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Ugly and Uglier.

Welcome to our first JIN Club hand of the year, not in the slam or even the game zones. Indeed, as the bidding developed, you would be fast wishing you had kept your mouth firmly shut! However, we respond to partner’s opening bid with 6+ hcp… and we have 6! So, 1NT it is but what do we do next?

 

 

1NT shows 6-9 hcp. Your partner’s second bid pleases you as little as does their first. What to do next?

There seem to be 3 options and the third of these might not have occurred to many of the North players…and that was the winning action.

What we know about our partner’s hand is that they have at least 5 spades and at least 4 hearts and are limited to no more than 16 hcp. We seem to have no fit and wish we had passed 1! We could try our long suit but it not that good a suit opposite perhaps no support and at it would be at the 3 level.

We are too weak to bid 2NT (that would show a nice 9-count with good holds in both minors). Passing 2 would be a disaster if partner held only a 4-card suit. So, what then our third choice? It is called “false preference” because we do prefer hearts to spades but our partner may be able to make more tricks from their 5-card spade suit if that suit was trumps…and just maybe, partner has more than 5 spades. So, 2 it is and all that remained was to put down your dummy and hear partner (through gritted teeth) say “lovely, thank you, partner”.

 

West led K. Declarer ducked and won Q and then played a low heart to the J while there was still a trump in dummy. East’s Q won and they played J, ruffed and overruffed. West exited a small trump to the king and ace. South could draw trumps, play a club to the ace and then a heart to 7 and West’s 9. A club continuation saw South ruff and play K,A felling East’s 10, and promoting 8 for South’s 8^th trick….5 trumps, 2 minor aces and the 8. Well played.  

choices!

South had a choice of bids over 1NT. Rebidding 2 might look a safer choice but that would miss a heart fit. All would be well as long as North gave false preference. They would bid the same way with 2 spades and 2 or 3 hearts.

2 is a tough contract to make but at least has a fair chance of making. There were 26 tables in play. Only 8 Souths played and made a spade part-score. 6 came to grief in 2 while the other 12 came even further to grief in higher level contracts.

Hopefully, there will be easier deals to bid and play in 2024. Remember false preference. It may not appeal with better support for the second suit to revert to opener’s opening suit but it is rarely wrong to do so… unless, of course, you have 4 or more cards in partner’s second suit!

Richard Solomon

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