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For Junior, Intermediate and Novice players…and others. It’s Fri   day!

Come in: the water is warm, very warm!

Your partner opens a Weak 2 in spades (2S). You have 14 high card points but only 1 little spade. You are in the “maybe zone”. “Maybe” you can make game if your partner has a good weak 2. Does that mean you should see whether they have a maximum? Maybe, but probably not.

Yet, wait, as before you get the chance to enquire about your partner’s hand, you notice that your right-hand opponent has called. When then should you do?

 

Just to be clear, you are in the West seat, not the South seat. So, what should you bid?

There is a good guiding principle. When your partner opens with a Weak 2 or any pre-emptive bid at the 3 or 4 levels, that any double of an opponent’s call is for penalties. So, we should be able to make a penalty double here.

In a recent tournament, South played in 3 at 5 tables but only once was the contract doubled. Before we see all four hands, I must comment that 3 is not the best bid on the South hand, as this deal demonstrates:

 

West can lead their spade against 3 x. East wins and should play their own singleton. West cashes AK and gives East a ruff. East can then cash K. They may then try a third spade. A shell-shocked South does best to discard their remaining heart as West ruffs. So far, the defence has taken 6 tricks and West still has  2 trump tricks and A to come: 5 down doubled: -1400. Had West started with AK, East can score 2 ruffs: -1700! Yes, certainly 3 was the wrong bid today!

Twice the defence got the contract 6 down but neither could record that big score because at neither table was this contract doubled. Shame.

There is also a lesson here for the South players. They can justifiably claim bad luck but 3 was not the best bid they could make. It is harder when a player has 6 diamonds and 4 hearts though even then double may be a better bid. With only 5 diamonds, it most certainly is.

Indeed, there is a good case for South not bidding at all. Yet, they do have a reasonable hand in two suits and were North to choose clubs (not today), South could bid 3. 3 initially puts too much emphasis on one rather moderate suit. Double or Pass are better alternatives on the South hand. 

North did not expect their partner to hold 4 hearts when they did not double: hence their pass. 3is no great contract either but should not go more than 2 down, -500 if doubled. So, where West did double 3, North passed.

Sometimes, a player did not double an opponent “because I thought they would run to a better contract.” In certain situations, that might be true but there was no evidence that North-South had anywhere better to go here…and 3x is not much different a score as 3 undoubled!  

Remember also one saying that “if one does not every so often double a contract that makes, then one is not doubling enough.” To those West players who did not double 3, that saying certainly applies.

“D” is for

“diamonds” if South bid them first

“double” if they did…and

“disaster” for North-South and 
 

“double-digit” penalty. Hopefully, there is no minus before that number on your score-sheet.

 

Richard Solomon

 

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