All News

Expressway.

There is often a catch when you are presented with a bridge problem. Otherwise, why would a fellow player give you the problem in the first place!? So, be careful before you answer the question below.

 

There’s nothing fancy about the bidding. 3 shows a better hand than bidding 2. So?

Many days ago (it seems quite a few now), partner and I were playing a pair of very earnest gentlemen in the Pairs event at the Gold Coast Congress. They seemed (well, they looked) like good players. (Is that half the battle achieved of becoming a top player?) We had the pleasure of three boards against them. South was declarer on the first two and enjoyed himself. Well, he had plenty of time to enjoy himself because he took plenty of it…but nothing like the third board.

We speeded up their auction considerably by jumping in and raising clubs (we had around 7 hcp between us) but that was only relative when it came to time. Every bid was slow, ponderous, obviously well- reasoned. At one point, and indeed nowhere near the end of the bidding, one of them bid 6. We believed they had agreed hearts some 8 or 10 minutes earlier (I exaggerate not!). And on and on it went. They started bidding at the 7 level by bidding our suit (“your lead”, metaphorically, I called out to partner) but no, they ploughed on via another diamond bid (well, the bid was available. So, why not use it!). They rested in 7.

A minute or three or four later, we were all recording the score of -1. A reward for patience you may conclude.

I am sure they went on to greater things, slowly.

That brings me back to our problem above. Remember, you have 22hcp and partner has shown a well-above average opener. You are brimming with aces, points and have a long suit. Rules of the game say you are not allowed to contract for more than 13 tricks even if you can make a greater number. So, South had to be content with 7NT even though he thought they could make many more. He was not wrong:

 

So, you thought the catch was that the A was missing? Come on, own up. Did that cross your mind for just a fleeting second? Blackwood…key-card…some such sensible convention would have confirmed that we held all the aces and the kings…and who cares if we were missing a queen or a jack. We were but it did not matter because we had 17 tricks and not having J was not a serious incumbrance!

The bidding was swift, the play similarly. The result was pretty good too. A near top with just one other pair out of 10 reaching the grand level. This was not in a strong field.

I have not seen a combined 39 hcp in two hands for a long time, not probably since the first National Congress back in 1986. There was a famous story about that occasion too. North opened 2NT and South was staring at a flat 19 count. They thought there was a chance that partner remembered there was nothing fancy about their 2NT opening but they started to wonder. I mean not even a computer and certainly not a human deals 20 opposite 19 hcp. So, they presumed their partner had forgotten their system and was showing a weak hand with both minors. Therefore, they raised to 3NT and played there. I cannot recall how many tricks were made but it was way more than 9!

So, take your time, but not too much of it, if you are not sure of where you are going but if you know, don’t mess around. The bar awaits!

I await too, the perfect 40. I promise to bid that deal super quickly. Those of you who know me would expect nothing less!

Richard Solomon

 

 

 

Go Back View All News Items