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For Junior and Intermediate players…and others. It’s Fri   day.

The Rules are there to be followed.

Well, they are usually guidelines rather than hard and fast rules. Sometimes they backfire and you concede a big minus score but usually applied sensibly, they will give you a good result. We are in the fraught area of “high level competitive bidding”. What to do here?

 

A fairly normal battle between the heart and the spade suits started slowly but kept on coming and it reached the 5-level. What should East do here?

1NT was 15-18 and you were already confronted with a problem one round earlier when North competed to 4. You had no idea who could make what but partner had a few spades and you only had one heart. So, 4 it was. No-one doubled that but North raised the stakes even higher.

There are one or two important factors here. The game is Pairs and one’s opponents are vulnerable. Does that mean they think 5 can be made? It should not be far from making at this vulnerability.

The guideline is that barring exceptionally distributional circumstances, that you should let the opponents play at the 5-level. The East hand is not that “exceptional”. At times, it might be right to bid on but your partner opened the bidding in a different suit from the one you bid to game and you do have an ace in a different suit, some hope of defeating this contract.

One point here in deciding to defend is that it was the strong no-trump hand which bid to the 5-level…and they are relatively balanced. South had already declined to bid over 4. Perhaps they had seen the vulnerability.

 

This same decision and thought process applied to West. It was hard for West to gauge the value of their club holding. Indeed, if West had made the very aggressive opening lead of K, or knew to switch to that card after taking 2 diamond tricks, this contract would have been 3 down (third round club ruff). ..+ 300.

In one sense, this was a poor result for East-West. When West played a third diamond at trick 3, South escaped for down 2. They ruffed, drew trumps and played off their top spades before playing a club towards their J. Thus, South lost only 2 club tricks.

Meanwhile, with no minor suit losers, 4 was an easy make for +420. Neither East nor West could be blamed for not doubling 5 though even +500 would be a huge result at Pairs. Double would be speculative but very rewarding. Even +200 sneaked above those who played a spade part-score…+170. Sometimes, Pairs scoring is very much on your side.

Trouble up North!

Two of North’s bids were open to criticism. For some, bidding a strong 1NT overcall without a hold in the opponent’s opening suit is no worry even if not ideal. Yet, the majority would not have called 1NT here. What choice did they have after West’s 1 opening? They had too many high card points to pass. 

The doubleton spade is not a good holding to double. 1NT is right on points but not on diamond holding. With an opening hand and a decent 4-card major, that is probably their best choice: 1.

South would certainly have thought so! Yet, the damage was really done by the raise to 5 at adverse vulnerability. Had the vulnerability been reversed, 5 would have been a great bid, even if doubled down 3….- 500 against -620. Not though here especially when South had declined to bid over 4.

 
Lebensohl to the rescue!

Yes, South might have been stronger and have a more useful honour than K but North should have been more cautious after their partner’s pass of 4. That North hand had far too many potential losers outside trumps. A Convention called Lebensohl might have saved North here. Over 2, South could bid a forcing 2NT (forcing North if able to bid 3) with a weak hand and a long side-suit, here hearts. If they could, South would then bid 3

Had they done that, the bidding may well have died in 3 (West bidding that over 2NT) and -170 would have been a good result for North-South.

Watch, though, the vulnerability before you bid to the 5-level. Wise opponents will know when it is right to let your side play there… and a speculative double of 5 would have left North-South with a very very poor result.

“The 5-level belongs to one’s opponents.”So the guide line says… and you can see why!

Richard Solomon

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