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Wrong Suit, Wrong Level, Wrong Result?

Hey, let’s be positive as we draw to the end of the year. Here’s hoping that those new to the game are enjoying themselves, maybe getting the hang, just a little, of how to bid and play this game….and then along comes a title like the above! Sorry….. but, as you will see, two “wrongs” occasionally do make a …positive result! (Can he count? Surely that is "three" wrongs?) Right, here goes:

It was a Teams match, which means there is only one team to beat. Let’s see what happened in the match on Board 8 when 4 more experienced players took on 4 who were fairly new to the game. The new players knew what pre-empts meant: trouble! "They" should not pre-empt against less experienced players. Well, just this time they did! West opened 3 and after some thought, North doubled for take-out. East passed…..and what should South bid with:

 A632

 AK753

 Q432

 –

Those New Zealand Bridge notes might have helped had they been handy….but they were not! So, South bid their longest and strongest at the 3 level…and no-one had any more to say. South did not play the hand quite to perfection but 9 tricks were made and +140 recorded.

Fortunately, South’s teammates (E/W at the other table) had also learnt about pre-empts and West, there, also started the bidding with 3…but the bidding was just a little bit different and longer. Here are the North-South hands ….and the bidding:

 

Well, that’s different! We might check it out in a minute but firstly a question for you. What was the result at this second table and which side won the imps?

Looking at the 2 hands above, as long as spades behave, the only loser in 6looks like being a heart. On the normal lead of a club, declarer ruffs in the South hand, plays A and a second spade and ruffs North’s remaining club in the South hand. Cross back to A and draw the last trump. You can afford to lose a heart and will soon be claiming 12 tricks.

So, with neither side vulnerable, that’s 980 at one table against just 140 at the other. It looks like 13 imps to the experts. Right? Wrong! The “newbies” were soon writing 5 imps in the plus column!

"David" had overcome "Goliath"

Why?  Because one East remembered that leading away from an ace or even an unsupported ace (no king) was not such a good idea (this argument is not quite true against a slam..well, certainly do not lead low when holding an ace of that suit) but that leading the top of a sequence was:

 

Against 6, East led the Q. South’s ace was played and ruffed by West. No matter how much North tried, they still had a second heart loser …and the slam was defeated.

6 was a little unlucky to be defeated though it did need trumps to behave. However, let’s just check out the bidding, especially South’s 4 response to the double of 3. What did that mean?

That forcing bid asked North to bid a suit. South was too strong to bid a non-forcing 3. North-South had to be in game and as our first South discovered, North was not strong enough to raise to game. So, South should have jumped to game themselves by bidding 4.

However, as stated earlier, pre-empts can mean “trouble”. The sort of trouble may be that although the doubler of the 3 pre-empt should have both majors, they may not….and when their partner has more than one suit which could be trumps, they could explore by bidding 4 (the pre-emptor's suit) to see which suit North would like to be trumps.

So, when North bid 4, why did South not raise to 5? We would rather play in a major suit game at the 4 level  (only 10 tricks needed) as opposed to 5 where we need 11. A major suit game also scores slightly better.

North-South found their spade fit (North did not like hearts) and South then became ambitious. They asked for aces (something called “key card”…we will keep them for your Christmas stocking next year) and since North had 2 and the Q, South bid slam…and the Juniors won their 5 imps!

“Wrong result”? Well, crime did pay. 3 just did not get the job done but earnt a plus score for the underdogs. 4 would have earned an even bigger plus, if South could have made 10 tricks.

So, we are going to be positive. If partner doubles a pre-empt and we have an opening hand or even close to one, we are going to bid game. Next year, we might try that 4 bid (please, please do not pass, partner..please!) and the year after that key-card convention.

What a game bridge is. Always something new to learn…. No matter what level you are.

Richard Solomon

Some may wonder why West opened 3 with an 8 card suit. Normally, it promises a 7 card suit (even sometimes just 6) and 4 promises an 8 card suit. However, with a poor hand and a poorish suit, both West players chose a little conservatively to start at the 3 level.

 

 

 

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