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Daily Bridge in New Zealand

Too Aggressive?

We all have, or maybe should have, unwritten rules about when to pre-empt. It is common to be “a little frisky” when the vulnerability is in our favour. However, what about when only our side is vulnerable? How good do we have to be..or how bad are we allowed to be… at that vulnerability first in hand? We are playing Teams:

Bridge in NZ.pngnz map.jpg

 

Q J 10 7 5 3 2

9 4

Q 8 5 3

 

West

North

East

South

 

?

 

 

Oh, before we go any further, what will become the most important card in this hand when the play takes place?

Nice shape but not too many hcp and an acceptable but not a great suit. That does not matter to our youngest Panellist:

Leon Meier “4Heart-small: I'd consider 3Heart-small and 4Heart-small. In the end I prefer 4Heart-small. By opening 4Heart-small I'm hoping the opponents will play 4Spade-smallx.”

However, Nigel gives us a good reason to adopt the middle ground:

Nigel Kearney “3Heart-small: I used to think I was an aggressive pre-emptor, but nowadays I see people doing things I wouldn't seriously consider. However, this looks fine to open 3Heart-small. If you want a simple rule, apply the old rule of 2 and 3 then bid one more. (i.e. effectively you should be within three tricks of your contract when vulnerable and four not vulnerable) This hand looks to have six tricks so I'd open 3Heart-small vul and 4Heart-small non vul. The void is a bonus as well - hands with voids often end up taking an extra trick.”

Some others are also happy with the 3-level:

Andy Braithwaite “3Heart-small: Easy 3Heart-small for me- no spade length and good enough suit to want to play in hearts even if there is a club fit- and good time to pre-empt in 1st seat.”

Kris Wooles “3Heart-small: considering the vulnerability and the queen high suits. Pre-empts put pressure on even the best players who are forced to guess. Playing against USA many years ago I pre-empted 3Diamond-small with Spade-smallxx,Heart-small-, Diamond-smallQxxxxx Club-small Qxxxx no one vul. The opponents bid to 6Spade-small which I doubled and after a Heart-small ruff, club return, Heart-small ruff we collected +300 which was just as well as our partners bid to 6NT for minus 250.”

Michael Cornell “3Heart-small: I always like to pre-empt at the 3 level with 7 and with a 7-4 still ok despite the vulnerability. I would probably do the same at equal vulnerability but would open 4 at favourable.”

Stephen Blackstock “3Heart-small: 40 years ago, this would have been regarded as very aggressive, but today it's the normal, middle of the road action. Yes, I could be -800 or more in 3Heart-smallx, but if so, I will have company. The side suit and, especially the Heart-small10, are some protection against a tragedy. I acknowledge that it's unlikely we can keep the opponents out of a big spade fit, but occasionally this pre-empt will make life difficult.

 Furthermore, 2Heart-small or even pass are dangerous too. This hand could take a lot of tricks opposite the right dummy, so it is crucial to be in the auction and to give partner information that will help him make the right decision about whether to compete. 

Pass would be far too passive, and 2Heart-small is neither fish nor fowl. It's not high enough to inconvenience the opponents and it isn't descriptive enough alert my partner to our constructive possibilities.”

We do have some support, though, for “the poor man's pre-empt”.

 

Peter Newell “2Heart-small: At most vulnerabilities, this looks like a normal 3Heart-small opening  with a reasonable 7 card suit, and with the extra shape being 7-4 and a void.  At vul  vs not, I don't like 3Heart-small much as the hand does have rather a lot of losers unless partner fits clubs. 

If we get doubled and go down that is likely to be a poor result given that 2 down is more than a non- vulnerable game.  Even undoubled we will probably drift a few down when the opposition may struggle to make part-score.  The other factor is that opposite a 3Heart-small opening (in 1st or 2nd seat), I would expect more and partner will quite often bid 3NT.  This will often work out poorly as it is unlikely that the hearts run. How often does partner have AKx? Partner may think Heart-smallAx or Heart-smallKx are pretty good holdings and unless the defence have a singleton honour, that will not be good enough. While the Club-smallQ may be a side entry, often it will not be...   

So, I'm genuinely a bit torn as to what I would do, and likely would depend on the opponents and the state of the match. I would consider 2Heart-small and Pass as options. My preferred option would be 2Heart-small.

I can understand reservations in 3NT. Would it really be that undisciplined to bid 4Club-small or 4Heart-small instead of passing 3NT?

 

Bruce Anderson “2Heart-small: Usually that would be a 6 card suit but given the vulnerability, I want the safety of a little more playing strength. If this is the opponents’ hand, and they may even have the values for slam, I want to take up as much of their bidding space as possible, within reason.

If partner is strong he/she will bid accordingly; then the seventh heart will hopefully compensate for a weakish suit.”

 

Indeed, this time, it was your partner you were pre-empting. If you opened 2Heart-small, what would you bid when your partner bid 2Spade-small? Just checking you know how forcing that bid is. For the 3Heart-small openers, they had to contend with a forcing 3Spade-small from partner…and they would not have been too optimistic about the success of the final contract.

What was the only card in the North hand that was of interest to South? Did you guess the Diamond-small9?

 

North Deals
N-S Vul

Q J 10 7 5 3 2

9 4

Q 8 5 3

9 6 3

A K 9 6

A 6

J 10 9 6

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

K 7 2

8 4

Q 5 3 2

K 7 4 2

 

A Q J 10 8 5 4

K J 10 8 7

A

 

West

North

East

South

 

3 

Pass

3 ♠

Pass

4 ♣

Pass

4 ♠

All pass

 

 

 

Whether or not West scored a diamond ruff (they could do if they started with Diamond-smallA), there were only ever three tricks for the defence, as Diamond-small9 is a great card meaning there are only ever 2 diamond tricks (along with Spade-smallK ) on an initial non-diamond lead.

 

Leon Meier did not get his wish of defending 4Spade-smallx. I was though curious whether having opened 4Heart-small, 4Spade-small from his partner would be to play. He said it was.

I was intrigued as to whether the Panel’s pre-emptive opening at adverse vulnerability needed to be stronger than the North hand above. Mainly, they seemed happy to take their chances.

Richard Solomon

 

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