begin cue-bidding, but really may as well proceed with 4NT, Blackwood or RKCB. South reveals one Ace or two key cards missing the Queen of trumps, and North settles for 6H. With no particular clue, North may play to drop the Queen, or try the old stand-by of leading the Jack from dummy (hoping East will cover), overtaking and finessing West. Good defenders should avouid giving the show away; East certainly should not cover from Qxx since partner cannot have enough trumps to promote the ten even in the unlikely event he has it; likewise, East should play low from Qx, and try not to smirk when declarer loses the return finesse. It's important as defender to anticipate when you should or should not cover an honor and be able to play either way in tempo. As a diamond loser cannot be avoided, declarers who misguess trumps will go down one.

The best slam is actually 6 clubs, and at a team game, North should offer clubs as an alternative. A possible auction might be 1C-2H; 3H-4NT; 5H-6C; pass, but only if the partnership agrees that game and slam bids in previously bid suits are meant as choice of contract, not cue-bids. 6C making will be a fine score at IMPs; at matchpoints, it earns an average, while 6H shoots for top or bottom. With clubs as trumps, a diamond can be pitched on the 5th heart.

Board 11: West opens 1C, North overcalls 1D, East bids 1S and South should raise diamonds preemptively. With neither vulnerable a straight jump to 5D is reasonable on the expected 5-5 fit and excellent prospects of ruffing out South's heart losers -- 5-5 shape improves greatly with each additional trump in partner's hand. The puts West to a guess, but Marty Bergen counels optimism with a void and West bids 6D, forcing 6S suggesting the void in case partner wants to bid 7. The stiff, onside King of trumps makes it easy to score 13 tricks: 5 spades, 4 hearts 2 clubs, and either 2 diamond ruffs or one ruff and setting up the fifth club.

Board 27: South opens 1NT (15-17) and North can "do the math", leaping straight to 6NT on the combined 33-35 hcp. Might there be a grand slam? North can count 5 losers and it's certainly possible for South to cover all 5 with 15 hcp; let's try visualizing. South might have Axx AKx Kxx Kxxx, but that's a tip-top maximum. Unlikley, perhaps, but a Gerber sequence would uncover it. Otherwise, I think 13 tricks would require two solid suits, so Gerber is probably the simplest approach. South comes up one King short and so 6NT is the proper landing place. However, the spade suit provides a full four tricks.