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If only I Could, I surely would!

Is it too much to ask for? A trump or two. A measly 3 or 4….not much to ask for….

Have you as declarer ever been told by your partner to draw the opponents’ trumps? Unless you have some ruffing to do, that seems like a very good idea.
“If only I could” comes the pleading expression from the declarer in today’s deal.

You could call today’s deal a piece of light relief but like so many good bridge stories, it is not made up but happened at the recent Gold Coast Congress.

Firstly, though, a question. What would you bid when your partner pre-empts 3D and you have some very impressive trump support:

 

That is not the pre-emptor’s hand! It is the hand which has to respond to their partner’s diamond pre-empt! Only East-West are vulnerable.

Really, the choice of actions North could take seems endless. Surely, you could afford to bid up to game in diamonds at this or indeed at any vulnerability? Some form of Blackwood perhaps? You could pop in a misleading (psychic) major suit bid or call one of the more common psyches, 3NT. In fact, our North did bid 3NT. Even losing all 13 tricks could bring a great result for North-South without a double card being produced.

However, East did have a rather good hand of their own holding lots of cards in both majors and found a seriously good way of showing them by bidding the opponents’ suit, 4, for take-out. Alas, for East, their partner was away at the time getting a cup of coffee or the like because that bid ended the bidding! They could not have been present at the table to pass that bid.

Now, you may have seen these four hands before in this column but never quite with the above bidding!

 

For some reason not particularly apparent, East managed to make 4 tricks but that still meant going 6 down (-600), not much compensation for the missed 11 tricks in game in either major suit.
At the other table, West became declarer in  6 receiving that very helpful A lead… and of course made their slam for a very nice 19 imps for the  Bach team of Peer Bach, Setsuko Lichtnecker, Ernie Sutton and Max Robb. I may run a sweepstake about these 4 players as to who opened 3 and who psyched 3NT. If you said Peer was the 3NT bidder, you would be pretty close!

 We predicted last week that 6 by West would likely make and that the apparent phantom 7 sacrifice would be worthwhile. However, we did not imagine that the declarer in diamonds would be East or West.

 So, do not listen to your partner’s helpfully meant advice that you should have “drawn trumps”. They do presume that you have at least one to lead!
Have you ever played a suit contract without any trumps in your hand or dummy? I cannot say it is on my “bucket list” of things to achieve at the bridge table.

Richard Solomon

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