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A Safe Haven?

Many years ago, my partner opened their weak 1NT and my right-hand opponent doubled. I held, for once, a very reasonable 9 or 10 count…no singleton or void, no 5 card or longer suit. It seemed reasonable to stick around in this contract. So did everyone else. The lead was a heart, my small doubleton suit. Unfortunately, my partner had a similar heart holding. 8 rounds of hearts later, the outlook for the contract did not look so bright!

So, to the West hand below…

1NT is 12-14. You can play your own defence to 1NT. What would you like to do?

We will see North’s hand later. For now, is it wise to double, trust everyone to pass and then make an imaginative 4^th highest lead?

Nigel Kearney “Double:  Sometimes passing and leading the solid suit can work but here it's much more likely they will play in a major. I'd rather double and bid diamonds to communicate my hand type and strength if I can before it gets too high.”

Kris and Michael are both considering 3NT though not by the same side!

Kris Wooles “Double: why not! I’ll bid diamonds later if I have to. We may have 3NT our way.”

Michael Ware “Double. The chances of them playing 3NT is too low to try passing and hoping to lead against that. Instead, let’s try hoping LHO has good hand and we defend 1NTX (or XX on a good day). A secondary benefit is that we might well talk them out of a making 4Major game.3 or 4 looks like a transfer to 4 of a major (for the opponents).”

Matt Brown “Double: If they begin running to a suit, I will bid my diamonds because I don’t have any real desire to defend 2X/2X, the same if partner runs. This at least gets my strength across. I think passing and waiting is bad because they will just transfer to a major, and I think passing then bidding diamonds is bad because we could miss an easy 3NT."

Peter Newell “Double. While its unlikely to go all pass, it does sometimes and then I’ll be happy. North may have enough points to think they are in with a chance of 1NT doubled and so may pass and partner might pass too.

We have little to lose by doubling.  We don’t have a sensible bid anyway.  3 doesn’t do justice the hand. I don’t like 3NT given the likelihood of a major suit lead and South likely to have the ace (or North unlikely to lead low away from the A), and partner needs quite useful and specific cards to make 3NT.  North may pre-empt in a major, but I don’t feel I’ll be much worse off than if I had bid 3.  The only option that I would consider is 4. If North has length in both majors, they may choose one if they can’t double for takeout….and even if they can double, they could still get to the wrong major if there is one.”

There is another alternative action, or inaction, to double:

Michael Cornell “Pass. At this point we are going plus! Obviously will almost certainly be bidding 3 on the next round which partner should interpret as a hand too good for an initial 3 call (but he won’t know I have 7 solid). There must be a small hope partner balances with a major showing bid and I could have a stab at 3NT.

Double could be ok but if partner has a few points and a long major, we will not do well. On a really good day I could end up defending 2NT or even 3NT which I would probably crack.”

One could try to describe one’s hand first of all, anticipating that North will not stay in 1NTx. Many ascribe an artificial meaning to 2, meaning that 3 becomes natural and constructive.

Bruce Anderson “3: a double with only two cards in the majors is almost certain to see North bid a major which opener could well fit. Passing will have the same result. So, I am bidding at the 3 level in the hope North, who could not open a weak two, lacks the strength to bid a five-card major at the three level. And if North does compete, the likely bad break in trumps may see our side achieve a positive score.”

 What has happened to the major suits? It may not be that North and East have 5 card majors. And not considering Michael Cornell’s “fantasy” pass is:

Stephen Blackstock “3: The main alternatives are double or a wild swipe at 3NT, which could hit a home run but is defensible really only if we are in desperate need of a top in the closing stages. Double could work badly if partner decides I am likely balanced so his six- card major is worth a shot at game, and if we get only +100 on defence there is danger (but not certainty) that will be poor. I even thought of pass as a cunning attempt to be able to double 3NT, but that looks like a fantasy!”

I do agree that your partner may have the wrong impression of your hand once the double has been taken out. They may not want to play a diamond partial which is all you might be able to make. At the table, one North player discovered that passing 1NTx with their “not very much” was not a great idea:

It was not North’s doubleton heart which was their main problem, or at least not initially. East was rewarded for not opening a Weak 2 with 4 cards in the other major, although many would not mind opening that hand at the 1 level.

South would have fancied their chances in 1NTx until they saw dummy and then East discard at trick 2! Losing the first 7 diamond tricks would be bad enough but unless South's five discards were all in the black suits (including parting company with the K), they could lose all 13 tricks! South’s heart holding was indeed a stop and earnt South the last 3 tricks.

The board demonstrates that the no-trump partner should consider running if they can from the double, especially when they are weak and even sometimes when they are not so weak. Our Panel’s predictions about future developments largely became true. Once North ran, it was hard, really impossible, for East-West to stay out of game.

Although some would have had different auctions, most who tried the no-trump or heart games ended with minus scores. The only safe haven for North-South was in a red suit part-score while for North-South it was not in no-trumps.

Perhaps doubling 1NT was not the best action for West unless North-South contrived to stay there. A spectacular success or a negative failure could be the outcome. For one West player, it was the former.

A Communication Crisis

 

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