Better Bridge in Barry County
By
Gerald Stein
North
♠ 8 7 3 2
♥ Q J 9 8 7
♦ 6 4
♣ 10 9
|
||
West
♠ A K Q J 10 9
♥ 10 6
♦ J
♣ 7 6 3 2
|
East
♠ 5
♥ 4 2
♦ A Q 10 9 8 7 5 3 2
♣ 4
|
|
South
♠ 6 4
♥ A K 5 3
♦ K
♣ A K Q J 8 5
|
Dealer:
Vulnerable:
Lead:
|
West
Both
A♣
|
North
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
|
East
1NT
3♦
Pass
4♦
Rdbl
|
South
3♣
4♣
Rdbl
Dbl
Pass
|
West
1♠
Pass
Dbl
Pass
Pass
Pass
|
In last week’s column, we took a look at contracts
that are doubled and then redoubled for penalty. Today’s interesting hand takes
the doubling and redoubling to a new height: two contracts doubled and
redoubled. Let’s see what really happened with today’s hand.
With all hands extremely distributional, it was West
who opened with a 1♠ bid. While she had strong spades, there was very little
more in her hand, and she would be lucky to bid a second time. North had little
in her hand. East, however, had nine diamonds in her hand, and South had a
strong hand in clubs and hearts. This hand provided a most aggressive sequence
of bidding choices.
It takes courage as a bridge player to use the
redouble card, and there are warning signs when there is fierce competition in
the bidding. The warning should be obvious to all: these cards are highly distributional
with long suits and singletons and voids pretty much taken for granted. South
was quite ambitious bidding to the 4♣ level and then after being doubled pulled
out the redouble card and plunked it down on the table. The funny thing is that
South with the powerful clubs and the strong hearts that fit nicely with
partner North’s hand would have indeed made a 4♣ doubled contract for a plus
score for the North/South team. There was no need for South to redouble the 4♣ contract.
All it did was to open the door for East to bid again.
This time, however, East, taking advantage of South’s
hasty redouble bid, with nine diamonds and a partner who had bid her spades
twice was ready to bid her diamonds again. When South doubled that 4♦ contract, East promptly redoubled 4♦. With both sides vulnerable, it was a battle of
wills on this hand. With diamonds being a bit higher on the bidding scale, East
made a great bridge call by daring to redouble the 4♦
bid. The final contract was East playing 4♦
doubled and redoubled.
No matter what lead was chosen, South would only
take the A♣, the A♥, and the K♥. East would surely pull trumps by leading the A♦ finding the K♦ in the
South hand, and the lone 5♠ in her hand would find a safe place with West’s A♠.
East could claim all of the remaining tricks, taking ten tricks and losing only
the three tricks that South was able to take immediately.
While South was a daring bridge player, East was
even more so. Making 4♦ doubled and redoubled
gave the East/West team a fine score of 920 points on their side of the score
sheet. It is not very often that a doubled and redoubled contract shows up in a
round of bridge. But to see two examples of doubling and redoubling is
extraordinary. Looking at the South hand, it is easy to see that South would
have lost two spade tricks and one diamond trick and would have taken the rest
for ten tricks for the South declarer. On the bidding ladder, however, the
diamond suit is one rung up and on this hand, East picked the right time to bid
to 4♦ doubled and redoubled and make her
contract. Well done, East and West, on aggressive bidding and heads-up bridge
playing.
Gerald Stein
February 5, 2014
Number of words: 776
Bridge Notes: Are you tired of winter and feel the
need to get out and do something new and fun? Consider taking a bridge class
offered at the Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center on March 1,
2014. It will be just the way to chase away the winter blahs and begin a new
challenge. “Learn Bridge in a Day?” is a five-hour seminar on learning the
basics of bridge so that you can see if this is a card game that you would like
to pursue. Give the Hastings Community Education office a call at 948-4414. You
will be ready to spring into action!
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