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   “There’s a hole in my bucket, Dear Lisa, Dear Lisa.”

Well, you pick up your hand and see a neat two-suited 16 count. Plenty of potential in that. Then, you observe your partner, who is the dealer, reach for the “Stop” Card and you start having fearful premonitions. Surely, they are not going to open 3, are they? You are void in that suit. Spoiler! What are you going to do with your 16 count now? 

 

A handy 16 count, a little short on aces but plenty of honour cards. So, what do you bid?

The answer from most of our Panel is “very little”.

Kris Wooles “Pass. Bidding on usually doesn’t work out well. Sure, partner could have three hearts and we could have a better fit but mostly better to pass in my opinion.”

Even three small hearts does not guarantee we will make 4 though they would be very useful.

Nigel Kearney “Pass: Surely this is the percentage action. Partner is in second seat so should be close to a classical pre-empt.”

Bruce Anderson “Pass: yes, partner could have three hearts and the key cards to make 4, but most of the time that will not be so. We are not in trouble yet but bidding 3 could well lead to a disastrous result.”

Stephen Blackstock “Pass: Impossible to say without knowing partner’s identity and style.

If partner is sensible, the North hand won’t have the bits and pieces outside diamonds needed to make 3NT a realistic possibility. However, he may very likely have a diamond suit good enough to make 3 playable and possibly cold. Pass is a standout opposite that partner. 3 (forcing) will usually be deeper into the mire, even if you buy a lucky three card support, 4 looks a long way off.

 

On the other hand, if partner thinks 3 is a splendid idea on QJxxxx, then he might just have the outside cards necessary to give 3NT a chance. Opposite that player I would try 3NT because (a) 3NT might fare better than 3; and (b) if that’s the limit of his bidding skills, our score will not be improved by having him at the helm as declarer any more often than absolutely necessary.”

It sounds like the partners Stephen plays with fall into the former category. In second seat, even not vulnerable, the pre-empt really should be reasonable since half the time you will be pre-empting your own partner…like this time!

 

Peter Newell “Pass: quickly. Opposite a typical non-vul pre-empt more often than not, we will not be able to improve the contract.  Yes, if partner has a heart or club fragment, that suit will often play better but if clubs likely at the 5 level and hearts the 4 level given suit responses are forcing. If partner has sound diamonds, 3 is likely to play better than anything else, and is lower, and the opposition will occasionally balance to which I’ll look forward!

So more often than not pass will be right…but yes occasionally we will go down in 3 when we are cold for game somewhere else or be better off somewhere other than diamonds.”

So, we have to pass and best pass in tempo. That might be the hard part though correct use of the “Stop” card should have given us a few seconds to prepare.

There is temptation to bid and one supporter for doing so.

 

Andy Braithwaite “3 - even Qx may be enough support for game in hearts and I cannot see playing in diamonds will be a good score if only a part score is possible.”

Bidding need not  be "disastrous, a word used above but we do seem to be clutching at straws by bidding whereas Pass could bring us a plus score. If we are destined to go minus, there are two reasons why, our lack of aces and, of course, that “big hole” where one's diamonds usually go. So, it seems, really, we should agree with the Panel majority, including:

Michael Cornell “Pass: Easy pass for me at Pairs. Second in hand, partner should have a decent pre-empt but decent in diamonds which is useless for me.

Most likely hand for partner looking at my hand is 3-1-7-2 or 3-2-7-1 so not even a trick unless we play diamonds.

On a good day, we could find partner with 3 hearts but 4 would still be nowhere near cold. On a really good day, LHO will have some 9-10 points 5-4 in the majors and will balance after my snappy pass! (We could probably misdefend for about 800. )

The problem would be more interesting at imps but I still think it is a percentage pass at love all."

Well, this day was neither a “good” nor “really good” day. However, passing out 3 was the definite winner.

 

Over 3 from South, North should bid 3 allowing South to declare 3NT and to keep that “diamond hole” hidden as long as possible. Indeed, at our table, it was unknown until the defence were forced to lead a diamond at trick 13! The discard of diamonds much earlier was a strong clue, though. At the point a diamond was played, South was already two down.

Partner had produced the standard “everyone would open” pre-empt which would make 9 tricks (one loser in each suit) but only if diamonds were trumps, a reward not really for conservatism but for a sensible pass.

This board came from the recent North Island Pairs. Of the 21 pairs North-South, 9 played in 3 all making, mainly with an overtrick, while one scrambled home in 4. The rest were in damage control trying to reduce the number of under-tricks. None of them prevailed in their game contract. Perhaps, they should have listened to our Panel.

 

Immediate Action

 

Many would have opened that North hand at either the 1 or 3 level but  our North passed. However, when their partner showed a weak 12-14 1NT, they could not resist jumping to game.

Your partner leads A. Plan the defence. It looks like urgent tricks are needed before declarer pounds out clubs.

Richard Solomon

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