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TALES OF AKARANA

“Michaels Issues” solved by James.

Five.jpg              Five.jpg        

How do you play Michaels Cue Bids? There are more theories than there are bridge players about which suits it is best to show with the available bids and how strong the hand might be. I believe that where possible it is best to show specific suits though after “one of a major” from the opposition, a direct cue-bid probably needs to show 5 of the other major and five of an undisclosed minor.

How strong? “10+ hcp, mainly in your two suits” seems a reasonable yardstick. If you “Michaels” on less and end up as a defender (a likely scenario if you have less hcp than cards in your two suits), you have just told the declarer how to play the board. There is also the issue of a misfit and a huge penalty if you have bad suits and no fit.

So, the East hand on Board 21 looked a good candidate for a 2Heart-small call after North had opened 1Heart-small. Only North-South were vulnerable. These were the East-West cards:

 

Board 21
North Deals
N-S Vul
   
K 10 4
J 9
A 9 6
J 9 7 6 5
 
N
W   E
S
 
A 9 6 5 2
5
K J 10 7 5
K 8

 

East was minimum for 2Heart-small but after a pass from South, West would have the confidence to jump to 4Spade-small. It would be amazing if partner had clubs as their minor but the likelihood was that partner’s minor was diamonds. West would have a reasonable double fit for both East’s suits.

What now?

There, paths diverged. Some North players bid on without any noise from their partner to 5Heart-small while other East-West’s were left in 4Spade-small. Both contracts attracted doubles at some tables. It’s time to look at all four hands:

Board 21
North Deals
N-S Vul
Q
A K Q 7 6 4 2
3
A 4 3 2
K 10 4
J 9
A 9 6
J 9 7 6 5
 
N
W   E
S
 
A 9 6 5 2
5
K J 10 7 5
K 8
 
J 8 7 3
10 8 3
Q 8 4 2
Q 10

 The outcome

Of the 5 pairs in 5Heart-small, two made their contract. Solid defence should not allow that to happen. After Spade-smallA lead, East continues the suit. North ruffs and can play one high trump but has to do something with their small clubs. A low club sees the king appear from East. The defence need to take their diamond trick or else the Spade-smallJ could be set up for a diamond discard. Declarer can ruff a second diamond and draw the last trump. Their losing club can be ruffed in dummy for one down.

North’s good shape and good heart suit encouraged them to the 5 level but only one of the 4 declarers in 4Spade-small made their contract. That was James Yang. This was the bidding at James’ table:

West          North         East            South

                   1Heart-small              1Spade-small              Pass

2Spade-small             4Heart-small              4Spade-small              All Pass

North led a heart and continued the suit. James ruffed, cashed the Spade-smallA and then finessed the Diamond-smallJ successfully. Believing North’s Spade-smallQ to be singleton, he played a diamond to the 9, followed by Diamond-smallA and then played a club to the king (North just had to hold the ace.) Club-smallK scored to be followed by the high 5th diamond. South ruffed with dummy winning with Spade-small10. James cashed the Spade-smallK and had 9 of the first 10 tricks. The defence still had the Club-smallA and Spade-smallJ to come but James  had two small trumps and had to score one of them.

A nicely played hand. All those in 5Heart-small would have felt vindicated by their sacrifice (even more so when they made 11 tricks!) though those who did concede 3 tricks scored poorly with so many failing in 4Spade-small let alone the tables where 5Heart-small made.

The two North-Souths who were allowed to play in 4Heart-small must have wondered what all the fuss was about!

Richard Solomon

 

 

 

 

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