Better Bridge in Barry County June 7 2012

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

	North ♠ 42 ♥ QJ9865 ♦ KQ42 ♣ 9
West ♠ KJ95 ♥ 102 ♦ 8 ♣ AQ10432		East ♠ Q10876 ♥ A3 ♦ 1097 ♣ J86
	South ♠ A3 ♥ K74 ♦ AJ653 ♣ K75

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

South East-West Pick it

North 2H 4H	East 2S Pass	South 1NT 3H Pass	West 2C 3S Pass

After a competitive auction, the North-South team in today’s hand arrived at a Four Heart contract. With an opening bid of 1NT by South (15-17 high card points and a stopper in every suit), the North-South team seemed to have the edge in the auction. North knew that his partner had at least two hearts in his hand to make the no trump bid, so the North-South team was extremely confident that they had a Golden Fit in hearts with six hearts in the north hand, and three in the south hand.

Conversely, the East-West team, while trying to compete in this auction, was either outgunned or frightened off by the one no trump opening bid by South. This team too had a Golden Fit in two suits: spades and clubs with nine cards in spades and nine cards in clubs. The four heart bid eliminated the four club bid, which, by the way, can make four clubs in the East-West hands.

That leaves the only open bid for the East-West team at four spades, but with unfavorable vulnerability, it appeared that the East-West team was unwilling to go for the four spade bid even though it might have been a good sacrifice to do so.

Looking at the total points in the four hands, it is not too difficult to see East-West’s thinking on the bidding from their perspective. What was known from the first bid was that South had at least 15 high card points. West, with a fine six-card club suit was well-situated to overcall in clubs and enter the bidding war with ten high card points, two more length points plus a singleton in diamonds and a doubleton in hearts. West was comfortable with her bid.

North entered the bidding next with a free response bid of two hearts, having six hearts, eight high card points, and shortness in clubs and spades. North knew that no trump would not be a good contract and steered the auction to a heart contract.  East, then, used the spade bid as a way to enter the bidding and to let his partner know that he had at least five spades, seven high card points, and shortness in hearts.

Looking, then, at the total number of points spread around the table, it is easy to see that the North-South team has the preponderance of points with 23 high card points and a good fit in hearts. However, the East-West team, even though they have a club fit and a spade fit, can muster only 17 high card points, a far cry from the 25-26 points needed for a game in a major suit.

Interestingly, the contract was won out by the North-South team, and they can make four hearts easily indeed if they are handed the contract by the East-West team. If they take an extra trick at this contract, due to poor defense by the East-West team, they will do even better, and they will win the majority of points on this hand.

Unfortunately for the East-West team, even though they had only 17 high card points, they are the self-inflicted victims here of non-aggressive bidding. For, it is clear to all that the East-West team can prevail at four spades. The team will lose one spade, the Ace of spades; they will lose one heart trick, since they have the Ace of hearts to cover the other loser; and they will lose one diamond trick. True, East will have to finesse the King of clubs, but that is a given with the one no trump bidding by South. All in all, the East-West team, thinking that they should not sacrifice because of the unfavorable vulnerability, missed a game that could have put them on the top of the list on that hand instead of at the bottom. Bridge is a bidding game. Bid and you will see that aggressive bidding is the norm in today’s bridge world.

Bridge Question for this week: What is meant by a Golden Fit in bridge lingo?

Gerald Stein

May 30, 2012

Number of words 750