Michael’s, not Michael, to the rescue!
You should make it to game. You might even try for slam. For many, the question is which of three possible games should you choose? Firstly, though, would you open with the following hand?
Only your side is vulnerable. You are playing Teams.
It would seem safer doing so if you opened your best suit rather than say a (very) weak 1NT or a somewhat misleading 2+ 1♣️. On some days, though not this one, starting off with a diamond lead from partner might be crucial.
Opening 1♦️ above might have produced the following subsequent awkward decision:
West North East South
1♦️ Pass 2♣️
2♥️ ?
With 1NT opening 12-14, and the occasional 11, you could rebid 2NT here though you would not want to make too many free bids. If you chose to pass, you would soon be faced with another choice. Had you bid 2NT, the decision could still be the same:
West North East South
1♦️ Pass 2♣️
2♥️ Pass 3♥️ 3♠️
Pass ?
You still have your poor weak no trump but now have a choice of bids to make…and pass is not an option!
While we like to play 3NT as a making game whenever possible, our heart hold is tenuous and may be non-existent. The problem of playing in 4♠️ is that a top heart lead will force declarer down to 3 trumps at trick 1. That could prove difficult. That leaves clubs and since partner went out of their way to emphasize this suit, that would seem the best choice, perhaps 5♣️, a warning to partner that slam is only a good idea if they insist!
The good news is that all 3 games are makeable though 2 are quite tough to do so, including 3NT.
This deal came from last weekend’s National Teams and was one reason why Michael Ware’s team came out on top. Michael and his partner, Matthew McManus were defending 3NT after North had chosen to pass in first seat:
The bidding was complicated by the fact that Matthew’s initial pass could have shown a 15-20 hcp hand, though subsequent bidding indicated that that was not the case here. North had the same choice of 3 games as above. Matthew’s heart raise maybe should have put North off 3NT.
North soon had another big decision to make at trick 1, what to discard from dummy. While the diamond seems the most convenient, it was about to cause North even more problems. Michael won ♥️K and switched to ♦️J, squashing ♦️10 in dummy.
Michael expected North to have a hold in hearts and put North to the test in the unbid diamond suit. Finessing carried a big risk to North who could easily have 11 top tricks in the black suits and yet too many losers in the red suits if the finesse lost. So, they rose with ♦️A and played clubs from the top to get some very bad news:
Matthew and Michael soon collected a trick in each minor to go with 3 top heart tricks and a one trick set. Had Michael continued hearts and North correctly inserted ♥️10 at trick 2, declarer could make their contract with the “double shot” of either ♣️Q falling (not this day) or with 9 tricks by way of 4 spades, 1 heart, 2 top clubs and the successful diamond finesse.
Although Michael may still have switched to a diamond, perhaps declarer could have discarded a spade, even perhaps a club at trick 1. Playing Teams, they really needed 9 tricks more urgently than overtricks.
Meanwhile, at the other table, GeO Tislevoll had opened the North hand 1♦️ and he and Hugh McGann did bid to 6♣️, making when 2 of the 3 required “good things” happened (diamond finesse, spade break and finding ♣️Q). That provided 15 very handy imps to the Ware team.
While Michael Ware was not very helpful to his opposition, where North did not open the bidding, the Michael’s convention after South’s 1♣️ opening, 2NT showing the red suits, may well have been.
In whichever game, maybe even 6♣️, knowing West held at least 10 red- suit cards would have heavily increased the chances of a successful club finesse, something about which Michael Ware’s opponent in 3NT would dearly like to have known.
It does not feel right to give club preference over the decisions North had to make over the 3♠️ bids above but in doing so, they would have reached a much more comfortable contract than either 3NT or 4♠️.
Richard Solomon
