What Went Wrong?                             14th March, 2007

 

The Auction

 

Board 5      Dlr North     N-S Vul

 

           ♠ KQ7             ♠ J8632

           ♥ KT6             ♥ Q74

           ♦ J96               ♦ A8

           ♣ QJ72           ♣ T84

             

           West    North   East     South

                       Pass    Pass     1♦

           Pass    1♥        Pass    1♠

           Pass    2♦        Pass     Pass

           Pass

 

The Critique

 

N-S played in a cozy 2♦ contract.  But the question of the day is where were E-W while all of this was going on?  Why were they not in the auction?  There’s nothing wrong with East’s initial Pass, so we’ll go straight to West.

            West’s 1^st Pass            Many players would overlook the shapelessness of West’s hand and make a

                                                take-out Double here, after all, the hand does have opening values (well,

                                                almost) and support for the unbid suits (well, sort of).  On the other hand,

                                                some upstanding citizens would rather have a bit more strength and/or a bit

                                                more distribution for their take-out Doubles.

 

            East’s 2^nd Pass           Should East have got into the auction with a 1♠ bid (after North’s 1♥)?  It’s a

                                                terrible suit, and East has a paltry 7-count.  On the other hand he is non-

                                                vulnerable and a passed hand, so soundness is not necessarily a strict

                                                requirement.

 

After those two Passes have occurred, E-W have missed their chance to get into the auction, and the subsequent Passes cannot be faulted.

 

What Actually Went Wrong

 

We would not overcall directly with the East hand, the suit and the hand are both too weak for our taste, even given the favorable vulnerability.  But, as a passed hand, we’d have no qualms, especially as we have the Spade suit.  All we need from Partner is a smattering of values and 3-card support and we can push the opponents up to the 3-level, where we may have a chance of going plus.

 

Sure, West might have doubled 1♦, but it’s not a good bid in our opinion, and could work especially badly on the actual hand, it might induce East to compete up to 3♠, where a sporting Double by South will result in a disastrous -300 for E-W.

 

So, we apportion the blame:                  East     100%

                                                            West        0%

 

The Bottom Line

 

On the actual deal, N-S can make 9 tricks in Diamonds, but competing to 2♠ is essential for E-W if any of these good things are going to happen:

-         South makes a speculative Double of 2♠ (only -100 for E-W instead of -110 from defending 3♦)

-         South sells out to 2♠ (only -50)

-         Both sides turn out to have 8 tricks, in which case E-W are going plus.

 

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