Sunday, January 5th 2014

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Board 3 South Deals E-W Vul	♠ 7 ♥ 9 7 5 4 ♦ A Q 8 6 2 ♣ 6 3 2
♠ A ♥ A Q 10 6 2 ♦ K 10 ♣ K 10 8 5 4	N W E S	♠ 6 5 2 ♥ J 3 ♦ J 9 5 3 ♣ A Q J 9
	♠ K Q J 10 9 8 4 3 ♥ K 8 ♦ 7 4 ♣ 7

South opens some level of spades. Although 9 hcp with this shape might qualify for an opening one bid, the hand has a very high offense-to-defense ratio with no Ace, so maximum preemption is recommended. Ignore the side King – that is as likely to be a trick on defense as offense. So South counts 7 trump tricks; favorable vulnerability can justify overbidding by as much as four tricks. However, the goal should be to push the enemy to the five level, not six, and why insist on their doubling you? Four spades looks right. West has an awkward hand, a combination of offensive shape and defensive strength; the choices include double, guessing which suit to bid at the five level, or using 4NT for takeout. Although that’s standard, showing any two-suiter, partner might not be familiar with that treatment. I would double lacking any sure agreement and that may be the best bet anyway.

East has no reason to pull the double; even if it is defined as “takeout”, East has no reason to assume with his shape the hand will play well at the five level. West leads the Ace of spades to look at dummy before deciding how to continue. The diamonds look threatening and it may be better for partner to lead hearts, so West switches to a low club; odds are good partner has either the Ace or Queen. East wins and switches to a heart --  declarer probably does not have AK or KQ in that suit and partner would’ve lead hearts if he had either of those combinations; but he won’t lead from AQ and a switch may be vital before declarer gets a pitch on diamonds. The defense sooner or later collects another heart for +100.

If West does use 4NT for takeout, East bids the cheapest suit he can stand, clubs, and a nice game is reached. If West had the red suits he would pull to 5D. Should South bid his spades again? It works today but in general you should preempt and pass – don’t make the last guess. South has no idea of whether they can make five of anything, and partner may have something to say.

Board 5 North Deals N-S Vul	♠ J 10 4 ♥ — ♦ Q J 6 4 ♣ A K Q J 7 2
♠ Q 9 ♥ Q J 9 8 7 6 5 4 ♦ 5 2 ♣ 5	N W E S	♠ K 8 7 6 5 ♥ K 3 2 ♦ A 8 3 ♣ 10 3
	♠ A 3 2 ♥ A 10 ♦ K 10 9 7 ♣ 9 8 6 4

North opens 1C, East overcalls 1S and South bids either 2NT (balanced 11 or 12 with a spade stopper) or 2S (invitational or better club raise; it may be better for partner to bid notrump with, say, Qx in spades.) West bids 4H! Partner may have some defense but West has a pure offensive hand with an 8-card major. Here, North has an easy 5C call if South showed club support but probably bids 5C in any case. East judges well to sacrifice at 5H; partner likely has no defense and it’s hard to see East taking more than two tricks. East’s spades may provide a trick or two to minimize the penalty. South ponders pass, double or 6C; if South already showed club support by way of 2S I think double is best. N/S collect a trick in each suit for +300, or lose a diamond and a spade at 6C.

Board 16 West Deals E-W Vul	♠ A J 6 ♥ K 8 6 5 3 ♦ J 5 4 ♣ 4 2
♠ 8 4 ♥ A Q 10 2 ♦ 10 7 6 3 ♣ A 10 5	N W E S	♠ K 5 ♥ 4 ♦ A Q 8 ♣ K J 9 8 7 6 3
	♠ Q 10 9 7 3 2 ♥ J 9 7 ♦ K 9 2 ♣ Q

East opens 1C in third seat and South preempts 2S. West makes a negative double; this is pretty much a minimum since opener will be forced to bid at least 2NT – and might pass for penalties. North raises to 3S. East must do something – 4C, 5C or 3NT. Hamman’s Rule succeeds again – when 3NT in a competitive auction is a plausible action, bid it! If the clubs run 3NT will make, if they don’t 5C is probably down anyway.

Ten tricks are easy on a spade or diamond lead; if South tries a heart instead, declarer must decide whether to play safe for nine tricks or take some risk for ten. 3NT does not look like a contract everyone will reach so I would fly up with the Ace of hearts and cash out. In a strong field where most could be expected to bid 3NT, declarer can hope that either South has the King of hearts (not today) or North has the Ace of spades (yes!) At matchpoints, always consider how “normal” your contract appears – do you have 25+ hcp, or did you stretch for game? Did the auction seem routine or were there some tricky choices? If you think you’ve already won the board in the bidding, play safe; if it looks normal, consider limited risks for overtricks. In fact, only one pair bid 5C and none bid 3NT.

Board 18 East Deals N-S Vul	♠ 9 8 7 5 4 3 ♥ Q ♦ 3 2 ♣ 10 7 6 2
♠ J 2 ♥ 8 3 ♦ K Q J 9 6 ♣ A 9 8 5	N W E S	♠ K Q 10 ♥ A K 6 2 ♦ A 8 7 ♣ K Q 3
	♠ A 6 ♥ J 10 9 7 5 4 ♦ 10 5 4 ♣ J 4

East opens 2NT (20-21) and West counts combined 31 or 32 hcp. The good diamonds should provide an extra trick so I think it’s reasonable to bid 6NT if partner has two Aces. Dan Neill used to report “Gerber sighting!”; it’s a rare bid these days. I define it strictly as “Jump Over Notrump Only”, so 2NT-4C qualifies. Now, count carefully – 4D = 0 or 4, 4H = 1, 4S = 2. I’ve seen players respond at the five level or bid the “Blackwood” denomination (4H rather than 4S in this case.) Take your time and get it right! West bids 6NT over the two-Ace reply and the play is trivial.

If you play 4NT is always Blackwood, be sure to scratch Gerber off your card – why have two ways to ask the same question? It is normal to play “notrump over notrump isn’t Blackwood”; when 4C would ask for Aces, 4NT should be quantitative. But you can’t assume anything without discussion. Quantitative is more important over the wider-ranged 1NT opening than 2NT. A trickier case is an auction like 1C-3NT-4NT. 4C wouldn’t be a jump and should certainly be natural; I would play 4NT as quntitative here also. To ask for Aces, opener rebids 4C (which shows slam interest, not a desire to convert a game-bid into a part-score!) and later bids 4NT, after perhaps some cue-bidding.

What about a suit slam? Marty Bergen has been preaching the advantages of having a trump suit, but at matchpoints I think 6NT is the practical spot. Many or most pairs should bid this one and +920 may not score well. (Actually, only three of seven bid 6NT, so +920 would be in the middle.)

Board 23 South Deals Both Vul	♠ A 3 ♥ 10 5 ♦ A K Q 8 6 5 4 ♣ A 10
♠ 9 8 ♥ Q 8 4 2 ♦ J 3 ♣ K J 9 5 4	N W E S	♠ 6 5 4 2 ♥ A 7 6 3 ♦ 10 ♣ Q 8 7 6
	♠ K Q J 10 7 ♥ K J 9 ♦ 9 7 2 ♣ 3 2

After two passes, North counts nine tricks but with no major suit that really isn’t enough for 2C. On the other hand standard methods do not provide a good way to bid such a hand after opening one of a suit, either – it’s a lot stronger than a typical jump rebid. If you open 1D, you hope partner responds 1H and you can rebid 3NT. Alas, South responds 1S; 3NT is still the best bet. Note that this is the sort of hand South should expect; a balanced 18 or 19 would jump to 2NT. Counting on North for at least 8 tricks South can add four spade tricks and probably a heart, but does North have three Aces? I think it’s reasonable to count on North for two; he should have fast tricks for this sort of semi-gambling 3NT. What’s 4NT? If you follow the “notrump over notrump” rule, it would be quantitative, which doesn’t help here; South must bid 4D (once again, this is forcing with slam interest, not a weak bid!) North cue-bids 4S and South can now use Blackwood or Key Card, followed by 6NT.

Leading an Ace is routine against a suit slam but not generally recommended against 6NT. But underleading the Ace is also unlikely, unless someone forgot to tell East that “fourth from your longest and strongest” does not apply at this level. North collects 12 or 13 tricks or has a nasty guess at trick one on a low heart lead.

Board 25 North Deals E-W Vul	♠ Q 9 7 6 3 2 ♥ K 9 5 2 ♦ 7 ♣ J 9
♠ A ♥ Q 10 8 ♦ Q 8 ♣ Q 10 8 6 5 4 2	N W E S	♠ J 8 4 ♥ A J 6 3 ♦ A K J 9 3 ♣ A
	♠ K 10 5 ♥ 7 4 ♦ 10 6 5 4 2 ♣ K 7 3

Should North open 2S? Not with such poor spades AND a side four-card major, in my opinion. East opens 1D. West has a normal 2C-then-3C hand; but if you play strict 2/1 game force, West is forced to respond with a non-forcing 1NT – ugh! Some play an immediate jump to 3C shows an invitational hand with six or seven clubs; that obviously conflicts with Bergen raises, if you play them. I prefer to restrict 2/1 game force, when I play it, to “minors over majors only.” Another possibility is an invitational 2NT; come to think of it, I like that better than 1NT.

Assuming 1D-2C, should North butt in? Again, I wouldn’t – E/W’s bidding is strong but they have not yet found a fit so there is no safety in bidding. East rebids 2H. Although technically a reverse and often treated as promising extra values, this isn’t a matter of fundamental bridge logic if the 2C bid is sound (11+ or a good 10.) I play that 2C is forcing to 2NT (and shows the strength for that level) so opener does not need extra values for 2H or 2S – in fact, those bids typically deny the ability to rebid diamonds. Probably the most common fallacy is to assume the 2C bidder cannot have a major; with game-forcing values, it is normal to bid your longest/best suit first, not automatically respond in some crummy four-card suit.

Here, East skips over 2D, suggesting balanced or possibly 4-4-4-1 shape. If, however, East has a chance to rebid diamonds later, it reveals a strong hand. Well, that’s my theory anyway. West rebids 3C as planned and East continues with 3D, game-forcing on the above logic. As an alternative, East might rebid 2D initially and force to game with 3H later; just make sure partner doesn’t think 2D can be passed. Lacking such an agreement East may try 1D, then 2H, then 3NT or a fourth-suit-artifical 3S. One way or another the bidding should end at 3NT; neither West nor East has sufficient reason to give up on the top-scoring matchpoint spot. When you have the values for game and no eight-card major suit fit, you must have positive evidence 3NT is wrong before you consider playing in a minor or seven-card major fit. Here, the heart finesse provides the crucial ninth trick. On a spade lead, declarer must gamble with the finesse before running the diamonds, since there is no later entry to West’s hand.

If North opens 2S East doubles for takeout. He’s strong enough to rebid 3D over a club bid by partner; West should then bid 3NT – he’s the one with the stopper. Lebensohl bidders can infer that West has about 7-10 points for his 3C reply to the double – weaker hands would start with a 2NT relay. East, then, can force to game with 3S and again it’s West’s job to bid 3NT, not fret over whether his stiff Ace is enough. Often, it won’t be, but then suit games with only seven in a major or eight in a minor will usually also fail.

Several pairs found the good 4-3 heart fit; with the short hand ruffing the danger suit (spades) this is a good spot. But the same tricks are available at notrump; if you ruff a spade you establish a heart winner for North. 4H would clearly be best if West had a small spade and more points elsewhere.

Board 28 West Deals N-S Vul	♠ 10 8 5 ♥ K Q 6 2 ♦ Q 6 5 ♣ Q 5 2
♠ 9 3 ♥ A J 10 9 7 4 ♦ A 10 8 3 ♣ 6	N W E S	♠ A K Q 7 4 2 ♥ — ♦ J 7 ♣ A K J 7 3
	♠ J 6 ♥ 8 5 3 ♦ K 9 4 2 ♣ 10 9 8 4

West opens 2H; if that bid weren’t available, 1H would be reasonable – West has good controls and playing strength. East counts six probable spade winners. Let’s check the math: West has six hearts and N/S have seven. East has six spades and seven in the minors. That leaves seven spades and 19 in the minors unaccounted for. West must have 7 of those 26 cards, 7 of which are spades, so (7/26)*7 is a bit less than two. But often the suit will break 3-3, and sometimes partner’s singleton will be the Jack, so more often than not East’s spades will run. The clubs are trickier but three to four is a reasonable estimate. East should expect some mixture of good and bad luck between the two suits, such as the spades running but the club finesse failing. With nine or ten tricks in hand East must force to at least game; there might be a slam opposite as little as xx xxxxxx Axx Qx, but typically partner will have some wasted values in hearts.

Typical methods for responding to a weak two include new suit forcing and 2NT asking for a “feature” (side Ace or King.) Over 2S, West should raise with three-card support and otherwise go ahead and bid a feature; 2NT would show scattered side values and rebidding hearts shows nothing else to bid. A tip-top hand might bid a feature first, then support spades. Here West bids 3D; that’s encouraging for slam, but East cannot be sure anything beyond 4S is safe. Everything is murky at this point – 3S does not sound forcing, 4S gives up on slam, is 4C natural or a cue-bid? With no suit agreement yet 4C should be natural and forcing; West takes a preference to 4S. 4NT won’t help East; he needs help in clubs. The only slam try that makes any sense is 5C but that makes it unclear about spades as trumps and a puzzled partner may simply pass. I think East should pass or bid 6C.

My partner came up with another plan: she jumped to 3S! What’s that mean over a weak two? Some might interpret it as weak or a splinter, but I don’t think either of those is especially useful over a weak two. I assumed, correctly, that she had a game-going hand and that spades were going to be trumps. Our complete auction was 2H-3S; 4D-4S; 4NT-5H*-6S (*Blackwood.) South asked later why West, the preempter, carried on over 4S. My assumption was that partner did not have a heart fit and so was counting on me for no more than one trick. In fact I provided two Aces and a club ruff; both black suits split well, making seven. An informative jump can put partner back in the picture to re-evaluate his cards. “Captaincy” is a crucial concept but a strong, descriptive bid can sometimes pass the baton back to partner. Three pairs bid slam.