Better Bridge in Barry County
By
Gerald Stein
North
♠ 8 4 3
♥ K 4 2
♦ K
♣ A K Q 10 5 3
|
||
West
♠ K Q 10 5
♥ Q 10 6 5
♦ 8 7 3
♣ 8 7
|
East
♠ A 9 7 6 2
♥ A 8 7
♦ Q 2
♣ J 6 2
|
|
South
♠ J
♥ J 9 3
♦ A J 10 9 6 5 4
♣ 9 4
|
Dealer:
Vulnerable:
Lead:
|
North
North/South
K♠
|
North
1♣
3♣
Pass
|
East
Pass
Pass
Pass
|
South
1♦
3♦
|
West
Pass
Pass
|
Today’s bridge column continues the bidders’
dilemma. To bid or not to bid is certainly the question on today’s hand. If you
hold the East or West hands in today’s auction, would you be willing to jump in
with a bid, or would you be willing to let the North/South team bid away to a
part score, even though it sounds like they have a misfit? It is a dilemma. What
are the options here?
With North/South vulnerable, North opened the
bidding with 1♣ with 15+ points. East, with a five-card spade suit, elected to
pass, feeling that the spade suit was not that good for an overcall. Remember,
East, you are only at the one level.
South responded with 1♦ after
East passed, promising at least four diamonds and at least six points. With
only seven points, and having heard nothing from partner East, West passed with
four hearts and four spades and seven points.
North’s second bid of 3♣ promised at least six clubs
and better than opening count of 12 or 13 total points. By this time, East
should have awakened and smelled the coffee. It appeared that North/South were
in the minor suits, struggling to find a fit together. Did East regret not
having bid the one spade bid when the level was low and the danger was even
lower? To bid now at the three-level would take a lot of courage. East, unfortunately
or fortunately, passed again.
With seven diamonds in his hand, South placed the
contract at 3♦, and all passed. West, on lead,
had listened to the bidding and knew that the minor suits belonged to North/South.
The majors must belong to East/West. A good logical approach provided West with
the K♠ for his lead, the top of a sequence, promising the Q♠ to his partner.
With three small spades in the dummy, East signaled an encouraging sign with
the 7♠, promising something in his hand. When the J♠ fell from the South hand,
however, West needed to change the next lead to a heart. Leading the second
spade would provide a ruff for South, a chance to draw trumps, use the clubs to
throw away all of the losers in the South hand, and claim 12 tricks.
West saw the J♠ fall, and he wisely elected not to
lead another spade to his partner, but to lead a heart to his partner’s A♥, keeping North/South to 11 tricks and a part score
of 150 points. Did East/West miss a tremendous opportunity to compete in this
auction? Suppose that East had bid one spade as an over-call immediately after
North’s 1♣ opening bid. While the spades were not spectacular, yet there were
five of them, and there were other points in the other suits as well.
Now South could have bid 2♦
if he dared. With just a long diamond suit, no fit in clubs, vulnerable as
well, South might have passed. West, having heard the spade bid by partner East,
knew enough to compete to the 2♠ level. Now the bidding had changed this hand
considerably. Now East/West had found a nine-card spade fit, and if North had bid
3♣, East would have bid 3♠, probably ending the auction.
Three spades in the East/West versus three in a
minor? That is the question. While the East/West team had little chance of making
three spades, yet they would have been extremely competitive, would have bought
the auction, and would have taken away the minor suit misfit from the
North/South team. Even if North/South had continued to bid, they would have
found that they had to bid at the four-level, and it would have been highly
unlikely that they would have bid to the five-level and game in a minor suit.
East/West could have interfered with the bidding to their advantage, and even
though they would likely have gone down one trick, it would only be a mere 50
point gain for the North/South team. There are times, especially early in the
auction, that a one-level bid is a good bid. Your partner might have your
missing cards for a Golden Fit in your suit, and you might steal away a bid
that might have gone to the North/South team uncontested. Keep bidding in Barry
County.
Gerald Stein
November 21, 2012
Number of words: 821
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