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Long or Short Black?

It’s good to have the spade suit, especially when you have the chance to open 1. It means any suit overcall by the opponents is at the 2 level and that can sometimes be dangerous and at other times awkward.

Similarly, there are times when we have 5 cards in a higher and 6 in a lower suit that our bidding flows better when you open the higher suit first. So, with these thoughts in mind, would you be happy with South’s choice of opening bid below?

 

You are playing Pairs. Do you agree with the 1 opening bid? Whether or not you do, what is your next bid?  2is natural and a 1 round force.

“NO” says our Panel in one voice to our opening bid, with emphasis!

Matt Brown “Very strong disagree with 1. Our suits have such great texture and having spades is even easier because I can bid 1-1-2 to show my shape and the auction will still be relatively low.”

Michael Cornell “Absolutely not. This is a 4 loser on my count. It is a 1 opener followed by 4 (if necessary) all day long.”

Bruce Anderson “Disagree very strongly with the 1 opening. I would not be in this ridiculous position if I had opened 1. With a 6/5 hand and the suits nothing to be ashamed of, what is the 1 opener all about?”

There are times when one’s bidding is smoother with 5-6, e.g. hearts and diamonds but, as Michael Cornell says, it would be very rare with the black suits above that spades would be pre-empted out of the bidding. Others disagree with our opening, but in milder tone.

Michael Ware “With weak 5/5's I agree with opening 1, but this is too good - I would open 1.”

Stephen Blackstock “1 is a very odd choice of opening bid. Shorter suit first? Pre-empting your own auction?”

Pam Livingston “I prefer opening 1 to give more room in the auction and can repeat spades to get the shape of the hand across. “ 

Kris Wooles made a similar comment.

Peter Newell “I would open 1. It saves a lot of bidding space and allows us to show our hand better. Yes, the spades are great but when I rebid 1 then 2, partner will get the idea...on the auction given, we have chewed up heaps of room.”

However, the Panel were not quite so united in what to bid over 2 after our 1 start.

Pam Livingston “2:  3 overstates my high card points (4 splinter, 5 exclusion blackwood).  Having a void in partner's suit is a minus for the hand.  Partner will usually make another move.”

Michael Ware “2: If you are good enough for 3 now, you should have opened 1.”

Nigel Kearney “2: 3 is game forcing which is too much and doesn't really help us play in clubs as partner won't picture this hand.”

However, even though light on high cards, the rest just had to bid their 6-bagger:

Michael Cornell “3: Forced to do so. Game-forcing and partner will never think I have an 11HCP hand! If we do not have a primary fit, it is almost imperative to play in clubs in order to sustain a force but partner will never know our clubs are longer.”

Matt Brown “3: We have to start showing our suits somehow, despite being classically under-pointed with us not being strictly in a game force yet.”

Peter Newell “3: yes, it’s kind of ugly but 2 is such a big distortion. No thanks...” Similarly, Bruce Anderson who hopes the auction does not get out of control. There’s another danger of a 2 rebid:

Stephen Blackstock “3: Whether or not you think you have the values (high cards no but playing strength yes), there is now no choice: you can’t conceal the clubs forever.

You say that 2 is a one round force; imagine the auction proceeding 2 and then all pass! Perhaps North holds - AxxxAxxxx Kxxx.

There is no right answer now because 1 was not the right start. Summing up for the Panel:

Kris Wooles “3: As it is the situation is very ugly. I’m almost inclined to decline an answer.  3 suggests more values than I have while 2 is simply a distortion of the hand shape while confirming minimum values. So, if forced into a corner I don’t think I could bear not showing this club suit and so would bid 3 anyway. In my mind this is the lesser of 2 evils with which I wouldn’t have been faced if I had opened 1. “

There are some days when bidding spades just has to wait. Ironically, starting with either 1 or 1, you should reach 6. Some played in North’s suit. Others only reached game or stretched to grand slam. How would you play 6 by South on the lead of J?

 "Never pur a good 8 card suit down as dummy"....except playing Pairs!

2 was 4^th suit, game-forcing. 4NT was not perfect with a void club. 5 showed 2 key cards but no Q…hence 6. An alternative would be for South to bid 5 over 2 asking partner to bid 6 with good trumps….and South would have obliged.

At the table, declarer won their A and then discarded their losing heart on the A. A low diamond was then ruffed in hand with both opponents following. K was played next and then 9. West played low and so did declarer from dummy. The contract was now safe as long as trumps broke 3-2. 13 tricks had been made:

 

Notice that West erred in not playing Q. Had they covered, South had to lose a trick as declarer must now run diamonds with West ruffing as the only trick for the defence. A club ruff will then see South back in dummy to enjoy the remaining diamonds. 

Those in 6 and 7 had to find the Q, and as stated, West could have beaten the latter by covering with their queen.

In a few cases, East had found an opening bid. On the heart lead, South could be excused from presuming East held Q and thus could take the “marked finesse” through East, conceding just the K.

Alas, that line produced two losers. Bridge can be cruel at times.

Major suits can be good, sometimes!

But not always. Being able to follow suit to a few rounds of clubs would have been much more comfortable on the deal below.

 

2NT is 20-22 balanced. Your partner finds the very interesting lead of 2. See, partners do make good leads, sometimes! Your 9 is taken by the ace and your joy of quick success is short-lived as declarer plays off AK and then a third and then a fourth club from dummy. Everyone except you follows to all four rounds of the suit. Which 4 cards do you throw?

Until Monday….

Richard Solomon

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