Better Bridge in Barry County October 18 2012

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠  A K 9 2 ♥  4 3 ♦   K Q 10 9 7 3 ♣  6
West ♠  10 4 3 ♥  A K Q 10 9 8 ♦  8 5 ♣  5 4		East ♠  J 6 5 ♥ 7 6 2 ♦  2 ♣  A Q 9 8 3 2
	South ♠  Q 8 7 ♥  J 5 ♦  A J 6 4 ♣  K J 10 7

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

West None A♠

 

North   Pass Pass	East   3♥	South   Pass	West 2♥ Pass

Today’s column is another look at aggressive bidding versus defending. In today’s hand, West is the opener, and she has a strong heart suit and nothing more. Here is a perfect time, with a strong heart suit, a total point range between five and eleven points, and little to lose to throw in a weak two-bid. West accordingly bid 2♥, promising her partner East six good hearts and little more. The objective in this type of bidding is to disturb the opponents, and, as we have seen in the past, this happened again on this hand.

North, on this hand, dropped the ball in the bidding. With shortness in hearts, and two suits that look respectable, hearts and diamonds, North should have made a bid. Did the two-heart bid of West confuse or interfere with his thinking? It appears that it did as North meekly passed the bid when there is a bid ready and open for him to tell his partner South about his hand. What was the bid?

 A take-out double would have given North an opportunity to tell his partner South to bid something when the bidding gets around to him. A take-out double promises good points and support for the three unbid suits. While North’s clubs are nothing, it is the other two suits that might be the fit for the North-South team. North did nothing but pass. When that happens, all North can expect is nothing.

Again, as we have seen in past columns, East is in tune with her partner West. Knowing the weak two-bid in hearts promises six hearts from her partner West and hearing nothing from North, East looks at her three hearts as additional support for their partnership. Listening to the bidding, East knows that East/West have a golden fit in hearts with nine hearts. West aggressively bids 3♥.

At this point, South, as the last bidder, has no place to go. Bidding Diamonds and Clubs at the four level doesn’t sound very appealing, especially when North has taken such a lackluster stance with no bid. South reluctantly passes, and the hand is passed all around. The contract is 3♥ in the West.

In the play of the hand, and afterwards during the post mortem discussion, it is obvious that North/South have three spade tricks on the opening lead of the A♠, the K♠, and the lead to the Q♠ in the South. The first three tricks have gone to the North/South team, and too late, they realize that they had a good fit in spades. What else did they have as well?

North/South will take one more trick in Diamonds, the A♦, and the K♣ on the club finesse will result in five tricks for the North/South team, and a poorly deserved 50 point score for their efforts. Down one trick, East/West will take eight tricks with hearts as trump and just go set by one trick. It is a wonderful sacrifice for East/West to give up only 50 points instead of letting North/South find their fit in spades.

What did North/South give up to gain a paltry 50 points on their side of the ledger? It should be obvious that they missed a game in spades, losing only two hearts and the A♣, making four spades and a superior score of 420. Do you think North felt a bit embarrassed at his lack of bidding when someone opened a weak-two bid? Listen to the bidding seems to be the message, loud and clear. West had informed the entire table of her hand; it was obvious that she had what she said she had as the East/West partnership play weak twos in their convention card partnership agreement. North needed to step up and bid. Aggressive bidding by the East/West partnership must be counteracted by aggressive bidding by the North/South team as well. Otherwise, East/West will be smiling all day that they stole another bid from their opponents.

 

Gerald Stein

October 11, 2012

Number of words: 782

 

Bridge Question for this week: What is the Law of Total Tricks as applied in today’s column? Answer next week.