| Board 3 South Deals E-W Vul |
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South is too strong
for any preempt; 4S would be correct without the King of diamonds. As is, the
hand has too much slam potential to jam the bidding in first (or second) seat. South opens 1S, West
doubles for takeout. North has a choice of raises: straight to 4S, or a Jordan
2NT (showing 4 trumps along with the values for a redouble, 10+ hcp.) The
scattered honors, mostly in the short suits, suggests more defense than usual
for a five-trump raise; I’d vote for 2NT if that is in the arsenal. For those
not playing Jordan
4S looks best – the side four-card suit adds a bit to the offensive potential.
Some players routinely jump to game with five card support but I am not a fan
of that bid on balanced hands – too often partner will also be balanced and
the extra trumps count for little.
Over 2NT or 4S, East
must decide whether he plans to defend 4S or bid on to 5H. Don’t wait to
decide, that will give the enemy too much room to exchange information. With an
expected ten-card fit each way (assuming partner has the typical doubleton
spade and four hearts for his double), the Law of Total Tricks suggests that
both 4H and 4S may make. If so, it will pay to bid 5H unless it will be doubled
and down two (too expensive at this vulnerability.) East’s hand has a very high
offense-to-defense ratio: one likely defensive trick and five likely offensive
winners. Bidding a confident 5H has another chance to win – they may overbid to
5S when they should be doubling 5H. If you choose to bid only 4H, you should
sell out to 4S (whether or not partner doubles.) Bidding 4H and then 5H gives
the enemy a fielder’s choice of doubling you or bidding on. An immediate 5H
forces them to take the last guess, not you.
South, likewise, has
a high offense, low defense hand; bidding 5S if East bids 5H looks right,
assuming partner showed a 4+ card raise by way of 2NT or 4S. This illustrates
why such bids should promise more than just the minimum three-card support –
the extra trumps increase the likelihood of aggressive enemy bidding (since
they will be short), increase your offensive potential, and lower your
defensive prospects. Good responding hands with only three trumps can afford to
start with a redouble; you won’t mind defending at a high level with such a
hand.
West, with his void,
may be tempted to try 6H, but why assume the enemy has guessed correctly or
that a vulnerable 6H will pay off? West has two and a half defensive tricks –
not enough to double or bid slam, but too much to risk a sacrifice. As the
enemy were surely headed for game, be content with partner’s having pushed them
one level higher. At a team game, bidding 6H on the possibility that both that
contract and 5S might make would be reasonable insurance. North, having given a
fair description of his hand with 2NT or 4S, should not take further action.
As it happens, there
are 22 “total trumps” (12 spades for N/S and ten hearts for E/W) but only 21
“total tricks” (E/W can make 5H, N/S only 4S.) This is a little surprising
given the fairly pure trump holding for each side, but the Law is less accurate
at high levels.
| Board 4 West Deals Both Vul |
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After two passes,
East opens 3S, vulnerable. The hand rates to take about six tricks and it pays
to overbid about three tricks at equal vulnerabilty. This risks -800 but
sometimes in that case the enemy were headed for slam.
Over the preempt,
South considers his options. With about ten tricks, there may well be a slam;
the Ace of hearts, King of diamonds and a bit of luck in trumps would be
enough. But partner’s share of the 25 hcp outside South’s hand would be 8.33,
and asking for such a “perfect 7” seems overly optimistic. On the other hand
South must certainly bid to at least 5C; it would be very pessimistic to assume
that contract won’t make. Double, followed by 5C, seems about right, but there
is a significant risk partner might convert the double to penalties, unaware of
a ten to twelve card club fit. An immediate 5C may be the practical bid. This
suggests a strong, unbalanced hand as there is “no such thing as a preempt over
a preempt.”
West considers what
he can add to partner’s expected six winners. Many players mark “Sound – Vul”
in the opening preempts box, suggesting seven winners when vulnerable (the old
Rule of Two and Three), but would they really pass or bid only 2S or rate
East’s hand as seven winners? I always check the “Light” box. West’s King of
spades is worth a trick, and there may be a club ruff. The King-Jack of
diamonds are as likely to produce tricks on defense as offense. West cannot
expect 5S t o make, so the diamond honors should not encourage him to bid – a
sacrifice may turn out to be a phantom. Nine offensive tricks against perhaps
two on defense (if partner has the Ace of spades and neither opponent is void)
looks right for 5S; but if there is a spade void, you may chase them into a
slam you can’t beat. All in all, it rarely pays to bid to the five level with
only three card support.
North knows partner
will welcome the Queen of trumps, three-card support, and the side Ace; is that
enough for slam? Partner’s leap, rather than doubling first, suggests long
clubs and short spades; also, he does not rate to have four hearts. That
suggests the Queen of diamonds may also prove useful. Six clubs will be right
if partner has ten tricks or nine and can use the Queen of diamonds. Pass would
be best if you cannot be sure partner would double first on any hand containing
two small spades.
On the auction
P-P-3S-5C; P-6C, I don’t think East or West should bid again. Both South and
North faced guesses; why assume they have guessed corectly? Give South a small
spade or both the Ace and Queen of diamonds or a third heart and six clubs
would fail. When you’ve given the opponents a problem, do not be over-eager to
asume they’ve solved it correctly.
| Board 18 East Deals N-S Vul |
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After two passes,
West must decide how many hearts to open. Not vulnerable vs. vulnerable, the
modern style would be to overbid by four tricks; so the choice is between one
heart and four hearts. The hand has almost pure offense – not even a queen
outside of trumps – so I’d vote for 4H. However, some partners have never heard
of preempts beyond the three level; 3H might be best in that case, to avoid the
inevitable “I bid slam since I thought you had ten tricks in your own hand!”
Ordinarily I’d be inclined to open 1H with 11 hcp, a long suit and two quick
tricks; I would take that approach in first or second seat with a side Queen
rather than those two Jacks.
Whatever the level
and regardless of agreements, North doubles West’s heart bid. East has nothing
to say; South replies two clubs, or passes 3H or 4H doubled with his sure trump
trick and glum offensive prospects. +300 or +500 will be a disappointment, but
North should not chide partner for failing to visualize slam, or himself for
not guessing what to bid. Sometimes preempts work.
If the auction
starts P-P-1H-dbl; P-2C, West will rebid his hearts. How high? Many players
will leap to 3H a this point; but partner may well read that as a strong bid
(eight tricks or so.) I’ve never seen this discussed by experts; perhaps the
strong hand would double or redouble first. It is probably safest simply to
rebid 2H and discuss it with partner later. Always keep in mind that you cannot
erase the information given by your previous bidding; opening 1H is a clear statement
that you do not have a preemptive hand, so don’t expect partner to guess that
3H or 4H do not promise extra high cards.
North feels there
ought to be at least game somewhere; but the club support is short, the
diamonds are anemic and partner did not bid spades or notrump. Best is to
double 2H (or 3H or 4H) again for “more takeout”, showing uncertainty about the
proper strain. South repeats clubs (or passes 3H or 4H doubled.) Now North is prepared to go to 5C. If you
trust partner not to panic, bid 4H as a splinter raise on the way, but I doubt
South will be inspired to bid slam.
Against five (or six)
clubs, West leads a high heart (Ace or King per agreement, not the Queen!) and
South takes stock before ruffing. There appear to be five clubs, a heart ruff,
three spades and the Ace of diamonds. Ruffing twice will cost a trump trick,
unless the Jack falls doubleton. A 3-3 diamond split will set up three extra
tricks, but that requires even splits in both diamonds and trumps, something
like a 22% chance. A 3-3 spade split is another possibility for an 11th
trick. What about a 4-2 diamond split? Ruff the heart, Ace of diamonds, ruff a
diamond, trump to dummy, ruff a diamond. You can overuff East, of course; if
West overruffs, perhaps you will be able to ruff the heart return without
promoting two trump tricks for the defense. That appears to be the case on
today’s layout: West overuffs the third round of diamonds, you ruff the second
heart in dummy (East throws a spade), ruff the fourth diamond, cash the Queen
of trumps, and cross back with a high spade. East can claim his trump at some
point but will have nothing but spades left.
To make six clubs, I
think you must ruff the third diamond with the Queen, cross back with another
trump (picking up West’s Jack), ruff the fourth diamond with your last trump,
cash the Queen of spades (dropping West’s ten), cross back with a high spade,
and play more diamonds. East can ruff with the last trump but must then lead a
spade into dummy’s K9; or he must discard, promoting dummy’s fourth spade. A
very low odds slam unless I’ve missed a better line.
| Board 24 West Deals None Vul |
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As East is busy
employing all his fingers and toes to count his hand, West surprises him with a
1D opening. East plans to bid out his shape, showing spades, clubs, and
diamonds; throw in a jump and you’ve got a game-force short in hearts. A
plausible aucton: 1D-1S; 1NT-3C; 3S-4D; 4H-4NT; [edit] 5C (0 or 3 key cards)-5NT
(we’ve got ‘em all); 7D. If you allow strong jump shifts on good 4-card suits (as I recommend) the auction could begin 1D-2S; 2NT-3C for much the same result, but East's slam interest will be more pronounced. West has no extra Kings but surely, on this bidding,
he has everything East could want, since his 1NT rebid limited his hand to 14
hcp. Note how important it is not to bid 5NT missing an Ace or Key card or
trump Queen – the bid invites grand slam. East may convert to 7NT but any grand
slam would've scored a top. Most players are properly cautious about risking a small slam for a grand -- half the field missed slam altogether.
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