Better Bridge in Barry County October 31 2013

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North East/West 8♥

 

North 1♦ Dbl 3NT Pass	East 2♣ Pass Dbl Pass	South 2♥ 3♠ 4♥	West 3♣ Pass Pass

 

High card points or wild distribution: which would you rather have? In today’s hand, North and South had one half of the forty points in the deck; they had twenty points while East and West had the other twenty points. Knowing that it usually takes twenty-five or twenty-six high card points to make a game in the majors or in no trump, how was it that the North/South pair arrived at a 4♥ contract with only twenty points? The answer, of course, is wild distribution. Let’s take a look.

North as dealer opened the bidding with 1♦, promising 12 high card points, and at least three diamonds. In this case, she had five diamonds. East with six clubs and twelve high card points overcalled in the club suit with 2♣. East’s clubs should have been a bit better than those in her hand, but if one waits for the perfect hand in bridge, that could be a long wait! South with a void in clubs and a singleton in partner’s diamond suit felt compelled to bid the heart suit. With seven hearts, South knew that there was huge trumping power with all of those hearts. West with club support and knowing that East had to have five to overcall supported the clubs by raising to 3♣.

North doubled, probably for penalty, as her clubs were strong, and East passed. South took the initiative and bid her spades informing North that she had two suits, hearts and spades. When West passed the spade bid, North bid 3NT, a scary bid for sure, with the wild distribution, singletons, and voids that were obvious in this hand. East doubled for penalty, and South pulled out of 3NT by bidding 4♥. With all passing, the contract was 4♥ in the South.

West guessed correctly that South was short of clubs by North’s penalty double on the 3♣ bid. Hoping to reduce the number of trumps in the dummy hand, a wonderful defensive strategy, West led the 8♥, the higher of her two trumps,  informing partner that she had only two trumps. East was able to take the trick with the K♥. With there being no point in playing another trump as the dummy had no more, East switched to the higher of the two spades in her hand: the 5♠. South played low, and West was forced in third position to play third hand high and went up with the Q♠, effectively setting up the spade suit for the North/South team. South won the Q♠ with the K♠.

The A♦ was the next lead by South from the North hand, with all following. South played her singleton 4♦, and she next led a small diamond from the board, trumping with a small heart in her hand. Leading the Q♥ drew out the last heart from West, and East won with the A♥. East’s lead of her last spade was won in the dummy with the 10♠. Another diamond from the board was trumped in the South hand with a small heart, and South then drew the last outstanding heart with the J♥. The rest of the tricks were South’s as she claimed with all of the remaining hearts and played the spades from the top down, winning five spade tricks, five heart tricks, and one diamond trick for eleven tricks taken.

While a hand with only twenty high card points does not often make a game contract in the majors, it is easy to see that in today’s hand that that is exactly what happened. The wild distribution allowed a bold North/South pair to bid and make a 4♥ contract despite the aggressive bidding going on during the course of the bidding. While it is noteworthy that playing in a heart contract is a better and safer contract for the North/South pair, still it is possible to make a 4♠ contract. East/West at best could make only a 2♣ contract so it was a bold North/South team who found the fit with the long suits, the void, the singletons, and some important high cards. When you find yourself with long suits, consider how important those cards could be if they are the trump suit. They are almost worthless if you are a defender so the takeaway for the day is this: bid those long suits and hope your partner has some help. In today’s hand that is just what happened. North/South bid effectively and played well enough to bring home a non-vulnerable game and an overtrick for 450 points with only twenty high card points in their hands.

 

Gerald Stein

October 22, 2013

Number of words: 915

Bridge notes: Look for a class after the first of April on learning eight important bridge conventions. Entitled “Eight Bridge Conventions You Should Know and Use,” this class will be useful for all levels of bridge players.