Better Bridge in Barry County
By
Gerald Stein
|
North
♠ Q 9 6 3
♥ A
♦ A J 9 8 7 2
♣ K J
|
|
West
♠ 8 7 5 2
♥ Q J 9 8 5
♦ K 10
♣ 7 6
|
|
East
♠ 10
♥ 6 4
♦ Q 6 5 4
♣ Q 10 5 4 3 2
|
|
South
♠ A K J 4
♥ K 10 7 3 2
♦ 3
♣ A 9 8
|
|
Dealer:
Vulnerable:
Lead:
|
South
Neither
7♣
|
North
2♦
6NT!
|
East
3♣
Pass
|
South
1♥
3NT
Pass
|
West
Pass
Pass
Pass
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Were you surprised at the bidding in today’s hand?
Would you have been so bold as to bid 6NT? Was there a better bid and a safer
contract? Let’s take a look at today’s hand that was played recently in an
online bridge tournament with 42 tables.
South opened the bidding with fourteen high card
points and two length points for a total of 16 points. After West passed, North
bid 2♦, a forcing bid as North/South play a
Two-Over-One System. North was promising at least 13 high card points and
biddable diamonds. This bid was forcing to game, and South was ready to comply
by bidding 3NT. Imagine South’s surprise when East interjected a 3♣ bid, an
obvious obstructive bid as well as a lead-directing bid, promising 5-11 high
card points and twice rebiddable clubs.
Undeterred, South bid what he had planned to bid and
bid 3NT. Imagine his greater surprise when Partner North jumped to 6NT. All
passed and the contract was 6NT in the South. Keeping partner happy, West chose
the top of his club suit, the 7♣, planning to show a count of two clubs if he
ever got a chance to play the 6♣. High/low is a standard counting technique to
show partner an even-number of cards in a hand.
As in past hands, South needed to listen to the
bidding to find out where the cards were. The 3♣ bid promised six or seven
clubs in the East hand. Fortunately, South had two stoppers in clubs, the A♣
and the K♣. East was bound to have the Q♣ from the club bid, but South played
the J♣ anyway to keep an entry on the board.
South looked at the dummy hand and counted the
winners: four spade winners, two heart winners, two club winners, and one
diamond winner. That number was nine, a far cry from the twelve tricks needed
to make 6NT. Where would the other three tricks come from? Not from spades and
not from clubs. Hearts and diamonds would have to be the suits to go to for
extra tricks. But was that even possible?
Taking the time to make a plan helped save South on
this hand. South could count only six hearts so he knew that there were seven
hearts out against him. Counting the diamonds and arriving at seven diamonds
left him a little better chance to succeed. There would be six diamonds out
against him, and knowing the odds and the probabilities of card-splits, it was
likely with the kind of bid that East had bid that the diamonds would split 4-2
instead of 3-3. What were the key diamonds out against him? South could count
the K♦, the Q♦,
and the 10♦, as his chief concerns. How would he
play the hand?
With stoppers in the three other suits, South went
immediately to work on the diamond suit. From his hand, South led the 3♦ on the second trick. West played the 10♦, one of the cards that South was concerned about.
South drew a deep breath and put the J♦ on top
of the 10♦. The trick was won by East with the Q♦. There was the second diamond that South was concerned
about. Only the K♦ was out against him.
East returned a small club, and South took the trick
with the K♣ on the board. The moment of truth had arrived. South played the A♦, and to his relief the K♦
fell from the West hand. The four remaining diamonds were played in succession
with South pitching hearts and a club from his hand. South saved the four spade
tricks and the two heart tricks as his final six tricks, making 6NT. South had
found the right way to play the hand, and for his efforts, the North/South team
received 990 points for a small slam bid and made. They also garnered an 89.3%
game.
Was that the top score for this hand? While you may
think so, there was one better play that only two South declarers found that
could beat a 6NT small slam. Did you figure it out? When East threw in an
obstructive bid, even though he knew that North/South had a game at least from
their opening bids, it was South who stopped for a moment and thought about the
gain that might be made from another bid altogether. What if…?
What if South doubled the 3♣ bid as a penalty
double? Would that be a more profitable gain than making a 3NT contract?
Remember, South had no inkling that North would bid 6NT at this time. As it
turned out, two South declarers did just that. They doubled for penalty. North
passed the double, and with the cards and points in their favor, North and
South cleaned house royally. The final damage when the last trick was played
had East/West down five tricks for a minus 1100 points. For their efforts, two
North/South teams were the first place winners on this hand and scored a 98.8%
game for a most impressive score.
What a range of play on a hand of bridge! Strategy
and counting and making a plan are all important ingredients to a successful
finish. For today’s hand, there were several ways to get all of the high
scores. Well played, both on defense and on offense, North and South pairs!
Gerald Stein
October 8, 2014
Number of words: 1006
No comments:
Post a Comment