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Daily Bridge in New Zealand

The Least of All Evils.

It’s lovely having a decent hand but it has brought you a few problems. Three great suits, over half the high-card points in the pack but you are struggling to find an opening bid.

Bridge in NZ.pngnz map.jpg

     
South Deals
None Vul
 
N
W   E
S
   
 
A K Q 8
A K 4 3
5
A Q 10 4
West North East South
      ?

Too much for the one level. A gaping hole if treated as balanced. Rebid issues if you Game Force. You are playing Pairs. What's your opening bid?

 

We have a 2-way vote from the Panel with everyone starting with the same suit but at different levels and different meanings. We have the 1Club-small brigade who should survive if someone can utter a bid after their low start:

Stephen Blackstock “1Club-small: The alternatives of 2NT and 2Club-small, rebidding 2NT, do not appeal, as too likely to result in a silly no trump contract when partner has nothing substantial in diamonds or wrong siding what would otherwise be a fair contract. It’s not likely that 1Club-small will end the auction, but of course it might. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing but probably will be!”

Michael Cornell “1Club-small: Easy. It won’t be passed out! To start with, we respond very lightly, and especially over our2+ Club-small. and especially with a major. Furthermore, there are still 18HCP and 12 diamonds out there. So, someone will have a bid.

Opening 1Club-small makes the auction much easier but if partner responds with a major, I think we have to commit to the 5 level. 6Spade-small is a huge contract opposite something like Spade-smallJxxxx Heart-small,xxxDiamond-smallxxx Club-smallKx !”

I am not quite sure whether Michael is pleading for an opponent whose 8 count has a 2353 shape to come to his rescue. I am sure if that player is in the pass-out seat, wise advice would be to pass the 1Club-small bid.

Nigel Kearney “1Club-small: If there's no further bidding, I am not too worried. The days of needing 6 HCP to respond are long gone. Nearly all 5 HCP hands and most 4 HCP hands should bid, especially over 1Club-small. Whether or not partner bids, I will be better placed than if it started 2Club-small-2Diamond-small-2NT.”

Bruce Anderson “1Club-small:  whatever system I am playing. Opening 2Club-small, showing a hand that is too good to open at the one level, means that there is no way to describe the hand over a negative response; rebidding 2NT might work, but it might not.             

Some may opt to open 1Heart-small on the basis that if partner cannot bid, and the opponents don’t compete, at least we are playing in a major, and it is Pairs. But an opening bid of 1Club-small is unlikely to be passed out.

Kris Wooles “1Club-small: (big) tongue in cheektongue-out and I know Richard that you will cry foul (Kris favours a strong club style system) but seriously I’d still bid 1Club-small in a natural system. I had a similar hand a few years ago and partner responded 1Heart-small after which I drove optimistically and foolishly to 6Heart-small and went 2 down. Sometimes it is not a good idea to try and catch up even with your juicy 22 HCP.”

No, I did not ghost-write Kris’s answer but I might have done! I think the best answer I can give to partner as they tabled their dummy in this lowly contract is that I miscounted my points by a king!

I am also not sure how well the auction will continue after partner’s 1Heart-small response with their 4-count. We have already heard of Mike Cornell virtually committing to the 5-level and now Kris Wooles going even higher. There is a dividing line where really you has to let partner know that you are very strong. This hand has no singleton king to reduce it to 19 effective points. This hand is really, seriously good, despite having no 5 card or longer suit.

And so to those who go one level higher:

Michael Ware “2Club-small: 2Club-small...2NT Happy to upgrade to 23-24 balanced. Great controls and I have an amazing hand if we have major fit. Opening 1Club-small is OK in theory, but not when everyone passes. Even if partner does respond, it is hard to catch up.

Or to slow yourself down.

Matt Brown “2Club-small: preparing to rebid 2NT. This is going to get us to game more often when partner might be passing a 1Club-small opening. At face value, it seems like this gives partner less room to show slam interest/co-operate but over a 1Club-small opening and a 4Diamond-small splinter partner has no room anyway and we still have more than expected. I hope Peter Newell does not simply say “strong club”

No, Matt. He says strong 2Club-small!”

Peter Newell “2Club-small: If partner bids 2Diamond-small, I’ll bid 2NT 23-24.  All the choices are ugly.  I’m not prepared to open at the 1 level as there is too much risk of being passed out, particularly if I open 1Club-small.  If partner can respond to 1Club-small, it may work out pretty well, but at Pairs the opposition will be happy to pass me out in 1Club-small if able.

2NT is a possibility, but the hand is too good in many scenarios. Partner with a 4- card major and no points, 4 of a major is a reasonable game, and we might languish 2NT when we should be in game, or not in a NT contract from time to time.  The bidding is rather cramped over 2NT opening.  2Club-small wins for me as most of the time we belong in game, and we have a reasonable chance to get to the right game.  There is more room over 2Club-small. So, from time to time, partner will be able to bid something other than 2Diamond-small or 3Diamond-small, which will be helpful.”

I am not in the 1Club-small camp as you may have gathered but neither am I in the 2Club-small and rebid 2NT one either. I did hold this hand and did open 2Club-small and partner did produce the expected 2Diamond-small response and then…

South Deals
None Vul
4 3 2
Q 10 7
K 8 6 3
8 5 2
J 10 6
J 9 6 5 2
9 7
J 9 6
 
N
W   E
S
 
9 7 5
8
A Q J 10 4 2
K 7 3
 
A K Q 8
A K 4 3
5
A Q 10 4
West North East South
      2 
Pass 2  Pass 2 
Pass 3  Pass 4 
Pass 4  Pass 4 
Pass 4  All pass  

 

You may wonder (I did) why East did not make a lead-directing double of  2Diamond-small. Irrespective, my little white lie was to pretend I held 5 spades. They were 4 quite good ones! Thereafter, the auction proceeded with support and three 4-level cue-bids. Had North extras, they could have bid something other than 4Spade-small. However, they had done their dash and game was reached and made in some comfort (perhaps less comfortably had West selected a diamond). 3NT was by no means certain, especially after Spade-smallJ lead. However, taking a second -round heart finesse of Heart-smallJ into the “safe” East hand would have been well rewarded.

So, who would have bid over 1Club-small? North has no major and no shape and no great reason except perhaps to head to no-trumps or make it harder for East should they want to bid. Presumably, had North bid 1Diamond-small, South would make a game-forcing jump which would test North’s desire to say “enough!”.

Silence is Golden

silence is golden.jpg

Had North passed 1Club-small, East had the chance to put Peter Newell’s theory into practice. At Pairs and with no major and with no overcall from partner, let them play in 1Club-small.

One board lay-out does not prove anything. You might ask yourself how strong and forcing your 1Club-small opening is. And talking of decent hands…

A Very Decent Dummy

Ever felt your partner overbid a bit too much when, well, you really did not have much of a hand. “Show a little restraint, partner, please next time.”

 Well, they did not. They asked you to bid with a take-out double. You duly bid with your solitary jack….and within a few milliseconds, you were in game.

Mind you, they did have a reasonable hand!

East Deals
N-S Vul
A K Q 8 6
A K 6
A 6
A K 3
   
N
W   E
S
   
 
J 7 4 2
9 7 2
9 7 3
10 9 6
West North East South
    Pass Pass
1  Dbl Pass 1 
Pass 4  All pass  

 

West led Club-smallQ. Club-smallA took the first trick with the ace, East following with Club-small2.

Your questions for tomorrow are how and why did 4Spade-small fail?

Richard Solomon



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