Better Bridge in Barry County
By
Gerald Stein
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North
♠ 10 7 4
♥ A Q 5
♦ A J
♣ 8 7 4 3 2
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West
♠ A J 9 6 3 2
♥ J 9
♦ Q 10 5 3
♣ 6
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East
♠ 5
♥ 8 4 2
♦ K 9 8 6 4
♣ Q J 9 5
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South
♠ K Q 8
♥ K 10 7 6 3
♦ 7 2
♣ A K 10
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Dealer:
Vulnerable:
Lead:
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West
North/South
6♣
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North
Pass
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East
Pass
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South
?
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West
2♠
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What happens when your left-hand opponent opens the
bidding with a Weak Two spade bid? You have 15 high-card points as South, you
have a solid heart suit, and you are the last to bid for the first round. You
know from West’s 2♠ bid that she has six spades with most of her points in the
spade suit. She has probably 5-10 high-card points in her hand, and she had
hoped to disrupt your bid. She certainly has done that. What is your best bid?
You have a number of choices with the South hand:
you could pass and try to set the East/West pair, but they are non-vulnerable
so your gain will be minimal. You could double for take-out forcing partner to
bid, but if she bids diamonds, what are you going to do? You could bid 3♥ on a wing and a prayer hoping that North has some
help as you are vulnerable and at the three level. Your final option is to bid
2NT and see what happens. Which choice do you prefer?
In the actual tournament, this hand was played forty
times with half of the tables making their bids and the other half not making
the bids or bidding an inferior contract. Let’s look at the four options.
Pass seems
like a bad decision to use here. You would be allowing East/West to steal your
chances of a good score. Scratch the Pass option.
Take-out double is choice number two: North is
forced to bid, and she bids her longest suit, the ratty-looking club suit but
five of them. What do you do? Pass and play in a part-score and regret it
forever after? No, you must either bid three no trump or bid your five hearts
at the three level. If you bid three hearts, partner will raise you to 4♥, and you will be the declarer in the South. If you
bid 3NT, North will pass, and again you will be the declarer in the South. How
do you like your chances in 4♥ or 3NT?
At least you have made the choice to play the hand
at game level instead of playing in 3♣ which would give you a very bad score
compared to the rest of the declarers. So let’s choose the 4♥ level since your partner has promised at least
three-card heart support and some points. Will it be enough?
With West on lead, you are not surprised when the 6♣
is tabled from West. Knowing from experience that with a six-card weak two bid,
you are bound to be short in another suit, you can almost predict that West’s
lead of the 6♣ is a singleton. You win the first trick in your hand with the A♣
after East puts up the J♣. You approve of your partner’s bid by a simple thank
you and prepare the rest of your plan. A small heart from your hand to the A♥ draws a trump from each opponent. The Q♥ from the board drops the J♥
from West. Now you have an accurate count of West’s hand. One club, two hearts,
six spades, so West must have four diamonds as well.
After winning the Q♥
on the board, you play a small club through East and play the 10♣ winning the
trick. As you had expected, West shows out of clubs and out of trump. You next
play the K♣ winning that trick and then you draw the final trump from East with
the K♥.
Giving up a trick now is the next part of your plan.
You lead the K♠ losing, of course, to the A♠ in the West hand. Back came a
small spade from West, and you let it ride all the way to your winning 8♠. You
play the good Q♠ next winning that trick. Your A♦
is a winning trick as well as the two remaining tricks in trump for a total of
11 tricks in hearts. You will lose the A♠ and the K♦
for your two losers on this hand.
You have taken 11 tricks in hearts, and had you
chosen 3NT, you would have been able to take 11 tricks there as well. Listening
to the bidding helped you on your way to a top score in either 4♥ or 3NT. Passing or playing in 3♣ would have resulted
in a bad score for your team.
The takeaways on this hand are two-fold: take the
time to count the number of points in the opener’s hand. In this case, with a
weak-two bid, there is a range of 5-10 high-card points. Knowing that most of
the points will be in the bid suit, you can use that knowledge to successfully
play the hand. With support from your partner North, you did not let the
weak-two bid distract you too much. Instead, you used the knowledge gained to
go on and bid the game whether that game was in hearts or in no trump. Well
done, South, on your bidding and playing the hand following a disruptive pre-emptive
bid from your opponents.
Gerald Stein
February 24, 2014
Number of words: 952
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