Better Bridge in Barry County April 17 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

West North/South Pick it!

 

North   3♦	East   Pass	South   ?	West Pass

 

Bridge players know the importance and the value of the pre-emptive bid. It is useful as an obstructive bid; that is, its primary purpose is to make life difficult for the opponents. But what happens when your partner uses a pre-emptive bid, and you are the one who has to make a decision regarding your partnership? What do you do on today’s hand if you are the South player?

If you said, “Pass,” you would have been in good company with the 26 other South players who played this hand recently during an online tournament. While 3♦ is completely makeable, you would have earned only a 38% for your efforts. Making an overtrick on 3♦ would have been a whole lot better with a 65% score for those few who were able to find the overtrick. So, is there another bid that would have given you the top score for your team?

If you considered bidding 3NT after your partner’s 3♦ pre-emptive bid, you are certainly a brave bridge player. Look at those ratty hearts. While you have four of them, you can hardly call a 10♥ a stopper in hearts. If you were courageous enough to bid 3NT, once West made her lead, however, and you saw your partner’s hand, you would have been mentally jumping up and down as you could easily count seven diamond tricks and two aces for your needed nine tricks. Unfortunately, in bridge, we are not allowed to see partner’s hand before we bid!

So this is the dilemma: with 13 high card points in the South hand, do you go out on a limb and bid the 3NT, or should you play it safe and pass? As it turned out, sixteen bridge players opted to bid 3NT following their partner’s 3♦ opening bid. With the seven diamonds in the North hand, and careful play by South with the diamonds, it is possible to take ten tricks in no trump with a 9♠ lead. That resulted in a top score of 86% for those 16 players who ventured into no trump land.

An alternative to the risky but as it turned out profitable 3NT contract, consider this possibility: what if you think about what others will do with the same cards that you hold? Will most of them play it safe and pass and be content to play in 3♦? If you think that way, you will be on the right track, but you must then take it a step further in order to do well with that contract. You must find a way to not just make the bid.  Most players will be able to do that. No, instead, you must find a way to make an overtrick with diamonds as trump. If you do that, you will score nearly twice what others have done by just making the contract of 3♦. Three diamonds making would have given you a 38% for that hand. 3♦ plus one overtrick would have given you a 65% for that one overtrick difference.

If three NT is too hot, and 3♦ is too cold, then you must take the third choice and play it in diamonds, but, as part of your plan, you know you will have to take an extra trick to do well. If you take the Goldilocks-and-the-Three-Bears approach, you should end up enjoying your porridge just as Goldilocks did. Happy Bridge playing when your partner opens with a pre-emptive bid. Now you have at least three choices to consider. Good luck.

 

Gerald Stein

April 10, 2014

Number of words: 759

Bridge Notes: Another Learn Bridge in a Day? Seminar is planned for Saturday, May 3, 2014 at the Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center. A five-hour seminar is planned for those who have always wanted to learn bridge, or for those who want to review and investigate the latest changes in the bridge world. If interested, sign up at the Community Education office by calling 269 948-4414.