Better Bridge in Barry County
By
Gerald Stein
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North
♠ K Q J 7 6 3
♥ 8 5 2
♦ J 8
♣ A 8
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West
♠ ---
♥ Q J 9 7 6
♦ K 9 6
♣ 10 9 4 3 2
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East
♠ A 10 8 5 4 2
♥ 10
♦ 10 4 3
♣ Q 6 5
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South
♠ 9
♥ A K 4 3
♦ A Q 7 5 2
♣ K J 7
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Dealer:
Vulnerable:
Lead:
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East
Both
A♥
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North
Pass
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East
2♠ (1)
Pass
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South
Dbl
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West
Pass
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(1)
Weak Two-bid
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For the last two weeks in this column, we have
looked at having the spade suit as the control suit, the boss suit. Today’s
hand is a wonderful indication of what can happen when you “think” you have the
boss suit, but you find out differently very quickly into the play of the hand.
Let’s take a look and see what happened to the East declarer.
Vulnerable and the dealer, East elected to open her weak
hand with a preemptive two-spade bid. This bid is similar to the three-level
bids used so effectively to interrupt the bidding for the opponents. With only
six high-card points, and six suspect spades, East stepped into a hornet’s nest
that she will long remember. Her bid was 2♠, and she promised six spades and
5-11 high-card points.
South had a
solid bid and was surprised to hear East open the bidding. The bid that South
first contemplated was to bid the five-card diamond suit, but she reconsidered
when she realized that she had a much better bid. With a shortage in spades,
the suit bid by East, South chose to use the takeout double as her bid. With
seventeen high card points, South effectively told her partner North that she
was short in spades, but she had support for the other three suits and good high
card points. South doubled for take-out.
West looked at her absence of spades and shuddered
for her partner. She had no bid, and she passed. North with eleven high card
points and those powerful spades smoothly passed, turning the take-out double
into a penalty double. The contract was placed at 2♠ doubled vulnerable.
The play of the hand followed with South as the
leader. Choosing the strong heart suit and the A♥
and K♥ combination, South chose the A♥ as her lead, promising the K♥
per their partnership agreement. Here is where the defenders would shine with
their defensive signals. North played the 2♥ as
a discouraging signal, telling partner there was no future there and to find
another suit instead of continuing the heart suit. South obliged by trusting
her partner’s attitude signal card. South shifted to the 7♣ saving her A♦ and Q♦ for a lead
from her partner, another smart defensive move.
North won the second trick with the A♣ and
immediately led back her last club, the 8♣. East ducked the trick and South won
the trick with the J♣. South continued with the K♣, and North pitched the 8♦. South saw that as a good sign and she led the A♦, and North pitched the J♦.
A small diamond from South was trumped by North with the 3♠. So far, the North/South
pair had taken the first six tricks. East was growing physically sick.
At this point, North opted to lead back a heart,
fully expecting it to be trumped by East. East trumped low for the first trick
for East/West. South played a small heart, and East played a small heart from
the dummy. Stuck in her hand, East had few options. She played the 10♠ hoping
for some kind of split, but the only kind of split that she would see on this
hand was a 6-1 split, about as bad a split as there can be in a trump suit.
North won the trick with the J♠.
At this point, East still did not know how bad the
trump split was as South had played the 9♠ on the first trump lead from East.
When North led the 7♠ from her hand, East rose with the A♠ hoping to capture
one of the honors in the spade suit from the South hand. Alas, there were no
more spades there.
East led a diamond toward the K♦ on the board, but North again trumped in with the 6♠.
The 8♥ from North was trumped by the 8♠ in the
East hand for their third and final trick. The last two tricks were the K♠ and
the Q♠ in the North hand.
What was the final damage to the East/West pair? 2♠
doubled, and vulnerable, East had managed to take just three tricks.
North/South had taken ten tricks of the thirteen, for down five tricks and a
minus 1400 score for East/West. That, of course, was a great score for the
North/South team, and a bottom score for the hapless East/West team.
What is the takeaway for this hand? First of all,
East chose an inappropriate time to bid her spades. True, spades are the boss
suit if you have control of the spades. In this case, East was missing too many
honors in the spade suit. The rule of thumb for a weak two bid is to have at
least three of the top five honors. In this case, the A♠ and the 10♠ left a lot
of gaps for the trump suit. A bad trump split hurt as well and that happens
from time to time. North/South were careful defenders, watching the attitude
signals as well as watching the discards. So, to conclude this three-week
series on the spade suit as boss suit, remember this: be sure you are the
declarer with the powerful spades and all may be well.
Gerald Stein
November 11, 2013
Number of words: 979
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