Better Bridge in Barry County October 16 2014

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