Better Bridge in Barry County
By
Gerald Stein
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North
♠
10 7 3
♥ A K 7 6 3 2
♦ 8 6
♣ 5 4
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West
♠ J 9
♥ Q 10 8 5
♦ 9 3 2
♣ 9 8 7 6
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East
♠ 6 5 4 2
♥ J 9 4
♦ 5
♣ A K 10 3 2
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South
♠ A K Q 8
♥ ----
♦ A K Q J 10 7 4
♣ Q J
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Dealer:
Vulnerable:
Lead:
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West
Neither
9♣
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North
2♥
Pass
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East
3♣
Pass
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South
5♦
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West
Pass
Pass
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Today’s hand came up in an American Contract Bridge
League Regional Tournament held in Petoskey recently. On this particular hand,
three players presented their best suits to good advantage. With West passing,
North opted to show his good hearts by using a Weak Two bid and bid 2♥. That bid promised a six-card heart suit with most
or all of his points in the heart suit. That is exactly what he had.
While it is not customary to bid a preemptive bid
after a preemptive bid, in this case, East saved the day for their partnership
by bidding the club suit and offering a strong lead choice for her partner should
she be the one to lead. As it turned out, that was a smart move, as others
opted to pass over the clubs. That created a problem for her partner as she did
not know which suit to lead to prevent the North/South team from taking
overtricks.
In this hand, however, after hearing partner bid the
heart suit and her opponent bidding the club suit, South jumped to game in
diamonds, bidding a sound 5♦ game. All passed, and
the lead on this hand was the 9♣.
South looked over the lead as well as the dummy
displayed by partner North. It appeared that there would be two club losers and
perhaps a spade loser. There would be no diamond losers, and what a pity that a
spade or a heart had not been led. That would have been a way to use the A♥ and the K♥ to dispose
of the two club losers. Alas, that did not happen on this hand although it
appears that other defenders, without the lead-directing club bid, did in fact
not lead a club and allowed the South defender to get to the board and use the
A♥ and the K♥ to
discard the Q♣ and the J♣.
For this hand, however, South was content to know
that she had made the best possible bid of 5♦.
The defenders did in fact take the first two club tricks with the A♣ and the K♣.
They would take no further tricks as South in complete control of the trump
suit drew the diamonds in three rounds and played the spades from the top: A♠,
K♠, Q♠, and the 8♠ became the eleventh trick for South, and a bid and made
game.
Taking 400 points was an average score on this hand
as the competitors successfully stuck in the club bid, strongly encouraging her
partner to lead a club if she were on lead. As it turned out, that is exactly
what happened, and it limited the North/South pair to the eleven tricks and no
more. Those pairs that failed to let their partner know about the club suit,
even though there was not much more there, allowed the North/South team in one
instance to bid and make a 6♦ small slam and in
another instance to take two overtricks. Those pairs who allowed the overtricks
or the slam received the lowest scores on this hand.
The takeaway is straightforward on today’s hand:
Telling your partner anything about your hand is always an important
consideration. With neither side being vulnerable and North bidding a weak
suit, it was quite an easy move for East to bid the club as a lead-directing
call. As it turned out, that was the correct move for the East/West pair as
defenders. They kept the North/South team from scoring undeserved overtricks
and managed to have an average board instead of a low or bottom board. Those
East/West pairs that failed to bid the clubs the first time they were able to
bid them, were unable to find the correct lead and picked the wrong suit. Help
your partner out by informing her about the suit that you would like to have
her lead to you. You will be giving her a lot of information that will benefit
your partnership. Good luck on sharing and communicating with your partner both
on offense and on defense.
Gerald Stein
Number of words: 782
August 28, 2014
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