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Interesting Bidding
WHERE THE BUCK STOPS
When disaster strikes, we are very keen to apportion blame. If you have a good partnership, you will look at what you could have done to avoid what happened. In a bad partnership, your eyes turn towards partner! There’s always the opposition. (“If only they had bid, we could have reached a sensible contract!”.) If all else fails, there is always bad luck….and at the very end of the line, “there is the type of Bridge we are playing!” “I would never have bid like that playing Teams.”
That last statement may have some element of truth with the following North hand:
AQ74
Q
K84
K9763
A FINE PLAN
“Pairs” was the game and partner opened 1. Adopting the simple approach, we decided to check for a spade fit and then head to 3NT. Partner’s 1NT rebid showed 15-17. The opposition would either lead a club which would not be a worry or else a heart away from the king and our queen would score for an excellent Pairs’ result.
It sounded a great plan which worked up to a point, “the point” of East’s play to trick 1. West did lead away from the K but East had been taught that third player plays high!
| South Deals E-W Vul |
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| West | North | East | South |
| 1 ♦ | |||
| Pass | 1 ♠ | Pass | 1 NT |
| Pass | 3 NT | All pass |
"You let me down, partner!"
The defence did not have too much trouble taking the first 6 tricks, leaving declarer with a lot of high cards and 7 tricks at the end. Meanwhile, some were taking 12 even 13 tricks in clubs whether they were in game or small slam.
The “tell them little” approach had failed this time. You can hide the details of your hand from the opposition but doing so with the North hand runs a big risk. North might have said a few “if onlys” to their partner:
“If only you had opened 1 not 1, then the auction would have gone very differently.”
“If only you had rebid 2 over 1.”
(There was also “if only they had led a different suit!”)
It is quite normal to open 1 with 4-4 in the minors. It enables one to bid both minors more easily in a competitive auction. In these days of very short 1 openings, it is more likely to tell your partner you have a “real” suit. Then, while South may have not been delighted to have rebid 1NT with such a powerful (!) heart hold, 2 hardly did justice to the strength or shape of the hand. 2 would have been a better option but hardly showed 16 hcp!
Could North blame the opposition? With 10 good hearts, they could not find a bid. I am still hunting for any player who would make a vulnerable 2 level overcall at adverse vulnerability on those East cards.
Bad luck? Yes, you could assign a portion of the blame there. Many a top at Pairs has been achieved by such bidding. Does that mean we just accept the occasional loss because the type of Bridge we are playing let us down?
Good bidding involves exchanging information until one partner can place the contract. After 1-1-1NT, North could guess but could not be sure. Yet, the damage had already been done. Good bidding involves, with a game-going responding hand, bidding your longest suit first. Certainly, if North had an 8, even a 10 count hand, and the same shape as above, they would bid 1 over a 1 opening as otherwise the spade fit could be missed, South having a minimum opening hand with 4 spades and 5 or more diamonds. That is not true with the North hand above, a 14 count with 5 clubs, albeit a raggedy suit. North could always show the spades next time round…except here, South would have jumped to 4 first.. and then the problem would be whether the small slam could be bid. 5 making 6 would not be a triumph but would not be a disaster either.
It’s not an easy board for North-South. Many will open the South hand 1NT (15-17) and could also struggle to avoid game in that denomination. Without being able to transfer to clubs and then showing a spade suit or bidding Stayman and then bidding a forcing 3, the minor fit may stay hidden. How would you fare?
No Teams match was lost with the bad result on this board, just 2-3% in a Pairs evening. An overtrick on the next board may well have compensated. North could have wished their partner had bid differently, could apportion a bit of the blame to the “bad luck” but ultimately, the buck stops here.
With game values, bid your longest first even if you do not why.
Richard Solomon
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