Better Bridge in Barry County June 28 2012

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

	North ♠ AQJ97 ♥ A875 ♦ --- ♣ AJ86
West ♠ 2 ♥ K62 ♦ KQJ93 ♣ 10754		East ♠ K ♥ J1093 ♦ A108742 ♣ Q2
	South ♠ 1086543 ♥ Q4 ♦ 65 ♣ K93

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

East East-West A♠

North 2S Pass Pass	East 1D Pass 5D	South Pass 4S Pass	West 2D Pass Pass

Today’s column illustrates the need to be aggressive in your bridge bidding. The East-West team certainly was aggressive with their diamond fit. Unfortunately for the North-South team, they stopped short. They did not get the game contract in spades; they missed a potential slam, and they failed to double the diamond contract. All in all, there are plenty of reasons on this hand to show why you lose at bridge.

East opened the bidding with a rather light diamond suit, opting to bid just one diamond although a weak two-diamond bid would have been suitable as well. It certainly would have given more information to the North-South team if East had opened with a weak-two bid promising between 5-11 high card points and a six-card diamond suit.

South with six spades to the ten would have loved to have bid, but he opted to pass and see what partner could do. With only five high card points, there might be a place for the North-South team, but South chose to wait and see.

West certainly liked the diamond bid of East, and she raised her partner to two diamonds. They have a golden fit in diamonds with at least nine or ten diamonds between them. Enter North into the bidding. North has a number of options here. With a void in diamonds, the best bid that North could make with this beautiful hand is a Takeout Double bid. With 16 high card points and five dummy points, North almost has game in her hand. This is an excellent choice as she can double first, and then name her spade suit when the bid returns to her. The other option is to bid her spades and hope that partner South will have some support. In five of the nine tables, North bid the spades herself. In two of the nine hands, North chose the Takeout Double for a bid forcing partner to choose one of the three unbid suits.

East passed after the 2S bid by North, and now South saw the excellent fit in spades and promptly bid 4S. South knew that they had 11 spades between them. What a golden fit!

West passed after hearing the 4S bid as did North. Here East decided to sacrifice and bid an astonishing bid of 5D. All passed including North who should have reconsidered two options: make East-West pay for their sacrifice, or bid one more to 5S. The first option of doubling and making the East-West pay for their indiscretion would have been a hefty 500 points in the North-South ledger. With East-West vulnerable, it is clear that East-West will lose four tricks: The spade trick, the heart trick, and two club tricks for down two vulnerable and a minus 500 points. That would have been an excellent score for the North-South team. Unfortunately, they let East-West sacrifice for a mere 200 points down, and they received their just rewards: a bottom on the scoring table.

North’s second option would have been to continue bidding with such a wonderful hand: no diamonds, good support from partner South, and with confidence, North should have continued the bidding, going to 5S and possibly even going on to six spades. The maxim and the message for this hand come in from S. J. Simon and his book Why You Lose at Bridge, one of the all-time favorite books of bridge players and bridge writers. Written in the 1940’s, Simon’s words are still relevant to today’s players. In this case, his advice would have been to the North-South team: “When in doubt, bid one more.” All those North-South teams that played in spades made five spades, three made six spades (not bid, however), and one team made seven spades (not bid either.) The message is loud and clear: When in doubt and in a competitive bidding where it appears that your opponents are sacrificing, do something! Don’t let them off the hook. Double for penalty or keep on bidding!

Note: S.J.Simon’s 1946 book Why You Lose at Bridge is available online at www.amazon.com or www.baronbarclay.com. The book is also available as a Kindle edition.

Gerald Stein

June 12, 2012

Number of words: 764