TALES OF AKARANA

NS vul. North dealer

                                         JT9

                                         K8543

                                         2

                                          KT75

 KQ6543.                                                         A72

 AT9                                                                 72

 9                                                                      QT7543

 932                                                                   84

                                         8

                                         QJ6

                                         AKJ86

                                         AQJ6

Bidding:

N.          E.          S.          W

2        -            4      4

-             -            4N.       -

5        -             -           -

where:

2 was less than an opener 5and 4+ of another suit.

4N asked for other suit but was undisclosed.

Declarer went 1 light after a  lead, which West ducked then after declarer gave up a  West played A and another. Declarer then opted to play off top  instead of taking finesse and subsequently had 2 losers.

5 however would have made if North had shown their side suit.

At Akarana they normally play teams events so bidding and making games is normally more important than overtricks,

I have a couple of observations about this hand:

Firstly on the declarer play after the first 4 tricks. By playing on  immediately an opportunity was missed to count the cards in West’s hand. At this point declarer knows West has 6+3 and so has only 3 or 4 cards in minors. By playing  first as a discovery play, being careful to retain an entry, to Dummy declarer will learn West has either a singleton or void in  and then taking the finesse instead of playing off high  is marked.

Secondly, playing teams whether or not North bid’s 5 or 5 should East have bid 5 as a sacrifice/safety play?

There is an adage that the 5 level belongs to the opponents but this is not always the case. Here where NS are vulnerable and if they can make game for 600 or 650 and EW would only go only 3 light in 5X for 500 bidding 5 should at least be considered. Also it should be considered how likely in the other match our partner’s would have been allowed to play in 4 making 4. If we believe this is likely then defending offers the biggest potential swing.

In the end East needs to judge the likelihood of NS making their contracts as well as what EW can make playing in .

The only possible way to do this consistently is to have an agreement what the 4 bid means in this situation. Given the vulnerability it is less likely the immediate jump bid to 4 by South is a sacrifice bid but West could have had a much stronger hand and how would they have shown this?

One method is to base overcalls at this entry level on losers and not HCP. Using this method where a double would show 6 or less losers and an overcall 7 losers enables East to make some assessments to aid there decision to pass, double or bid 5. First using rule of 18 as they have 8 losers this indicates EW can make 3 (on actual hand NS can restrict to 2 by leading trumps at every opportunity). This confirms a 5 bid would only likely be 2-3 light. Second, because East knows West’s hand shape is likely to contain 10 total losers that they only have 2-3 cards higher than a J and that South must have a genuine game going hand.

Does anyone have any other thoughts on how to improve judgement in these situations or is it just best to stick to the old adage?

Started by SEAN LYNCH on 16 Feb 2019 at 10:41AM