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A gigantic  jump!

Wouldn’t it be boring if we all bid the same hand the same way? We might not have very much to discuss in the post mortem….or at least we would all say the same! This recent deal was not handled that well by most of the competing East-West pairs. So, what do you think about this bidding:

 

Swiss Pairs is the game and you have an interesting problem, an often-recurring one of who can make what? Your K and maybe your spade singleton point to defending though the shape of your hand suggests that you might have a good fit somewhere, perhaps good enough to make game. Indeed, if North holds A, how much defence do you actually have?

Six West players had this decision (though in one case, South only bid 3) and only one West found a bid, an inspired and rather fortunate bid. The others all passed and although the auction was by no means over, they all rather regretted their inaction.

However, let’s change opening bids.

 

1NT showed 12-14 hcp and that opening could contain a 5- card major in a 5332 shape. East’s double was of the 15+ hcp variety and South embarked on a transfer sequence, 2 showing 5+ hearts. What to do as West?

Two West players were faced with this problem and both made a penalty double, a reasonable approach, probably intending to show clubs next time round. Yet, next time round, they found the bidding had got rather higher than they had predicted. Each time, North showed a liking for hearts with at one table, East emerging with 5. If you thought that was a bit excessive, then the other table saw a 6 bid from East! Neither West felt that introducing their club suit was now a great idea. Here was the more successful bidding sequence with that monster fit-showing jump in action:

 

Redoubling 2 is not the normal way to show great heart support though South never got put to the test as to what their partner’s redouble meant. However, Pamela Nisbet’s liking for diamonds had struck a “major chord” for her partner. She passed and awaited…and was not to be disappointed.

K was where it should be with North’s opening and all 13 tricks were made when an unsuspecting North covered Q after South led their singleton. 7 can of course be made though that depends on a nervous ruff of the second round of spades. Making the spade slam was good enough for a very good result.

The winning bid over South’s 4 bid was 5 by West though a perhaps more likely 4NT from West would likely still have produced 6 from East.

Strangely, none of the East- West pairs left to their own constructive devices made it to the 6-level, perhaps hampered by West’s 2 “negative or waiting” response. I have been “waiting” many many years to wheel out a positive 3NT response to a 2 opener, showing 5-5 in the minors. Surely that West hand is close enough to such a description to warrant that action? Again, the diamond fit is key.

Only 4 out of 14 East-Wests made it to slam and one of them reached that contract in a very simplistic way. Blair Fisher should now be in Buenos Aires awaiting the imminent start of the World Championships. Playing with his wife and regular partner, Liz, and after North had passed in first seat, one might expect Blair to embark on a game-force relay sequence.

On this day, with Jack James, who is not averse to a spot of relay bidding himself, as his partner, Blair found a very direct opening bid…6.

May Liz produce such good dummies over the next two weeks of play.

Richard Solomon

You will be hearing scores and deals from Buenos Aires over the next two weeks. Play in the four categories of the World Championships, Open, Women, Mixed and Seniors starts at 2am on Wednesday morning, New Zealand time. You may not be awake for matches at that time though do follow the fortunes of our teams over the next couple of weeks. More of the event tomorrow.   

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