Better Bridge in Barry County
By
Gerald Stein
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North
♠ A Q 6 5
♥ J 8
♦ J 4 3 2
♣ A Q J
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West
♠ 3
♥ A Q 7 5 4
♦ 8 6 5
♣ K 10 8 4
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East
♠ J 10 9 4 2
♥ K 9 3
♦ ---
♣ 7 6 5 3 2
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South
♠ K 8 7
♥ 10 6 2
♦ A K Q 10 9 7
♣ 9
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Dealer:
Vulnerable:
Lead:
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East
Neither
3♠
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North
Dbl (1)
5♦
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East
Pass
2♥
Pass
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South
1♦
Pass
Pass
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West
1♥
Pass
Pass
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(1)
Negative Double
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Last week we looked at the Take Out Double as one of
the major bridge conventions that you should know and use. This week let’s take
a look at the Negative Double, another use for the double besides penalty and
take out purposes. Knowing and using the Negative Double helped North/South to
a game contract in diamonds. Let’s see what happened.
As dealer, East passed with a very weak hand. South
with twelve high card points and two length points had a minimum hand that was
good for at least an opening bid. South bid 1♦. West
with ten total points and a five-card heart suit overcalled with 1♥. North with a nice hand and fifteen high card points
elected to tell partner South that she had four spades. How could she do that?
The Negative Double is a most useful way for
partners to share information with each other without wasting any bidding
space. In today’s hand, following an opening bid by partner South, an overcall
in hearts by West, it was desirable for North to use the Negative Double. The
double as used here in this situation informed South that she had the other
major, spades, and that she had exactly four of them. The minimum number of
points is usually six at the one level and eight at the two level. North certainly
had enough points to use this bid. If there was no intervening bid by the
opponents, South must bid again as no one wants to double for penalty at the
one level.
In this hand, however, East with at least three
hearts, a void in the opponents’ bid suit of diamonds, threw in a 2♥ bid. South did not know how many points North
actually had and passed, waiting to see what North would do on her second bid.
In this case, not hearing much from South again, North realized that South’s
hand was a minimum hand in the 12-14 point range, and that it was up to North
to place the contract. The best contract for North/South? Did you say 5♦? Would you believe that there is a better contract
than 5♦’s? Yes, 3NT is a far better contract, making
3NT and three overtricks for a top score.
Here, however, North placed the contract at 5♦, and all passed. The lead was, of course, the
singleton 3♠, and South won the trick in her hand with the K♠. Drawing trumps
in three rounds was the next step, with East showing out on the first diamond
lead. Playing all of the spades next showed that West was out of spades as
expected, and so drawing and counting trumps was crucial to this hand.
Concentrating on the trump suit first was the way to success for making all
eleven tricks. The losing spade in the North hand was easily trumped in the
South hand.
Losing two heart tricks were the only losers for the
South declarer. There was no need to take a club finesse with only one club in
the South hand, but it would always work. With plenty of trumps, South was able
to claim the eleven tricks needed and scored an 83.9% game along with eight others.
The 3NT bidder and winner? With a club lead, there was only one declarer who ended
up with twelve tricks and a top board at 100%.
While this hand was played thirty-three times, only
the top ten tables scored well. The secret to success was the use of the
Negative Double that let South know that North had at least a four-card spade
suit and at least six points. While the contact did not end up in spades, it is
easy to see how useful the spade suit was for this contract. Sharing information
through the Negative Double is a useful and important bidding tool to include
in your partnership agreement. Share it with your partner today.
Gerald Stein
May 18, 2014
Number of words: 768
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