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for Junior, Intermediate and Novice Players...and others! It's Fri   Day. 

Good Bidding: Great Result.

Today’s story is a happy story. For a start, it has a happy ending! However, in looking at the bidding and the play of the deal, hopefully, it will be a guide for you when trickier deals occur:

 

North-South are vulnerable. South has made a vulnerable overcall and has shown 10+ hcp and at least 5, hopefully 6+ clubs, in doing so. What should your first bid be?

Your first thoughts should be that you may well be able to make game. You have 13 hcp and can add on 3 more for your singleton heart. However, which game? 5 maybe but say your partner held 4 spades, which is possible, then the spade game may be easier to make: less tricks needed. Your partner may even have 4 diamonds and 5 may be a better fit. Maybe your partner has a heart hold and you can make 3NT. How to find all this out?

When the opposition bid and support a suit at the 2-level, maybe even the 3-level, then if you or your partner double, that double should be a take-out double asking for more information about your partner's hand. Although 3 by North may also be asking as well, keeping the bidding low by doubling may well work out better.
So, North doubles (they are way too strong to bid a non-forcing 3) and South replies 3, presumably a minimum hand with no second suit. Never mind, give your partner a bit of a challenge. You have enough to try for game. “Good luck, partner” you might say as you put down dummy.

 

West leads 4 to East’s K. There’s no more tricks for the defence in that suit. So, East switches to 7. South plays 8, West 10 and the trick is won with dummy’s K.

Planning....not wishing and hoping!

As declarer, has your partner made a plan yet? Hopefully! They have 1 possible spade loser. They have 3 little hearts and 1 loser in diamonds. They cannot afford to lose more than 2 tricks. So, those heart losers can be eliminated in 2 ways, either by ruffing in dummy or maybe by discarding one of them or even the potential spade loser on an established diamond trick.

So, at trick 3, let’s play a trump to the South hand and then 4. Since East opened the bidding, they are more likely to have A than West. Thus, we play a diamond to the J in dummy.

We hope West has Q and indeed, that is the lay-out. We can now discard one of our losers on the K. Yet, since we have already lost to K and A, we must not lose any more tricks.

When in with A, East continues 5 and South plays 9 covered with Q and dummy’s A. No losers now in spades as South's J is high. We still have to get rid of 2 little hearts in our hand. Let’s play K discarding one small heart and then play a club to the king and ruff the other little heart with dummy’s 6. All that remains now is a quick count to confirm the defenders have no more trumps left.
South has no more losers. Contract made! Well played, partner.

   

So, remember:

In the bidding: when the opposition bid and support a suit, you can double as a take-out double and in the process discover more about your partner’s hand.
Also, if you are strong enough to bid game, do not make a bid your partner can pass short of game.

In the play: in a suit contract, a declarer needs to work out losers and potential losers as soon as they see dummy. Ask yourself which losers can be eliminated and hopefully, you will be left with only the number of losing cards which will still enable you to make game. There’s nothing like having a plan and hopefully you do not encounter bad breaks that can then endanger your contract. They do not happen on Fri days!

Richard Solomon

 

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