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Daily Bridge in New Zealand

  is it worth one more?

Good Insurance.

Part-score deals can yield a surprisingly large number of imps in a Teams’ match but it is the freak deals which seem to be the ones which create most conversations after an event. So, with that in mind, put yourself in the North seat and decide if you have bid enough on this deal, which occurred in last weekend’s Inter-Provincials:

Bridge in NZ.pngnz map.jpg

 

10 9 8 7 5 3

K 4

K Q J 8 5

 

West

North

East

South

 

 

1 

2 NT

4 

5 ♣

5 

Pass

Pass

?

 

 

Both sides are vulnerable. 2NT shows the minors, at least 5-5. East has already stated they are not following the guideline that “the 5-level belongs to the opposition”. Have you bid enough yet?

Were you to bid on, you would have to ask yourself why. Are you bidding as a sacrifice, bidding to make or maybe some combination of the two, meaning you are not really sure why! What seems to be the case here is that you have very little defence to 5Heart-small, too many clubs, and nothing like a trick in either major suit. Meanwhile, you may be off a couple of major losers but -200 would be cheap insurance.

The ”insurance” was well worth taking when the opposition did double 6Club-small. East must have been hopeful for two cashing aces but their “hope” did not last long:

Board 26
East Deals
Both Vul

10 9 8 7 5 3

K 4

K Q J 8 5

Q J 6 4

Q J 10 6 3

Q 8 7

2

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

A K

A K 9 8 7 5 4

10 9 6

10

 

2

2

A J 5 3 2

A 9 7 6 4 3

 

West

North

East

South

 

 

1 

2 NT

4 

5 ♣

5 

Pass

Pass

6 ♣

Dbl

All pass

The above was the sequence in many of the matches including when the Otago-Southland Open Team were North-South against Wellington. Brad Johnston was North and ruffed the Heart-smallA continuation at trick 2 after a high spade started the defence.

Not one East-West pair bid to 6Heart-small over 6Club-small,  correct only if 6Club-small was making. Of the 24 tables in the 4 events, 6Club-small was the final bid at 14 and was doubled 9 times. 8 tables saw East play in 5Heart-small, 6 times beaten by one trick. (There are, of course, three tricks for the defence.) One table never reached higher than 4Heart-small… and then this was the bidding at the other table in the Wellington-Otago-Southland Open Match:

West                          North                         East                South

Miller                         Newell                          Stout                 Reid

                                                                      1Club-small1                   2NT   (minors)

X                                  5Club-small                             Pass                 Pass

5Heart-small                               Pass                            6Heart-small                   Pass

Pass                            7Club-small                               x                      All Pass

1 16+ Precision style (well, it looked like 16+!)

Note that 6Heart-small was not bid over 6Club-small!

Graeme Stout passed the decision about whether to bid on or double to his partner. When Jeff Miller chose to bid, Graeme bid the heart slam, to make. Peter Newell believed him and took some insurance at the 7-level but there was none. Graeme decided wisely that one of his aces had to be cashing and collected 17 imps for doing so.

Of course, even 6Heart-small x down two would still have cost Wellington 14 imps. So, the 7-level insurance did not in reality cost that much. 

A hard decision perhaps for the Norths to bid 6Club-small and a much harder one for the East players in knowing it was correct to bid 6Heart-small, not to make but “as insurance” against the making club slam. Would you?

It’s still your bid…

Nothing appeals but the clock is ticking…

     

East Deals
N-S Vul

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

7 6 4

K 10 6

A Q 9

A 10 7 5

 

West

North

East

South

 

 

1 ♣

1 ♠

Dbl

Pass

?

 

1Club-small promises 3+ and had you opened 1NT initially, you would hold 15-17 hcp.

Pairs.

Richard Solomon

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