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not today!

The “Master- Suit”.

Four of the nine New Zealand teams recorded victories in Round 5 of the Trans- Tasman Challenge, played last Friday night. However, at the top, Australian teams have started to gain a small lead at the top. Here are the top positions after Round 5:

Round 5				Round 4		Round 5		Round 5		Cumulative
Position				b/fwd.		v		Score
1	Australia Seniors 1			55.06		NZ Open 2		16.88		71.94
2	Australia Open 1			49.82		NZ Youth		20.00		69.82
3	NZ	Women 2		46.75		Australia Seniors 2		15.38		62.13
4	Australia Women 2			47.72		NZ Mixed 1		14.39		62.11
5	NZ	Open 1		55.51		Australia Women 1		5.40		60.91

 

Be the judge as to who are the heroes on this unusual board. What would you bid as West if you had the option of calling 3 pre-emptive, 4 “to play but usually pre-emptive”, simply 2 or even Pass.

 

The vulnerability is certainly in your favour though with no shortage and your main honour in the enemy suit, a high-level contract could be buying you a relatively expensive penalty unless your partner is particularly strong.

Not all the West players faced this problem but of those did (or perhaps the same problem where South chose to double 1), 6 chose to bid 3 while 8 chose 4. Generally, those who bid 3 fared better. At 6 of the 8 tables where 4 was bid, South decided to bid their rather long suit for a second time and were not to be disappointed with their dummy:

 

Had North held one club less, then 5 would have been at least 1 down, depending on the club position, while a club lead against 4x would have been very productive for the defence. As it was, there was no defence to 5 with North providing an entry to dummy to play a trump and benefit from the very favourable break.

There was of course variation of action on that South hand. 3 players chose a direct 5 while double was another alternative to the popular 2 choice. Of course, 3 from West after 2 would not necessarily have stopped South from reaching their game. Indeed, if East had passed 3, South could draw an inference that their partner might well have a few useful values (with West a weak hand) as indeed they did. At three tables, after West’s weak 3 jump bid, South did jump to 5. 4 did not prove enough now for South as no North made a free raise to game. Indeed, virtually the only North who made a bid was when one North doubled 4. Against 4, South must not lead a club to get their full entitlement. 2 high hearts and a high diamond, with North encouraging will gain either South a heart ruff or North a certain trump trick with declarer having no entry to dummy if North exits their club.

So, the combination of having a rather good hand and a piece of optimism that they might make a vulnerable game drove 13 of the 18 South players to the club game. As for West, it does look that this time a 3 weak bid would work out better than a direct jump to game though no-one at the table realised that this time spades was not the “master suit” but the usually low ranking club suit.

Richard Solomon

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