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An Unfortunate Bid

The textbook definition of a balanced hand is getting stretched these days.5 card majors in a 5332 shape,  5-4 shapes, 6 card minors (like one last night), even the odd singleton…almost anything goes. For some pairs, it’s part of their system while for others, it’s judgement.

If my five card suit is spades and especially if it is rebiddable, I would prefer to open the suit. However, there are drawbacks in doing so when one’s suit is hearts and the suit is not strong. Take Board 25. East held:

 K85

 AQ986

 103

  K102

1NT seems like a fair opening if you can. If not, some East players were faced with a nasty choice of bids second time round:

West              North                        East                South

                        Pass                         1                  2 (weak)

x                      Pass                           ?

It would not even be a comfortable bid if South had called 1 and West had doubled.

If 1NT initially showed 12-14, then 2NT was not an option now. The logical choice was 3 but partner produced a rather unsuitable collection as dummy, the result being a certain one and probably more than one down.

At one table, West made a rather unfortunate choice following South’s 2 jump.  The choice was 3 which led East to call 3NT. The problem was that allowed an up to now quiet North to double this contract with dire consequences for declarer:

 

 

Without the double and with a suit which giving up one trick seemed likely, South could be forgiven for leading a small spade. That lead would probably be terminal for the defence. East has to win and may as well take the club finesse the normal way. Flushed with one successful finesse, declarer would run the clubs and try another (in hearts) and would soon have 9 rather lucky tricks.

What happened

However, the double got South off on the right track by leading their singleton diamond. East feared the consequences of ducking and thus rose to take an unsuccessful club finesse into the “safer” South hand. With no further diamonds, South exited a passive club but even with the heart finesse working, East could only manage 7 tricks, -500.

Rather ruefully, East would have observed that they actually had a spade hold even if the lead came from North. Assuming South only held a six card spade suit, there would be nothing else for declarer to play for if the Q was led by North than for a blockage. The defence would then have to be very careful not to set up a ninth trick for declarer either in spades or diamonds. Indeed, even after that initial diamond lead, were East to duck, North must not switch to the Q or, with successful club and heart finesses, the contract should make.

While West’s 3bid was an “unfortunate” choice, the real problem really occurred with East’s failure to open 1NT. The heart suit is reasonable, almost good enough to bid twice but the rest of the hand looked more like no-trumps. Had East opened a weak 1NT, South may or may not have bid 2. Without that call, East-West are likely to go positive, either in 1NT or in 3 if West is able to bid 2NT to show both minors. After 2 from South, a club call (Lebensohl style) from West should lead to a plus but 3 would not.

Like it or not, there are times when it is right to bend the rule about the hand type with which we open 1NT. Not a 6 card minor unless it is a very poor one, but a flat hand with 5 average to poor hearts comes within my definition of a 1NT opening. How about yours?

Richard Solomon

 

 

 

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