All News

Which is more important: The Bidding or the Play?

It’s a long-standing debate. Is the battle won or lost when you reach the right contract or has the real battle not started yet? Let’s judge from two hands from this week’s play.

On our first, there is a bidding problem for you. So, you hold as North with only the opponents vulnerable:

 982

 987

 KQ9

QJ85

West         North       East           South

                                                          1 (5+)

Pass           2             3             x (long suit help ask)

3             ?

You have two problems here, taking the best action and then convincing partner that is the case.

Maybe the bidding at every table was not the same but none of the 12 North-South pairs solved the problem. One way of shutting your partner up may have been to double if that were for penalties and if partner did pass. The best action was to call 3NT…if only partner would pass that.

 

 

As you can see, normal defence, including ducking the J when it is led from hand, will net the defence +200 in 3x. The defence cannot get their full entitlement of spade tricks because of the diamond blockage.

However, all 12 pairs finished in hearts, 9 in a part-score and 3 in game. The play, the defence would seem quite routine. J lead to the ace after which the rather frustrated declarers could only play a small trump with West’s 10 losing to East’s jack. Two high clubs would be followed by a third club ruffed very high..but the defence would have 5 tricks. 8 out of the 12 defending pairs failed to get their full entitlement.

Meanwhile, +400 went begging as there would be little in the way of scoring 9 tricks in 3NT. I would have thought the bidding for North-South would have been tougher than the defence for East-West. Perhaps, but not so in reality.

Exhibit 2 and again as North with only the opponents vulnerable, what to do with:

 987

 AJ954

AK

AT

West         North       East           South

                                                      Pass

2¹            2             Pass           3

Pass           ?

¹ weak 2 in a major

“Pass” is certainly not on the ball park since despite moderate trumps, you are super maximum for your 2 bid.

There is good and there is bad news here. The “good” is that whatever within reason you choose, you should come out with a game score against your name. The “bad” is if you have made the obvious bid, you will have your work cut out to make your game

 

2 pairs stopped in a heart partial while one helped themselves to 1400 when West, presumably with little help from partner, drifted into 4. Only 2 pairs reached the very comfortable 3NT spot, “comfortable” that is when clubs break. To get there, North needs to bid 3 in the above sequence, a request for a spade hold for no-trumps.  After a spade lead, 3NT would be rather “uncomfortable” with any other club break. The rest tried their hand at 4, sometimes doubled, with only one declarer being successful.

The double should help declarer here as there is little West can have to justify their double apart from long trumps. So, win the spade lead, take your three rounds of diamonds, ruffing and then play four rounds of clubs, discarding both North’s spades. West ruffs and exits their fourth round of diamonds. Declarer can win in dummy and under-ruff in hand. Both North and East are down to just four trumps each. Any card can be played off dummy with declarer ruffing low and East being forced to win the trick.

North would have AJ9 and East on lead with KQT and whichever heart East led, North could engineer two tricks and the contract.

Easy?  Certainly not especially without the double.

So, which is more important? Bidding or the play and defence? The jury is out and maybe for a long time yet.

Richard Solomon

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go Back View All News Items