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Multi Choice!

Multi Problem: Multi Answers.

When eight panellists provide six different answers to a bidding problem, it looks like it might be a tough one. It is our friend, the Multi 2 which is partly responsible for this problem, and as often the case, we need to be careful about which is the opposition’s long major suit.

 

3 shows 4-7 hcp with at least three cards in each major. You are playing Teams. What now?

I do agree with our first Panellist both in his comment about the opposition’s bidding and in what we might expect from our partner’s hand:

Nigel Kearney “4: Nice of them to give partner two chances to call instead of their just responding 3. Since partner passed the first time, I expect he has a lightish take-out type hand and 4 is enough.

There are various ways of defending against the Multi 2 and a common method is to double first up with a strong 16+ hand which is not a balanced strong no-trump type, with which we bid 2NT. Hence, it would seem that our partner is weaker than that.

Also, had West shown their hand with 3 rather than 3, North would have to take immediate action or maybe not at all before the identity of the Weak 2’s suit is established. At least here, we have some certainty of that.

For all that, the rest of our Panel are more ambitious than Nigel:

Pam Livingston "5:Partner is void in hearts. So, my points are really working.  Partner would have bid 3 with 5 unless she has a very big hand.  Am expecting 4045 or 4054 but not a strong hand as she would have bid 4.   Double directly after 3 would have been more minor orientated.  There is a chance she is 4036 but I will still have chances to make as the short diamonds are with the short hearts.  I also can stand 6 if she bids that.   I can't bid 4 as I won't know what to do over 5.  Pass seems like a middle of the road action that ensures a plus score (my second choice) but we could have slam on these cards and passing the double is not going to get us there." 

Matt Brown “5: Nothing is attractive. We could pass, hoping for 100/300 but that’s not so great with such weak trumps, and partner not being strong enough to double 3 the first time. Partner is marked with a heart void and looking at our shape, they are most likely 4045 which makes 5 our most likely game, but also punishes partner for doubling light when we know they’ll be stretching because they have 0 hearts. Even though partner could be light, I think 5 will have play basically any time partner has the K (xxxx - Kxxx AKxxx?) so may as well go for it since we can’t sensibly investigate.”

Yes, we do know that our partner has a void heart (6-3 in the opponents’ hands) and that makes game more attractive. It does also look like partner also has only 4 spades, though see Stephen Blackstock’s analysis below. While North could have doubled 3 a round earlier, it could be that they were just waiting for the opposition to confirm East’s suit before taking a clear take-out action.

Explaining why we should avoid bidding spades is:

Stephen Blackstock “4: Game may not be wonderful but should at least have a play, as partner is marked with about 15 HCP outside of hearts and could be stronger. North’s likely shapes are 4045 and 4036, but five spades or diamonds are not impossible and it is important to play the best fit. 4 getting tapped immediately in a four-card dummy is not attractive. With similar lengths in both minors (4/5 or5/4) I expect North to punt with 4NT and I will know which to choose. 4 should show a five- card suit and 5 shows six.”

Other panellists thought North could be weaker than Stephen’s 15 count. His logic of finding the best game by cue-bidding does seem sound. Prepared for a weaker hand but more ambitious is:

Michael Cornell “6: I am trusting the opposition bidding-surely they have 9 hearts.I have 10 big working points and even if partner is minimum, we could be on a club finesse at worst and it’s favourite too.”

Bruce Anderson “6: I am taking the view that partner has a strong hand with a heart void and did not double 3 because of ambiguity; at that point East had not defined their hand, so a double suggests length and strength in diamonds, not a three suited hand.

Partner is unlikely to hold length in spades as then they would have either bid 3, or if stronger, double and bid spades. Passing for penalties would be better than bidding 5, which to me is an underbid; my cards must be gold in a three suited deck.”

Golden but are there really enough of them? Taking Bruce’s advice about not bidding to game is:

Kris Wooles “Pass: 3NT other option but while EW will not able to run the suit straight off, East may have an outside entry. Hopefully will get 300.”

He does not share Bruce’s optimism, though, as 300 is less than what one gets for a making diamond game, 400. Kris mentions 3NT as an option and our last panellist goes one step further than just mentioning…

Peter Newell “3NT: tough problem.  If the opponents are to be believed and partner’s pass of 3, I expect partner will have a 2-3 suited hand with about 13-14 hcp – with a void or possibly singleton heart, it was dangerous to enter the auction until it was known which suit East had.

 Partner probably has 4 spades though could have 5, but with heart leads that will certainly be difficult to deal with ruffing in the long hand.  We may belong in diamonds, but on occasion partner may only have 3, and even with 4, it may be challenging in 5.  I could pass the double, but it is likely the opponents will pick up my trumps and will probably only beat 3 by 1 and it might even make.  Although we only have a partial stopper played from my side, they are unlikely to be able to untangle their hearts.  East often will not have an entry outside hearts. So, I think 3NT is a reasonable shot…

If there could be problems in 5, then the same must be said about 3NT. That was the bid chosen at the table. Our J854 did produce a hold in 3NT but not a good enough one for the declarer to come to 9 tricks…not that the diamond slam would have fared any better:

 

East ducked the initial heart lead. Even though the spade break was nice for declarer, South had to lose the lead before coming to 9 tricks….and when West won a diamond trick, East’s hearts did the rest for the defence…down 2.

There was some pessimism about the number of tricks available for the defence in 3x. As you can see, there were seven tricks for the defence, a heart, three spades, two diamonds and at least one club. So, that was the winning action.

Even 11 tricks in diamonds required careful play with South taking four black suit tricks before embarking on a cross-ruff which should see 7 trump tricks and 11 in all.

So, taking the money was the most profitable action. The Multi continues to challenge its opposition though a simple  Weak 2 (2) X (3) sequence would have been equally as challenging for South.

Handling a strong hand

 You elect to make a simple overcall. You have quite a good hand for your bidding so far. Are you going to take any further action? If so, what?

The answers will be on Monday.

Richard Solomon

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