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A final bid or pass?

One of the most exciting boards of the Inter-Provincials occurred in the first round on Friday night. Both West players in one match faced an unusual decision at the 7-level. Here is the auction one of them faced:

 

 

2 was standard game-forcing and 3 showed 4-7 hcp with 6+ spades. West took control and went for grand when their partner showed the two missing key-cards. Then, out of nowhere came a double. Are you going to let matters rest….or?

In fact, either available legal bid is a possibility here as indeed is “pass”. There could only be two possibilities for the double. Either North was sitting on four solid spades headed by the jack (and that is no reason to double a grand slam)  or else it was Lightner style….but for which suit?

Before we go any further, let’s look at the auction at the other table:

West              North             East                South
                                                                      Pass
1 ^{16+ Precision}  1                1                   2
2                   Pass              2                   Pass
4NT                 Pass               5                   Pass
7                   x                    Pass                Pass
 ?

The ending was the same and East had certainly shown 6+ spades along with two key cards in support of spades. Yet, everyone had their say early in the auction. Again, North doubled 7 and again West was left wondering.

Well, for the Waikato Bays Open Team, Jo Simpson did not wonder for long. While her opening bid had been an artificial 1, she had shown at least 5 hearts and she firmly suspected the double to be asking for an unusual lead, neither minor suit, the suits bid by the opponents. She feared a heart lead and retreated to 7NT.

At the other table above, it was not so clear which suit North wanted led…and if it was dummy’s first bid suit, then surely a club lead would not be ruffed, bearing in mind West’s singleton ace. So, West, Sandy Mckirdy, sat out 7x, a big call if South had indeed found the right lead. Fortunately for Wellington, Liz Fisher, with 3 suits unbid, did lead the K with these being the 4 hands:

 

 

If one was going to stand the double of 7, then why not send it back? Only an extra -100 if wrong though a much more significant gain if right. Graham Stronach had no trouble drawing trumps, cashing A and then returning to hand with a diamond to take the marked heart finesse. Jo Simpson had no bother making all 13 tricks in 7NT after 8 lead along similar lines. That was 6 imps to Wellington when a redouble would have either netted Wellington 12 imps or Waikato Bays 17 imps had a heart lead been found to 7xx. 

With a total of 24 tables in the four tables, grand was only found at 9 of them, though North-South tried a grand of their own at one table:

West                    North             East                South
Cowan                 Fraser-Hoskin Sheehy        Humphrey
                                                                           3
6                         7                   x                   All Pass         

6 down or -1400 was the result. That was not a triumph for the Auckland-Northland North/South above when at the other table the first two bids were repeated but no-one disturbed Ian Berrington’s 6…and he could only score 1010, a loss of 9 imps to their Otago Southland opponents.

The Central Districts Open East-West pair did well to reach grand slam with the following auction:

West                    North             East                South
Livingston            Rutherford     James              Curnow
                                                                           Pass
2                         Pass                2                   4
5 ^cue                       Pass                5 ^cue                 Pass
5 ^cue                       Pass                6                   Pass
7                         All Pass

No Lightner double and no heart lead earnt 14 imps for Central Districts when interference at the other table derailed East-West’s auction.

Richard Solomon

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