Better Bridge in Barry County June 21 2012

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

	North ♠ 52 ♥ K862 ♦ AQ9 ♣ AQ92
West ♠ QJ1073 ♥ AJ ♦ K54 ♣ J65		East ♠ AK8 ♥ Q107 ♦ 862 ♣ 10974
	South ♠ 964 ♥ 9543 ♦ J1073 ♣ K3

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North Both A♠

North 1NT	East Pass	South Pass	West Pass

In today’s column, another disastrous hand came up for the North-South team in a recent duplicate game. North opened the bidding with 15 high card points, and three of her suits were stopped. She had no voids, no singleton, and only one doubleton in spades. In other words, in today’s world of bridge bidding, North had all of the requisite cards and points for a legitimate one No Trump bid. That is what she bid.

Unfortunately, her partner South did not have his thinking cap on that day. He looked at his hand, saw only four high card points, shrugged his shoulders, and pulled out the Pass card. Likewise, West decided to play along too, and she also pulled the Pass card out. The final contract was 1 No Trump in the North, a most unfortunate bid for the North-South team. Could they have done better if South had been awake? Let us see.

The opening lead of the A♠ showed signs of disaster immediately for North. She could only watch in dismay as the East-West team ran off the first five tricks in spades. Should East-West  have been bidding the spade suit? It appears so.

West finished off the last spade trick and looked to take even more against the hapless North-South team. West led a small club that made it around to the K♣ in the dummy. The lead of a J♦ might have saved another trick or so for North, but West coolly played second-hand low, and the J♦ held. Leading the 10♦ again provided another duck, but now North could no longer get to that good diamond trick in the dummy. Nor could North lead a small heart from the dummy toward her K♥ in her hand. The results were unfortunate for most of the teams playing no trump in the North-South hands. Of the nine times this hand was played, five North-South teams were set one, two, or three tricks vulnerable. This was not a good scoring day for the North-South teams.

Was there a better way for North-South to make something positive on this hand? Two North-South teams managed to eke out a one no trump positive score, but the defense appears to have slipped and allowed that to happen. Two East-West teams played in two spades, making two spades for a plus score for East-West on offense.

What should South have bid with his meager four high card points? Time for the thinking cap, Mr.South. In an effort to create a better situation and a better contract for his partner North, South should have bid two clubs! This appears to be the standard Stayman Convention of two clubs, asking if partner has a four card major suit. The missing ingredient, however, is that the Responder promises at least eight points and at least one four-card major. In this case, there is a four-card major, four hearts, but certainly no eight points. How then can South ever justify making a Stayman Convention bid?

The answer is, of course, that South can bid a seldom-used bid of two clubs with less than eight high card points. He must, however, be short in the club suit, meaning a void, or one, or two at the most. In this hand, South had the right number of clubs: two including the K♣ and the three of clubs.

North, trusting her partner, would naturally respond two hearts, informing her partner that she indeed has four hearts as requested. When the bidding came around to South again, he would have passed immediately, and unless East-West intervened with a spade bid, North would have played the hand in two hearts, making two hearts and receiving a positive score for their partnership.

And just what is this bid called? And how do you tell your partner that you have lied to her about your hand? This is a bid called Garbage Stayman, and it works like this. With a garbage hand like South has, he looks to see if he is short in clubs. If so, he bids two clubs, initiating the Stayman Convention. However, no matter what his partner North answers, South is prepared to pass immediately. South will pass two diamonds gladly since he has four of them; South will pass two hearts gladly since he has four of them; he will pass spades reluctantly as he only has three of them, but the outcome is much better than playing in one no trump going set. While not often does this scenario appear, when it does, thinking of Garbage Stayman might just save the day for your partnership. Think about it.

Answer to last week’s bridge question: What does it mean “to cut the muster”? Once again, Rosy has mangled the English language: Her response of “to cut the mustard” was an incorrect usage. “To cut the muster” is a military term meaning that one is eligible or prepared for military service. “To not cut the muster” means one is ineligible or ill-prepared for military service.

Gerald Stein

June 11, 2012

Number of words 903