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Hand Analyses 5th July, 2006
Notwithstanding the suit quality, non-vulnerable we like East's 2♥ bid, and it gets E-W to 4♥ in a hurry. When West bids 4♥ he has no idea whether or not it is going to make, but with 10 combined trumps he's prepared to compete to the 4-level, and does so immediately to crowd the auction for N-S.
As it happens, 4♥ is spot on ... the opponents have 9 tricks in Spades, and 4♥ down one is a good save. Better yet, it might even make! In fact, it most likely will! South leads the Q♣, which Declarer ducks, hoping for a continuation. Now South must smartly shift to a Diamond at Trick Two, otherwise one of the Diamonds will go away on a Spade, giving Declarer 10 tricks and a good board.
How was South supposed to find that Diamond shift? We wish we had a solution. Three cases to consider: (a) North encourages the Club by playing the 5 ... now it seems normal to continue Clubs; (b) North discourages the Club by playing the 2 ... we are not sure why she would, but even if she does, it's hard to see South shifting to a Diamond, it could be the only way to let Declarer make the contract; (c) N-S are of European descent, and habitually give count signals instead of attitude signals ... North shows an odd number, presumably 5 ... now South knows there are no more Clubs tricks for the defense, but it's still awfully tough to find that Diamond shift, a Spade looks much safer.
With only 10 HCPs, West’s Double was certainly of the frisky variety, but he does have the vulnerability as an excuse for his exuberance. After the Double, North has several bids from which to choose, none of them entirely satisfactory ... here are some options: 3♦: Nowadays, most partnerships play this as preemptive, so let's eliminate this one as a possibility, the hand is just too good, and the outside Ace is another deterrent. 2♦: Better than 3♦, but it doesn't do justice to the hand, even if later followed up with 3♦. 1NT: After the Double, this shows about 7-10 HCP, so it's right on values. But the bid has a couple of defects ... it withholds that magnificent support for Partner, and North would be most uncomfortable if the bidding was up to 3♠ when it got back to her. And the other obvious defect is that, if the hand belongs to N-S in No Trump, we'd much prefer that it be played by the South hand, putting the strong hand on lead and protecting South's Club and Heart holdings. 2NT: Playing Jordan over their takeout Double, this shows a limit raise in Diamonds ... it's a bit of an overbid, and will also wrong-side any No Trump contract. Rdbl: Yes, another overbid, and way less defense than you would normally expect, but we still prefer it to all of the aforementioned ... sometimes there is no ideal bid, and we just have to improvise.
The Redouble worked rather well, slowing down the opponents and talking them out of their cold 3♠ contract. N-S can make 9 tricks in Diamonds, and, from the South side can also make 9 tricks in 3NT ... all it needs is Spades to be 4-4 and a winning guess (the guess being whether to take the Heart finesse or the Club finesse for the 9th trick).
It's easy to imagine other auctions where E-W compete to 3♠ ... the N-S might well compete to 4♦, after all they do have an 11-card fit ... this is a rather unlucky down one, but not such a bad result unless E-W are enterprising enough to find a Double, unlikely in our view.
Post Script: Perhaps we should not admit this in public, but over West's Double our real favorite is not Redouble at all! No, we actually like 1♠! An outrageous psyche? Not in our view, it's no more of a mis-description than any of the other 5 bids we discussed above. On the minus side, we do appear to be short a Spade ... on the plus side this bid doesn't misstate our values, it might allow Partner to bid No Trump, and it might talk the opponents out of a Spade contract. If you are going to indulge yourself in an exotic bid, what better time to do it that when you have no good alternative bid available?
System Note: Put yourself in the East seat. Partner has doubled 1♦, and that tricky North has bid 1♠ in front of you. Maybe she really has Spades, but you are entitled to be suspicious. One way to smoke out North is via this agreement: With 4 Spades, East doubles. With 5+ Spades, East bids 2♠ (but it's non-forcing, so the hand cannot be too strong).
A fairly straightforward auction. That 3♣ bid by East was New Minor Forcing, checking back for a 5-3 Heart fit.
The opening lead will determine how many tricks are made. If South leads the obvious Spade, that’s 11 tricks for Declarer. But if she finds a red suit lead, the Spade losers disappear on the Diamonds ... now a 12th trick is possible if Declarer can manufacture a second trick in Clubs. Yes, the way to play that combination is to lead towards the Queen ... and, if that loses you get a second chance by finessing the Club Ten ... two bites at the cherry. If, instead, you finesse the Club Ten on the first round, you will get but a single bite, and will not score your second Club trick.
North’s 1♦ was quite reasonable, despite having only 11 HCPs ... the points are working, the suit is good, and so is the distribution. West’s vulnerable 1♠ was quite bold (but please see the Bidding Quiz for more thoughts on this). As for South, she had a problem at her second turn … Partner has opened, and she has 12 HCPs … it’s a moderate 12 though, and the hand is invitational rather than game-going … over 2♠ it would be nice to make an invitational raise in Diamonds, but 3♦ here would not be enough and would show perhaps a King less and a Diamond more … so, although the Spade holding is far from ideal, we like the actual choice of 2NT.
2NT squeaks home … the defense leads Spades, the Diamonds get established, the Spades are cleared, and the Diamonds cashed. Now, Declarer leads a Heart towards the KJ and must guess correctly for her 8th trick. Seems pretty simple, but in fact, if Declarer followed this line, she misplayed the hand! Please see Play Problem # 28.
We like the N-S auction, even if they did manage to lose the 4-4 Spade fit. South’s 1♥ bid (instead of Pass) will work more often than not, but here it is not a great success. Her attempt to find a major suit fit backfired, whereas, if she passes, West will probably bid 1♦, North will try 1NT (showing 18-19 in this situation), and now South can use a "Garbage Stayman" sequence to uncover the 4-4 Spade fit.
The play in 2NT or 2♠ is fairly straightforward, 8 or 9 tricks respectively, for +120 or +140.
Lots of gadgetry in this slam auction. That 2NT was the Jacoby 2NT, showing a game-forcing Spade raise, 3♥ showed shortness, 4♣ and 4♦ were cue-bids, 4NT was Roman Key Card Blackwood, 5♦ showed 0 or 3. At this point, West knows that his side has all 5 Key Cards, and is thinking about 7 … he needs to find out about the Q♠ first, though, and 5♥ is the Queen Ask … when East denies possession of that card, West settles for the small slam. As it happens, 13 tricks are made when the Q♠ falls doubleton.
The West hand passes the Rule of Twenty but we don't think it's worth an opening bid ... too many Queens (one of which is a doubleton) for our taste. After West's Pass, there is a New Minor Forcing auction ending in a 2NT contract.
The J♣ stands out as the obvious opening lead, won by Declarer's King. Now, the obvious line is to play A♠ and a Spade towards the board. The Jack pops up, sparing Declarer a guess, and North wins the King. The defense can now take 4 Diamond tricks, but Declarer has his 8.
At her first turn, South had a choice between a Negative Double and raising Diamonds. The basic rule in these situations is to investigate the major suit first, so we would make a Negative Double, notwithstanding the putrid Spade suit and excellent Diamond support. Alas, for South, the search for the 4-4 Spade fit is unsuccessful, and she is faced with a difficult choice over 3♥ … well done if she bids one more time (we think she should), as 4♦ makes, whereas 3♥ is down just one trick.
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