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Life on the Wild Side.

There are times when we get a little tired of trying to restrict overtricks in an opponent’s 1NT or 2H contracts, especially playing Pairs when it is really important. “Something more exciting, Mr. Card-Dealer, please.”

Your request has not fallen on deaf ears:

 

 Three bids and already at the 6-level.Maybe not that wild!

You did not expect to have such a decision a few seconds earlier…but is this the end of the bidding or are you going to introduce your second suit? Oh, it is Teams....could be a lot of imps at stake!

Our Panel are rather in one mind:

Kris Wooles “Pass. I have to trust partner and I don’t have a compelling reason to bid.”

Bruce Anderson “Pass: Not too much to think about here; partner wants to play 6 opposite an opening bid, which could be worse. I am not going to try and find a fit in hearts at the 6 level; so 6 it is."

Peter Newell “Pass: A very straight forward pass for me - can’t imagine anything else ...I haven’t promised any clubs and can’t see any reason why I would want to bid anything.”

Nigel Kearney “Pass: Definitely. Partner had double or 5NT available if doubtful about strain.”

What options did partner really have? Double normally shows values but is not a penalty double. It is often converted by the opener who has nothing particular to say. 5NT would be “pick a slam” with clubs certainly an option or else responder could bid 6 indicating hearts with spade tolerance. 6? It looks like a single suiter.

There was, though, one bidder:

Matt Brown “ 6: I think 6 is best showing probably this hand shape and asking partner to choose... If partner has a hand with 8 or so clubs, we could still be making 6 anyway.”

Not much room to move, therefore, over 5 while even less over 6. 6 from South would show almost certainly 6-5 or more distributional shape in the majors, 6, a 4 card heart suit.

Before we show all four hands, we can say that it would not be wrong to move towards 6. At the table, it was played by South:

 

South did not follow Matthew’s exact recommendations but bought himself quite a decent dummy. West led a high diamond (they had plenty) followed by a second one. You ruff with dummy’s 10, East showing what would almost certainly be a doubleton diamond. What is your plan for making the next 12 tricks?

Just while you think about that, what action would you have taken with that North hand over 5? Maybe 5NT at least offering two possible slams, but who is to say you definitely have a slam at all? While 6 looks rather a one-way guess (unless you are lucky enough to have Matt Brown as your partner), is anything really better? Certainly double would have worked better if South had then bid 5 ( not so easy with that doubleton diamond) but sometimes bravery pays…and next time South might have more clubs.

So, to the play. At the table, declarer tried a couple of rounds of hearts (East had 754) before starting on a cross-ruff.

 

One thing was absolutely certain was that 6 was not going to make! However, what about 6?

A lightner double by West would have defeated 6 played by North (unlucky for Matt Brown and his 6 bid).

Played by South, two rounds of trumps can be followed by three top clubs, club ruff, two top spades and a spade ruff, another club ruff, and at trick 13, the 8 beats the 7…a fortunate singleton that 9. (You had to play high hearts in the South hand when you played trumps.)

Alternatively, declarer can play A, ruff a spade, return to hand with a trump and ruff another spade high. Then draw the remaining trumps, play three top clubs discarding J8 and that’s 12 tricks with declarer still having one trump and K to come.

More exciting that defending 2? Certainly, as long as you made 12 tricks.

How about making, though, just 10 tricks? You are in 4 and overs are a bonus. Count to 10 first.

 

2 was 4^th suit forcing and 3  a slam try though North had no appetite beyond game.

West led Q. Declarer won and laid down their three top spades with West discarding a diamond on the third round.

Where did you win the first trick?

Which two cards did you discard from dummy?

What do you play at trick 5?

Answers on Sunday.

Richard Solomon

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