| Board 2 East Deals N-S Vul |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
South opens 1S (higher ranking of two five-card suits) and North should be thinking slam: 18 hcp, a fit, good controls, good source of tricks. North responds 2D initially and South rebids 2H. North should now jump to 3S whether playing Standard or 2/1 Game Force. In Standard that creates a game force; North showed invitational or better values with his original response, so anything extra by either player should force to game. In 2/1, the jump promises genuine support (2S might be a mere preference on a doubleton) and slam interest.
South has a minimum in high cards but some extra shape and can best describe his holding by repeating the hearts. This does little for North's hand (it would be different if North had four-card support) but North can picture five spades, a heart, five diamonds and one or two clubs opposite exactly the sort of hand South actually holds. What North needs is slam controls and 4NT nets a 5H (two-Ace) or 5C (0 or 3 key-cards) or 5D (1430) reply. Could South have zero key cards? J109xx KQJxx x KJ barely qualifies as an opening bid, but with that hand South should sign off at 4S after North's jump. So North proceeds with 5NT (confirming all five key cards plus the Queen of trumps, or simply all four Aces playing Blackwood.) It is important for the 4NT bidder not to skip this step, nor bid 5NT missing a key card. South has never really limited his hand and knowledge of all the Ace or key cards may allow him to bid a grand slam. 5NT is as much a "telling" bid as asking.
South shows one King (Blackwood) or zero side Kings and North ends the bidding at 6S. Everything is wrong, however: there's a trump loser, the diamonds only provide three discards leaving a heart losers, and the club finesse fails. North could escape for down one by ruffing a heart in dummy, but it is more reasonable to attempt to pull trumps, pitch hearts on diamonds and try the club finesse for an extra chance. If you sat E/W and your opponents underbid this hand, tough luck!
By the way, with all the key cards, it's usually better at matchpoints to play 6S rather than 6NT; there will often be extra chances for an overtrick. If you're missing a top trick, however, and can count 12 likely tricks at notrump, 6NT may be better.
| Board 7 South Deals Both Vul |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
South is too light for a weak 2D; not vulnerable, I would open 3D based on the 6-4 shape. Vulnerable, I'd pass. West opens 1H; North overcalls 2C. This is better than a takeout double since you are unprepared for a diamond response from partner. East passes and South must decide how many clubs to bid. For a two-level vulnerable overcall, North should have more or less an opening bid and fair suit, six clubs or a good five. East's pass despite your heart shortness and club fit suggests quite a weak hand and/or some heart length with partner. The diamonds should be establishable. All in all, I'd estimate seven losers for South and expect north to cover four or five of those. South has little defense against either major; North may have some, however. With any defense at all I might try 4C, giving partner some leeway to double West at 4H; as it is I would simply preempt 5C. A hand with less shape and more high cards should cue-bid 2H, letting partner know "the hand belongs to us", and leaving 3NT as a possible destination.
West is stunned at the bidding; with 18 hcp and good shape he must do something, though his unguarded minor suit honors are of doubtful value. Since it is not clear whether to bid or defend I expect an expert bidding panel would vote overhwelmingly for double, which should end the bidding.
East leads a heart (partner's suit) or perhaps a spade (only useful value in his hand.) On the heart lead West takes his Ace and tries a desperate spade shift. North wins, clears the Ace of diamonds, ruffs a heart to dummy, and leads a club. When the King pops up declarer must not kill dummy by ruffing again -- you need those diamonds to pitch spades. A low club to dummy, King of diamonds, pull the last trump with the nine and claim. Ouch! As West, just remember bridge happens; congratulate South for his bid. Bidding 5H risks pushing them into a slam you can't beat.
| Board 12 West Deals N-S Vul |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
West must open 2C despite the lack of any good rebid. (I gambled 1D and played it there! Too risky with 25 hcp.) When you open 2C, you should be planning to rebid in notrump, a five-card major, or a six-card minor; here, you'll have to lie. East responds 2D (waiting, negative or Steps 0-3) or 2H (bust, no Ace or King or 0-3, depending on style.) West should rebid 2S rather than 3D; it can be very difficult to get to 3NT when your first natural bid is at the three level, or hard to avoid 3NT when it's wrong.
East should jump to 4S: support with no Ace, no King, no singleton, and not too many values. With a totally worthless hand East might bid a second negative (3C is the usual agreement.) Steps or bust bidders can bid 4S and feel they've given a fine description.
Should West pass or try for slam? East's actual hand gives slam a good play, but you'll still need to set up the diamonds. East could have only three trumps and/or three low diamonds and you could encounter bad breaks, so I think West should give up.
At least one pair reached slam after 2C-2D; 3D-3S. This makes it clear a 4-4 fit exists but still seems optimistic.
| Board 20 West Deals Both Vul |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
North opens 2NT. 8 hcp and 2245 shape doesn't look like slam, so South simply raises to game. East tries a heart or spade; when the opponents do not bid Stayman or a transfer you lean toward the majors on hands with no clear lead. I'd go for hearts given the good spot cards and the likelihood the Ace of spades is over North's King. 9-10-K-A and declarer can count 11 tricks if the clubs aren't 5-0. Finessing in spades risks losing several tricks so the best plan is to take winners and hope that causes discarding problems. There's no good way to surrender a trick so declarer takes five clubs (pitching two spades from hand; this still leaves the King as a threat card), the King and Ace of diamonds, and two more hearts (pitching a spade from dummy.)
North then has K 5 8 - and South has 4 - Q5 -. East must keep the Ace of spades and the 8 of hearts and two diamonds -- one too many! Best is to pitch a diamond; then when declarer crosses to dummy you can throw a heart on the second diamond and salvage your spade Ace.
| Board 22 East Deals E-W Vul |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
West opens 1S after two passes. North should perhaps pass -- 14 prime hcp but the suit is way below the standard for a two-level overcall. (Klinger recommends a six-card suit with two honors, or a five card suit with three; and you should want at least 5 hcp in the suit for lead-direction and general playability.) Still, the vulnerability is favorable and North may have the best hand at the table so I expect many bid 2H. (If you double, you must pass if partner bids 2C; the hand is no where near good enough to double and then bid your own suit freely.)
East competes with a 2S raise; South has the right shape for a responsive double (both unbid suits after they've bid and raised a suit) but is too light to force partner to the three level. West has an extra trump but two doubtful Queens and so passes. North hates to let E/W play in a fit at the two level; I suspect most experts would double and a bidding panel would have some discussion of whether to pass or correct to 3D if partner bids clubs. South actually bids diamonds and West competes to 3S based on his extra trump. Most N/S pairs allowed West to play 2S.
On lead against 2S or 3S, North figures E/W for 18-22 hcp since they bid and raised but did not consider game. Adding his 14 leaves 4-8 for South. This makes it risky to underlead an honor; likewise, a heart lead will either find the enemy with all the points there or may finesse an honor in partner's hand. There's some chance partner may have an entry or the Queen of clubs, so North starts with a high club. With AK doubleton and hoping for a ruff, you reverse your normal lead: start with the Ace if you normally lead King from either AK or KQ; start with the King if you normally lead Ace from AK. dummy comes down and South discourages in clubs, thinking a heart shift will be best if North has the Ace or Queen for his overcall.
Continuing clubs will simply set up the QJ for declarer, with little prospect of getting partner in for a ruff. North can play partner for the Ace of hearts or the Queen of diamonds or can try to defend passively and hope to pick up something such as a diamond trick on the actual layout. But declarer will sooner or later lead another club and North may lack a safe exit. I think I would sacrifice the King of diamonds to kill dummy's entry; another possibility is to underlead the King and hope declarer pops up with the Ace. I think that's what happened to me.
| Board 25 North Deals E-W Vul |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
North opens 1C. Vulnerable vs. not, East's suit is too poor for a 3H preempt, but 2H is reasonable. Strictly speaking you should want six tricks for this bid but I think with a seven card suit it's worth the stretch at matchpoints. At a team game pass would be prudent.
South, with 11 hcp, should respond 2S rather than making any sort of jump; as an unpassed hand a new suit is forcing and there will be time to rebid the spades. West should pass -- his hand looks more suitable for defending against spades than raising hearts, and they aren't about to stop at 2S. North leaps to 3NT -- the clubs will probably come in and North has a double heart stopper. Don't worry about diamonds, no one bid that suit so most of the time partner will have them covered or they'll lead something else. Ten tricks are easy and declarer may have time to set up a spade or diamond for eleven. Although the technical name for a seven-card major is generally "trumps", most of South's stuff is in the red suits and passing 3NT looks right.
No comments:
Post a Comment