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“NO SENSE” BIDDING  dedicated to all those who have momentary lapses in the bidding of some hands.

Imagine you have a bidding sequence for which you have no meaning . Not just “no meaning” but you have an agreement it has “no meaning”. It might sound all very theoretical but it can and did happen in practice! Watch:

West         North       East           South

                                      1          Pass

1            Pass           4           Pass

4            Pass           4NT          Pass

?

For you and many other bridge players around the country, East-West have a big heart fit. West then cue-bids 4 (A maybe K) with East deciding next to ask for aces or key cards. All very logical.

However, our East-West play transfer responses after 1 opening. 1 shows 4+ spades…and 4? They have a specific documented agreement that 4 “does not exist”: no such bid. If bid, it can only mean one thing. The bidder has forgotten the system. So, what to do when partner forgets the system and you know it?

 

West         North       East           South

                                      1             Pass

1             Pass           4             Pass

4             Pass           4NT            Pass

 

The sequence is as described above. Who knows what West really meant by 4 but East had woken up to the fact that he had used the famous “ does not exist bid”, not for the first or second time, either! After all, why have that agreement if you do not put it into practice, regularly!

East decided that maybe no-trumps was the place to be….and since 4 had preceded it, it could not be for aces. It also protected his side from an immediate diamond attack, though how East knew that is unclear. West, of course, was very clear about the auction. If he could have alerted 4, he would have done as “does not exist” but we do not alert bids at the four level, do we?

 Were this an educational feature, we would tell you that South should cash no more than one high diamond, upon which North jettisons the jack. Were South to then show patience by switching, four more diamond tricks along with the A and maybe even the J would come the defence’s way…but only three down unless South found the heart switch as declarer would otherwise take 7 black suit tricks first, 8 on a spade switch.

This is no such feature as either a switch or unblock did not occur as all the defence took was two  diamonds and the A…making 10 tricks for a complete top for the system perpetrator’s side.

“Top?”. That was not the case as West perused their session score afterwards. “0” match-points awarded to them. “How come?” thought West who had moved on to the next table as the move for that round had been called multiple minutes before play had ceased.

The answer was, of course, more straightforward than the bidding. “Wrong declarer entered.”

So, a good partnership will identify bids on their system card which one’s partner is likely to forget (“you” of course never forget system bids). Do so, and there will be no ethical problems. Maybe if it occurs regularly, you will develop agreements on how the bidding should continue…or are we dreaming!

Bamboozle the opposition and get a great score.

We would like to name the pair concerned but we cannot. However, we can without risk of libel show you their photograph::

We can also tell you who always sits East. That’s the player on the right. For further identification if you are “stuck”, contact the New Plymouth Bridge Club and ask for a list of players whose surname starts with “W”. Be careful, though, as he is a good lawyer!

Richard Solomon

 

 

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