Friday, June 15, 2012

Friday, June 15th 2012

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Board 1: East opens 1D; South may throw in a 2D Michaels cue-bid (both majors.) A common agreement is to cue-bid with 6-10 or 16+ hcp, overcalling instead with 11-15. Mike Lawrence prefers to make the cue-bid with a wide range, but I would suggest 8+ for that style. West needs a forcing bid; a popular agreement is Unusual over Unusual, used against any two-suited overcall such as Michaels or Unusual Notrump. The idea is that bids in "their suits" (spades and hearts, in this case) are forward-going while bids in "our suits" (diamonds and clubs, the ones they haven't shown) are merely competitive. The lower cue-bid is tied to the lower of our suits, and higher to higher, so 2H here would show a good hand for clubs while 2S shows a strong diamond raise (game invitational or better.)  Doubling their bid shows general strength and invites partner to cooperate in a penalty hunt. Short in both majors and with a likely 9+ card diamond fit, West bids 2S rather than double. North doubles this as a lead-director, promising the Ace or King. East bids 2NT, suggesting stoppers in both majors but minimum values. West raises to 3NT -- 16 hcp isn't enough to chase slam opposite a balanced minimum -- and that likely ends the bidding. Without North's double, South would likely lead hearts, his stronger suit, and declarer wraps up 10 easy tricks; a spade lead holds declarer to nine.

Back up to North -- not vulnerable, I would open 3C. You might take as few as four tricks if partner were broke, but in that case E/W can make a slam. East must pass with hs 12 hcp, and West must gamble 3NT. East has a better hand than partner expects (7 hcp is about normal) but East should realize West may have stretched for 3NT and pass rather than jeopardize game -- if West had 20+, it would be easy to double 3C first before bidding 3NT. On North's club lead, West can win in dummy and immediately lead a heart toward the Queen to set up an overtrick.

Board 9: A wild hand with many possible auctions. I would pass as either North or East; I'll open a good 6 card club suit with 3C, but 10-high doesn't qualify. 1H was probably a popular bid for East but if yo're going to open based on Rule of 20 or such, remember to have two quick tricks including an Ace. Once again the short-suit count points the way -- if you avoid counting more than 3 points for a stiff King or 2 for a doubleton Queen, you have only 12 Goren points, and then subtract one for no Ace. This hand has good shape but will disappoint partner on either offense or defense.

It looks like most Easts opened; a likely auction would be 1H-1S; 2S-3D (game try); now what? East's singelton King certainly qualifies as "help", but East's hand is still Aceless and with scattered values I'd retreat to 3S. makeable as the cards lie.

If both North and East pass, South opens 1H. Should West double or overcall? I'd pass -- a two level overcall, vulnerable, should have a suit like AQ10xxx or a stronger hand. North should pass again -- don't "rescue" partner with a weak hand void in his suit -- a 3H jump rebid is all too likely when partner is the only one bidding. East is glad it's South, not himself, playing this misft.

With partner passing out a suit at the one level, West expects some trump length, and it's often a good idea to lead out a high trump honor to clarify things for partner. However, this isn't quite the same as a penalty pass and the Ace is likely covering a trump honor. All leads look bad; I might gamble on the King of clubs, with the outside chance of scoring a ruff. South counts only three losers outside of trumps, but four trump losers are all too likely. South tries a low trump; West scores his nine and may try a spade through dummy's King. E/W finish with 6 trump tricks, 2 diamonds and a club for +100; most E/W pairs went down in a heart or spade contract.

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