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Daily Bridge in New Zealand

Where to go?

Sometimes you can bid and make a game on remarkably few high card points. Shape and position of honours can be so important and when they are in your favour, go for game no matter how low your high point count might be.

Then, there are other times when you are seemingly overladen with high cards and yet are unsure which game to go for or maybe have to decide there is no game at all. Take this one hand which has more than its share of high cards. A 2Club-small opener, then? Not so, as an opponent found a 1-level opener in front of your 26 count…and then had the nerve to bid again!

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A Q J 4
A K 7 6
Q J
A K Q
West North East South
    1  Pass
Pass Dbl 1  Pass
Pass Dbl Pass 2 
Pass 2  Pass 3 
Pass ?    

 

Well, you have tried and tried again and tried once more. East could be bidding on shape but giving East 11 hcp, that leaves a maximum 3 hcp to be “divvied up” between South and West. West may not be enjoying this auction and perhaps South even less!

The majority Panel view is we have tried enough and should cross our fingers and hope we put down a good enough dummy to make 9, maybe even 10, tricks.

Bruce Anderson “Pass: I agree with North’s bidding up until South responds 3Club-small. I would now pass as partner should not have 4 hearts and 3Club-small is likely to be our last playable spot, albeit entries to the South hand being a problem.

Bidding on with 3Diamond-small is ill-judged; with a 2335 bust, partner may only have three hearts, meaning even that contract will be too high.

Your partner only has shown length in clubs because South passed 1Spade-small. Otherwise, East could have a 3334 yarborough with no interest in going anywhere.

Nigel Kearney “Pass: The bidding is fine so far. Maybe partner has just the card or two we need to make 3NT but I think the odds don't favour that.”

 

Pam Livingston “Pass: The bidding so far says 'partner I have a huge balanced hand'.  If you can't get a spark out of them, then it’s time to give up.”

There’s big and enormous and even discounting the seemingly wasted Diamond-small QJ, our hand is certainly the latter.

 

Michael Cornell “Pass: So far so good but I am now going to take a % view to pass at Pairs! The only chance of an entry to partner’s hand in 3NT is the Heart-smallQ and he is long odds against having it.

There are only 14 points outside my hand so even if opener does not have it (unlikely), there is still less than 50% chance of partner having it.

If I do bid 3Diamond-small and get 3Heart-small I will bid 4Club-small which partner can pass with nothing which is what he will usually have. If he has some imagination and long clubs with a singleton spade, he might be able to bid a 5th e.g. Spade-smallx Heart-smallJxx, Diamond-smallxxx, Club-smallJ10xxxx but note even if that top Diamond-small is the 10, 3NT would still need a short Heart-smallQ and I have generously given pard the Heart-smallJ which he is not favourite to hold.

 

The odds against game are so bad I would do the same playing imps as well – only a non vul game in any case.”

 

There is still a bit of action left in the Panel though not just through our route to date:

Peter Newell “3NT: I agree with North’s bidding. North has a big hand and there are multiple different possible contracts so best to get as much info as possible. Partner could have a very weak hand with 5/6 clubs, with a singleton spade and that will often be enough for 5Club-small, yet 3NT could be right to as partner likely has some diamond length as South has passed 1Spade-small. At the point, partner bid 2Club-small it is still possible though unlikely that partner has a 4- card major (e.g. with 5 goodish clubs and a poor 4 card major partner may choose to bid 2Club-small), so bidding 2Diamond-small helps to define partner’s hand.

So, what now over 3Club-small?  2 choices, 3Diamond-small or 3NT.  I lean to 3NT.  Given West has given preference to spades and East choosing to bid 1Spade-small rather than 2Diamond-small (after partner has passed may have chosen 2Diamond-small to 1Spade-small with 4/6) I picking partner to have 3 probably 4 diamonds this could easily include the 10, or even 9 could easily be enough for 3NT. Partner is not going to bid 3NT so the only way of getting there is to bid 3NT myself. I don’t think that bidding 3Diamond-small will elicit much additional useful info – the caveat I put on that is that by bidding 3Diamond-small and then rebidding 3NT over 3Heart-small should convey more uncertainty and is more likely to keep 5Club-small in the picture which could be right….as partner could rip 3NT with say 6 clubs and no points.

Once partner bids 3Heart-small over 3Diamond-small I’m definitely going to bid 3NT – 3Heart-small can’t be more than a 3-card suit and I don’t think 4Heart-small will play well in a 4-3 with 3 rounds of diamonds likely forcing a ruff in the long hand and hearts could easily break badly given East has bid 2 suits”

 

 

Andy Braithwaite “3Diamond-small: and think North has done well so far. Over partner’s 3Heart-small would bid 5Club-small hoping for a singleton spade in partner’s hand (as opposition had chosen 1Spade-small in preference to 2Diamond-small, so partner likely to be 1345 or 1336).”

We did also ask the Panel what they thought of the bidding so far and what they would do if South produced 3Heart-small over 3Diamond-small. The passers generally did not comment but the bidders did.

 

Kris Wooles “Might have bid 2Diamond-small after first double. Partner would likely bid 3Club-small and then I would 3Diamond-small still be pushing for some hold in Diamond-small’s.

Would Diamond-small108xx be seen by South to be enough with (say) Heart-smallJxx as well? In either case should South bid 3Heart-smallafter 3Diamond-small, I would expect that to be a 3-card suit and do not expect good breaks and so would probably bid 4Club-small which will likely end the auction.”

And finally, some criticism of our auction to date:

Stephen Blackstock “No, I don’t agree with North’s bidding. I think it overlooks South’s likely shape, clearly very limited values, and above all that South won’t make a positive move since he cannot know that as little as the Heart-smallQ may be enough for 3NT, or six low clubs and a singleton spade enough for 5Club-small.

In my view it’s more practical to bid 2NT over 2Club-small. Sure, Diamond-smallQJ doubleton doesn’t begin as a stopper, but when West passes 1Spade-small and East doesn’t try 2Diamond-small after 1Spade-small is doubled for penalties (which it must be, not take-out), then South is marked with some length in the suit. 10xx(x), 9xxx will be a stopper, even 8xxx when West holds 9x or10x. 2NT is then a fair description of North’s hand (it’s count is devalued a little by the diamond honours and the club blockage), and with weakness and long clubs, South can bid 3Club-small to play. Either 3NT or 5Club-small are still possible, but the problem is that North will be guessing and South almost certainly lacks the values for a forward move. If 2NT gets passed, I hope for a decent result from playing in the highest scoring denomination. So, at matchpoints I think the percentage bid over 3Club-small is pass, anything else may result in a negative score, and we may in fact be too high already.

3Diamond-small would be asking South a question he likely can’t answer. It’s the sort of bid that gets an “he’s looking for a new partner!” explanation to an E/W question”.

An interesting interpretation of the double of 1Spade-small. I am not sure that was the intention if only because South can never imagine their partner is that strong.

high enough.jpg

high enough?

Some think we may be too high in 3Club-small but the reality was with the length in clubs some predicted, the Heart-smallQ was all that was required for 11 tricks. Surely, we knew about South’s singleton spade and club length already? These were the 4 hands.

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

I wonder if any of the Panel passers would have raised to 4C playing Teams?

A Good Feature?

East Deals
None Vul
   
A K Q 6 4
A
A K 10 9 6 3 2
 
N
W   E
S
   
West North East South
    2  Pass
2 NT 3  4  Pass
?      

 

2Heart-small is a weak 2 and 2NT asked for a feature (3Club-small would have been to play). What now? You

are playing Teams.

Richard Solomon

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