|
Hand Analyses 12th July, 2006
It's not much of a 2♣ overcall, but we’ve all seen worse. South's 2♥ shows a decent hand, it's forcing, but not game-forcing. Does South's 2♥ bid promise a rebid? We prefer not, and would say that, if North bids 2NT or 3♥ here, South is allowed to pass. Not that North has either of those in mind, the real question here is whether 3♦ is forcing. You'll get different opinions on this, so unless you are sure that your Partner will take this as forcing, a bid of 3♦ here would be highly dangerous. It's an awkward situation, covered in more detail in the Bidding Quiz.
Anyway, most auctions will lead to 3NT, and it could be played by North or by South. In either case, a Club lead will result in 12 easy tricks for Declarer. But, if West is on lead, he might lead the Q♥, at least it’s safe. This lead works much better for the defense, and now Declarer can count just 10 tricks. She'll duck a Heart, win the continuation (pitching a Club and a Spade from the board), and rattle off 7 Diamonds. East must come down to 4 cards, three of which must be Spades in order to protect that suit, and, of course, the A♣. Can Declarer be sure that East has not got two Spades, a Heart and a Club left? Not really, but if she reads the situation correctly, she'll lead a Club and make 11 tricks.
Anyone for 6♦? Declarer has 11 easy tricks, and a Club ruff on the board will bring the total up to 12. Well, yes, but an opening trump lead can stop the ruff on the board and, given the lack of attractive alternatives, that is a lead that East might well find. Does that mean that 6♦ cannot be made? No, we can think of at least 4 lines of play, not all them successful: (a) a finesse of the Ten of Clubs, not a promising play, considering the bidding; (b) the rather obscure "backward finesse", which involves running the Ten of Clubs (covered by the Jack and King), and then finessing the 8 on the way back (this long-shot play wins!). (c) Cleverly win the opening lead on the board with the 9♦, cash A♥ (pitching a Spade), ruff a Heart high, and run all of your Diamonds but one, East will come under pressure ... he must hang on to the Spades, lest they get ruffed out, and now Declarer can build a Club trick by force. (d) Or the obvious line, which is to win the 9♦ on the opening lead, cash A♥ (pitching a Spade), ruff a Heart high, cash a few trumps, but ultimately rely on ruffing a Spade and hoping they are 3-3 (using the K♣ as an entry to the the 13th Spade) ... East is quite likely to be 3-2-2-6 on the auction ... and anyway, we don't trust his K♥ play, he may also be 3-3-2-5! We'd choose this line of play and we'd be down one, hopefully you did better.
Bold bidding by West on this one! But not unreasonable … he can see 8 tricks if the Clubs will just be kind enough to run, and is praying for a major suit Ace from Partner. These 3NT games based on minor suit tricks rather than HCPs are occasionally down 3 or 4 tricks. But this time 3NT makes on the nose, scoring 7 Clubs and 2 Aces.
South had an awkward choice of rebid, between a rather heavy 3♥ and a contrived 3♦ jump shift, and we suppose we'd bid the latter, though without enthusiasm.
Most N-S pairs will end up in 3NT, and will do very well if they can escape for down one. Plenty of points, just not enough tricks when the Hearts misbehave.
That vulnerable 2♦ bid by North was on the frisky side, and it propels N-S to an optimistic 3NT. But even after a more disciplined Pass by North, it's quite possible that N-S will reach the same spot ... South will get into the auction, North may well invite with 2NT, and South is likely to accept.
That 3NT contract is not completely hopeless, but it is rather ambitious. A Spade is led, won by the Ace, then a Spade back won by Dummy's King. Declarer can maximize her chances by taking an immediate Heart finesse. When this wins, she plays on Diamonds, gets the bad news there, then takes another Heart finesse, gets more bad news when that suit also breaks 4-2, and ends up down 2, for the dreaded -200.
We'd be surprised if many N-S pairs manage to go plus on this board ... they can manage part-scores in Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs, but these are all 7-card fits, and the lure of No Trump will likely prevail ... stopping in 2NT for -100 should surely score at least average.
After East's 1♠, West tries a Forcing No Trump, and then follows up with a jump to 3♥. What does this bid show? Exactly what West has … invitational values and a decent 6-card suit. South has the best hand at the table, at least in terms of HCPs, but she does well to hold her peace during the auction, she has nothing worth saying.
Against 3♥, North leads the K♦. Declarer's best plan is to go after a Diamond ruff on the board and then hope that he can hold his trump losers to just one. This works out just fine, and with both Hearts on-side it is impossible for Declarer to go wrong. Making 9 tricks.
It also makes 9 tricks in 3NT thanks to the friendly Hearts, but you only want to be in this contract 17% of the time ... the other 83% of the time it'll be down 2 or 3 tricks.
Not a particularly thrilling deal ... North has no reason to balance with 3 cards in their suit and such a mediocre hand, so many Easts will labor in 1♦.
In the play of 1♦, it's easy to see how Declarer can make 2 Spades, 2 Hearts, and a Club. His best chance of scoring a Diamond trick is not to play the suit at all. For example, Club lead won by North's Ace, Heart shift won by Declarer's Ace, lose a Spade, win the Heart return, cash the K♣ and two Spades, and lead the 13th Spade, pitching a Heart. Now, it is the defense that is obliged to break open the trump suit to stop the Heart ruff, so Declarer scores a natural trump trick, and wriggles out for down one.
With a 9-card Heart fit, West is prepared to compete to the 3-level. He could pass for the time being, then back in with 3♥ if North balances his side into the auction. That approach is wishful thinking, though, the opponents are unlikely to let it rest in 2♥, so we would apply pressure with an immediate 3♥ bid. This is purely obstructive, with a hand that has game aspirations we would bid 2♠.
E-W will likely play it in 3♥, and it turns out that the hands fit well ... that, plus the on-side K♥, means that they can actually make 10 tricks. We'd be surprised if many pairs bid this one, though.
Over 2♠, as South, would you pass in the hope of a balancing Double from Partner and a big juicy penalty? We certainly wouldn't, please see the Bidding Quiz for more on this. Our own preference is 2NT, and this bid will land South in a tricky 4♥ contract.
As Declarer, how would you tackle 4♥? Please see Play Problem # 34.
When Partner overcalls a Weak Two with 2NT, your follow-up is probably the same as your No Trump system. But which one? Your 1NT system, or your 2NT system? If they are the same, then of course you don't care ... but if they are different (regular Stayman over 1NT, and Puppet Stayman over 2NT, for example) then it's a good idea to clarify which one is in effect in this situation! We'd suggest the 2NT system, seems more intuitive somehow, but it probably doesn't matter too much either way, as long as you and Partner are on the same wavelength.
Big Juicy Penalty Note: Backing up to South's first bid, suppose that she passes, and that North does indeed balance with a Double (we would), and that N-S defend 2♠ doubled. Just how big and juicy is that penalty? Can the defense muster up the down three result that they need to compensate for their missed game? We think not, it looks as if East can scramble that vital 6th trick. For example, South leads a Heart won by Dummy's Ace, now ruff a Heart, lead a Diamond ... provided that Declarer leaves the trump suit alone, the defense will have to concede a 6th trick sooner or later. Not so juicy after all! Better to score up that 4♥ game!
A simple auction to the obvious 4♥ contract. Now, provided that South does not do something disastrous on opening lead (such as laying down the A♦), this contract is doomed for down one, thanks to all of those off-side minor suit honors. As a matter of fact, down one might be quite a reasonable board! Declarer must take care to set up a Diamond ruff (or a Club trick which will provide a Diamond pitch) early in the play, otherwise he will be down two. We predict at least average for escaping for down one.
Some players might not approve of South’s 2♠ preempt, but we rather like it. True, the suit is pitiful, and, yes, we are vulnerable, but the nice shape and the Club fillers add up to “lots of offense, not much defense” … sounds like a preempt to us, but not one for the faint of heart.
West almost has game in his own hand, and, over 2♠, as his hand is so good, he can afford to start with a Double, even though he is short in the unbid major.
System Time-Out: Do you and your partner play Lebensohl opposite the Double of a Weak Two? We highly recommend that you do! Using this gadget, 3♥ in the featured auction shows values (but is not forcing). With a weaker hand, East would be required to bid his Hearts via the Lebensohl 2NT relay.
So, back to our auction. Let us assume that E-W are indeed playing Lebensohl in this situation. If that is the case, then 3♥ shows a decent hand, and now we think that West is worth a shot at 6♦. It's no sure thing, there are quite a few hands that East might hold that could prove quite disappointing!
After the preempt of 2♠, reaching slam was quite tough. But most Souths will probably not open 2♠, which will give E-W an easier run. If South passes, West should open 1♦ (not 2♣, in our opinion), East bids a Heart, and West fakes a Club suit with a jump-shift to 3♣, and East bids 3♦. Now West can sail into slam.
If you were one of the (very few, we suspect) pairs that stumbled into 6NT, you will get a fortuitous top board, being forced to take the winning Heart finesse for your 12th trick. If you got to the better 6♦ contract, you don’t need the Heart finesse, you can get that 12th trick from a Spade ruff. But, that’s no reason for not trying to make 13 tricks. Win the Spade lead, cash A♦, Heart to Ace, ruff a Heart, Diamond to the board, ruff another Heart. Your goal here was to ruff out the K♥ … if it turns out that one of the opponents started with Kxx, then you can get two Spade pitches on the established QJ. When this fails to materialize, Declarer resorts to losing a Spade and ruffing a Spade for 12 tricks. +1370 … and a few bonus style points also, for giving yourself the best chance to make an overtrick.
N-S can make their opponents lives most difficult on this board, if they start with a Weak 2♠ opening followed by a raise to 3♠. East will double 3♠, no doubt with some serious foreboding, West will bid 4♥, which gets doubled, and, when the dust has cleared it will be +500 for the preemptors. Did E-W goof on this one? Not really, they just got bounced around by aggressive opponents, it’s part of the game, just another reminder that preempts work!
A simple auction and a friendly hand. Declarer will play on Clubs to build some extra tricks, and will be astonished to discover that the feeble 873 opposite the far from robust KJ42 is actually worth no fewer than 3 tricks … which is 3 more than it could be worth on some less friendly layouts! And, with the J♠ coming down third, Declarer has 12 tricks no less.
Any E-W pair that reached 6♦ on this board can expect something close to a top board. In the featured auction, N-S did their best to get in the way by throwing up a barrage of Club bids, but well bid by West. After South has overcalled with 2♣ or 3♣ (we like 3♣ opposite a passed hand), West has a choice between raising Spades (via a cue-bid) or introducing Diamonds. We like West’s actual choice of bidding Diamonds … with a lesser hand, West might be inclined to show immediate Spade support, but this hand has a lot of slam potential, so a more descriptive auction is called for. By the time the auction gets back to West, his hand has gotten even better! … all that Club bidding suggests a singleton or void in Partner’s hand, Diamonds have been raised, too. In the circumstances, 6♦ seems like a reasonable shot.
As it happens, Partner’s Dummy is not the best … minimum values, no Club void, no Q♠, and no K♥. Even so, the contract is made with the aid of the Spade finesse. North will lead a Club, South will shift smartly to a Heart, but Declarer will rise with the A♥, draw trumps, take the Spade finesse, ruff out the Q♠, and ditch the Heart loser on the long Spade.
Anyone for 6♠? Deep Finesse says that you can make 6♠, but that’s a “double dummy” assessment, and won’t happen in real life. In 6♠, it is necessary to pick up the Spade suit for no losers, and the way to do that is to play a Spade to the Ace and then take the “deep finesse” of the 9. Tough to do in real life, notwithstanding South’s aggressive bidding.
Yes, indeed, N-S had a “profitable” save in 7♣, down just 4, for -1100. We put the word “profitable” in quotes, because -1100 is unlikely to score many matchpoints, either, so, rather than take the heroic dive in 7♣, N-S might as well hope they can actually beat the slam.
That 3♠ bid is a Splinter, showing shortness in Spades, and game-going support for Hearts. East has his usual minimum hand, to say nothing of huge wastage in Partner’s short suit, so he signs off in 4♥.
In the play, the defense has to organize a Club ruff on the go to hold Declarer to 10 tricks. This is most unlikely to happen, so expect a lot of 450’s on the recap sheet.
In our view, at this vulnerability North is not good enough to make a Negative Double over 1♠. After North's Pass, what would you bid, sitting in the East chair? Here are the options: (a) 4♠ gets E-W to where they probably belong, and takes bidding space away from South. The trouble is that this is a preemptive bid, and Partner might not expect so much defense from us … if South were to bid 5♦ now, and Partner held a slightly different hand to his actual one (say one less Diamond, one more Spade), he might well guess wrong and try a white against red sacrifice. For this reason, we don’t much care for the 4♠ bid; (b) On the previous Board, West was able to make a jump-cue in the opponent’s suit to show shortness and game values. So, how about 3♦ here? No, opposite an overcall the jump-cue is generally used to show a mixed raise, which is to say something less than a limit raise, 4-card support. Take away a Queen, a Jack, and one of those trumps, and East would have been a fine 3♦ bid! (c) The 2♦ cue-bid would show a limit raise (or better), and would be a reasonable choice … (d) … but our own personal favorite is a splinter of 4♦, which takes bidding space away from the opponents. And, it is also descriptive, giving Partner the best chance of guessing right if South takes another call.
After 4♦, West will bid 4♠, losing three Aces for +420. If South gets carried away and bids 5♦, that’s doubled, down two, for 500.
A remarkably similar hand for East to the one previously! We would say that this time East is not quite good enough for a splinter bid of 4♥, and, anyway, it’s a dangerous bid to make, unless you have agreed with your partner that splinters are on over a Double. A 4♠ bid is not appropriate, given those two defensive tricks in Diamonds. That leaves us with a limit raise … over the Double, many players use a device called Jordan, whereby 2NT here shows a limit raise or better. Yes, the Jordan 2NT is the bid that we suggest here.
After 2NT, South will try 4♥ (which makes) but we confidently predict that the final contract will be 4♠ at most tables, often doubled. It won't make, but it's down only one with good play by Declarer or after an unlucky opening lead. North's only chance to get it down two is to lead a Diamond, won by Dummy's Ace. Now, a Spade from the board, getting the bad news, and up with the Ace. Next, Declarer tries to eliminate North's Diamonds, planning a throw-in, so he plays K♦, ruff a Diamond and out a Spade. Alas, for Declarer, North still has a Diamond left, and that is what he returns, ruffed by Declarer. Now, over to the board with a Spade, and a Heart towards the closed hand. More bad luck for Declarer, when North's Ace takes his King. A Heart comes back, ruffed on the board, and now it's time to play the Clubs. So, he leads a Club from the board and plays low from his hand! Nice play, because, on the actual hand, North gets end-played. But, even if South manages to win the first Club trick with an intermediate card of some sort, Declarer still has a second chance to play South for the Ace.
West had no qualms about overcalling 1NT with a singleton Spade, and nor would we. Sure, Partner will sometimes transfer us to Spades, but that's not necessarily the end of the world, sometimes those 5-1 fits play rather well! But this won't happen on the actual hand and a Stayman auction lands West in 3NT.
Will 3NT make? It will be a touch and go affair, but top-notch defense defeats 3NT. Suppose that North leads a Spade, won in Declarer's hand. It looks as if Declarer can develop 2 Spades, 2 Hearts, 2 Diamonds, and 3 Clubs, but there are entry problems back to Dummy. If the defense ducks the first or second round of Hearts, and if they steadfastly refuse to break open the Diamond suit, then Declarer does not have the communications to collect his available tricks. Fine defense if you managed to beat this 3NT contract!
How high do you play your Negative Doubles? If you play them up to 4♠ then North can dredge one up ... it'll get passed out, and that will be -590 for N-S, as 4♠ makes on any lead.
If you don't play Negative Doubles that high, then the choice is between a feeble Pass, a speculative Double, or an adventurous 5♦. To be honest, it's something of a guess. Obviously, on the actual hand, Pass works out better than Double, but how about 5♦? E-W can double this, beat it three, and collect +800 ... but will they? ... they may forget to Double and only collect +300 ... or, more likely, East will bid 5♠ and E-W will go minus. Expect all sorts of different results on this board.
We said earlier that 4♠ makes on any lead, but on the lead of a trump Declarer must be careful ... please see Play Problem # 35.
Did anybody make 5♠? Clearly, Declarer needs some help for this to happen. But not much! Suppose that North leads the A♥. Declarer ruffs this, and leads a Diamond ... North plays the Jack, and shifts to a trump won by Declarer ... now it goes Diamond ruff, Heart ruff, Diamond ruff, Heart ruff ... next Declarer plays all his trumps arriving at a 3-card ending ... if South makes the mistake of hanging on to her A♦ along with 2 Clubs, she will be thrown in with a Diamond and have to concede two Club tricks at the end. South found herself guessing whether to play Declarer for the Q♦ and two small Clubs, or for a small Diamond and ♣Qx. Could North have helped out in any way? Actually yes, but it's not easy ... it all depends on the three Diamond plays: - on the first round of Diamonds, when Declarer led low from his hand, North knew that South had to have the A♦, but she had to play the Jack in case Declarer had the King; - on the second round of Diamonds, North had to play the Queen! ... her hope here is that the message to South is "I'm playing the Queen because I can afford to, I also have the 9" ... a great play if South is on the same wave-length and now pitches a high Diamond - on the third round of Diamonds, North pitches a low Diamond (preserving the precious Nine), and South continues this super defense by pitching the other high Diamond. Nicely done!
Using some sophisticated Fourth Suit Forcing bidding machinery, E-W glide effortlessly into a completely hopeless 3NT. Down two.
But, back to the auction. We confess that with the North hand, we would have been sorely tempted to overcall 1NT. Yes, it’s only 14 HCPs, instead of the purported 15-18, but those 3 Aces are very powerful. And, we would like to point out that the T♦ is a particularly big card … well, it’s big until you look at all 4 hands, at which point it suddenly becomes considerably smaller! Anyway, if North does chance her arm with a 1NT overcall, she will get doubled, and South will find some way to escape to 2 of North’s better major. 2♠ is, indeed, a safe resting place, but E-W may well plough on to 3NT for the same minus score.
When 3♣ got back to East he had to choose between 3♦ and Double. The latter seems to be the one with the most ways to win, so that would be our choice. One of the ways to win is if Partner can convert the Double into a penalty, and that's exactly what West should do here ... West cannot be sure that 3♣ will always be beaten, but usually it will, and that will bring a nice +200 to E-W. As it happens, on this occasion it's down two, as South can score no more than 6 Clubs and the A♥.
+500 will be a fine score, even though E-W can make 3NT with the aid of a correct Diamond guess (which will be indicated by the bidding). Can they get there? Not easily, their best chance is if East balances with 3♦ (instead of Double) ... now West can see lots of Diamonds tricks and a Club stopper ... even so, 3NT seems rather optimistic looking just at the West hand.
The play is far more interesting than the auction. Please see Play Problem # 36.
A simple auction. Straightforward play brings in 10 tricks.
East's 1NT was natural, showing 15-18 HCP. Clearly, in this situation, E-W were not playing the Sandwich No Trump, a bid which shows the unbid suits (but more distributional and fewer HCPs than a Take-out Double) ... we also prefer 1NT to be natural here, it's a hand-type that is hard to describe otherwise, whereas with a Sandwich-type hand you can always bid your suits naturally, or else jump to 2NT with enough distribution.
There is one little defect to that 1NT overcall, of course, there's no Heart stop. A mere detail in our opinion, unlikely to be fatal ... with the opponents both bidding we are unlikely to play this one in 3NT, so even if they cash a few Hearts, 1NT will still have chances. As it happens, Partner transfers to Spades, and this contract makes 8 or 9 tricks.
In this sequence, that 3NT showed 13-15 and denied a 4-card major. On to the play of the hand.
What would (or did) you lead from the South hand? More pointedly, which major did you lead? Either major could work, but we rather like the Spade lead. Well, yes, of course we do, we have seen all four hands, and we know a winning lead when we see one! But, in reality, it’s something of a guess, perhaps the better question is “If you decided, in your wisdom, to lead a Spade from the South hand, which Spade would you lead?”. Some partnerships favor a “second highest from four small” approach, meaning that with 8742, you would lead the 7. This works like a charm on the actual deal, because it tells Partner to win the A♠ and switch to Hearts. But, we haven’t told the whole story here, please see this hand in Problem form, from North’s point of view.
On this deal, it's hard to argue with the traditional opening lead of "fourth best from longest and strongest", and nobody would say that this lead is wrong. But consider also the two benefits of a Spade lead ... it's unlikely to blow a trick at Trick One ... and it retains a potential entry if we need a way back to our hand to cash the established Spade (if, we start with a Heart, we may end up with the 13th card in the suit and no possible entry to allow us to cash it).
Most partnerships use 2♣ (after the third-hand major suit opening) as Drury, a bid which shows a fit for Partner, and asks if his third-hand opening was sound or not. So, without 2♣ available as a natural bid, North’s 1NT was her only choice, and South has no reason to bid again.
As is often the case, the play in 1NT is difficult to predict, but we’ll try anyway. East will probably start with a Diamond, to West’s Queen … then a Diamond back to Dummy’s King. The simple line of play is to cash the AKQ♣ (pitching a Diamond and a Heart), and then take the Heart finesse … if that works, it will be 7 or 8 tricks (depending on whether the Hearts break). When the Heart finesse loses, it’s just 6 tricks.
With the opponents bidding two suits, we cue-bid the suit that we have stopped … so North’s 3♠ shows a Spade stop and allows South to bid 3NT with her Heart stop.
It seems normal enough for West to lead the K♥, and that sets up the J♥ for Declarer’s 9th trick. Can you make 3NT if West is clever enough to lead a Spade? Please see Play Problem # 38.
Perhaps the most interesting auction of the entire set! Let's look at some of the bids:
North's 1♠: In third seat, non-vulnerable, with that fine Spade seat, we would not be passing here, so the real question is "Do you open 1♠ or 2♠?". We prefer 1♠ ourselves ... yes, somewhat light, but it gets our nice suit into the auction. With only 5 Spades and an outside Ace, and unappetizing distribution, bidding a light 1♠ seems a better description than 2♠ ... a 2♠ opening is more likely to goad Partner into over-competing, or, heaven forbid, sacrificing.
South's 2♣: Assuming that N-S are playing Drury, is South's hand suitable for the convention? We don't think so ... true, South has 4 trumps and 10 HCP's, but look at all those losers! We suggest that it is worth a 2♠ bid and no more. What would be needed to upgrade it to Drury status? Well, at least a doubleton would be nice, that would hopefully cover one of Partner's losers.
West's Double: What's your agreement for a Double of their Drury bid? Does Double show Clubs? Or is it take-out. Either's fine, E-W in the featured auction obviously like the take-out treatment.
North's 2♠: Without the Double, North would bid 2♠ to show a sub-par opener. Do things change when they Double? Again, there are different schools of thought, our own preference is that 2♠ shows the sub-par hand, and Pass is more encouraging. A good thing to discuss with your Partner if you have no explicit agreement already. In the auction above, 2♠ was obviously intended to discourage.
South's 3♠: South was warned! But he went to 3♠ anyway! Quite a dangerous bid, in our view, especially against trigger-happy opponents. Of course, it's always tempting to compete to the 3-level when you have (or at least expect to have) 9 trumps, and are non-vulnerable, but as there are no ruffing values in the South hand that 4th trump is more for show than for anything particularly useful.
East's Final Pass: Fortunately for South, East was not in a trigger-happy mood, and meekly passed.
The bottom line is that 3♠ undoubled goes down two for -100, which is an improvement on -130 for defending Clubs ... but East could have turned the tables with a speculative Double.
East's Weak Two is not exactly pure text-book, but then again there's really no such thing as "text-book" when we are white against red in 3rd seat holding a 6-card suit.
Nobody can make anything here, so playing this one in 2♠ is not a success. 2♠ goes down one or two, the play is difficult to predict. The trick on this deal is to let the opponents play the hand, and, as luck would have it, 2♠ merely preempts the opponents out of their minus score.
Yes, either East or West might quite reasonably have competed to the 3-level, and, if they did, they’ll be disappointed to go down two for -200. If they sell out to 2♠, they do better, this contracts makes 9 tricks for 140.
After that 1♣ 1♥, 2♥ start, West is fairly certain that the final contract is going to be 6♥ ... it's unlikely that Partner has the magic hand for seven ... and, similarly, it's unlikely that 6 will not either be cold or at least have a decent play. True, the defense might have two cashing Diamonds, which would be unfortunate, but, even if they do, they may not cash them. Do you bash directly into 6♥? Or do you scientifically probe for slam? We are unabashed Bashers, our judgment is that we'll lose more here by science than we are likely to gain. For more on this see the Bidding Quiz.
An Incredibly Devious Flight of Fancy If you like the idea of bidding 6♥ directly, then you may wish to be a little devious along the way. Make that a lot devious! Over 2♥, a bid of 5♦ is played by some as Exclusion Blackwood, as in "tell me your Key Cards, but exclude the A♦". So what, you say, that bid is only useful when you have a Diamond void. Not entirely true ... it's also useful when you are going to slam anyway and would like to talk them out of a Diamond lead! Well, we did warn you that it was a flight of fancy!
South doesn't have a good rebid! The flawed rebids include: 2NT: Not a good idea with two small Clubs. 3♥ or 4♥: We need 4 trumps for these bids. 2♠ or 3♣: A fake jump shift looks like the only solution.
Whenever we make a fake jump shift (or reverse) it's customary to do it in a minor suit, lest Partner leaps to game in our fake major. However, you can get away with a fake major suit jump shift provided that you agree with Partner that he treats them with skepticism and promises not to leap to game in that major. With that understanding, we'd try 2♠ here, it seems less misleading than 3♣. Alas, on the actual deal, E-W are headed for game doomed to a minus score on this deal ... 3NT is down two, and 5♦ down one.
Any way for E-W to go plus on the deal? After 1♦, East might consider passing his miserable 5-count ... we know that we would bid 1♥ here, but Pass is the winning bid!
Many partnerships play that 3♠ here is preemptive, and that 2NT is a limit raise (known as the Jordan convention). That's all very well, but that South hand is somewhere in between ... it's got the right number of trumps but it is too good for a preempt, not good enough for a limit raise. If those were our only methods, we would suggest underbidding with 3♠, but it's not a good solution to this type of hand, we admit. However, it works quite well on the actual deal, landing N-S in the right contract for +140. For a useful gadget which will help in this situation, please see the Bidding Quiz.
Another approach to South's hand is to bid 2♠, planning to compete to 3♠ if necessary. The trouble with this is that it makes it too easy for West to jump into the fray ... over 2♠, West can try 3♦, and East may compete to 4♦ later ... it takes the A♥ opening lead, and a subsequent ruff to beat this contract, so, unless N-S double and then find that defense, South will be wondering why he didn't bid 3♠ directly over the Double.
© BES, Inc All Rights Reserved | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Home Hand Analyses Bidding Quizzes Play Problems System Library | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
