Unit 149 (WUMBA) - District 13
 
Review Please 2001

Review Please
November 2001

Team tactics

Of seven matches at the bunny club, only one was easy. Partner opened 1NT (13–15 HCP), RHO bid 2C (single suiter), and I tried 2H amazingly ending the auction. West led the spade king, I won the ace and led a low heart won by east. East shifted to ace and a diamond and I won perforce and played a second heart. East won this and tried for an uppercut when all the trumps were out. I ruffed and considered the play in the club suit. I played the ten, and when west played low went up with the ace, spearing the queen. Now a trump back to my hand to run the club nine. Another finesse led to +170 on our 17 HCP. Our partners managed to get to 4S vulnerable of course and as you can see, this contract is cold.

Slam–o–rama

East opened 1H and my overcall of 1S did not slow west down. She bid 2S and soon the hand was in 6H. I led the club jack (Rusinow) and declarer won the ace in dummy and played the heart jack won perforce by my stiff king! I figured to lead a second club and we were suddenly +50. At the other table my hand overcalled 2S and west waited for the reopening double which never came. Our teammates were +300 (six down) so we won eight IMPS instead of 14. We were still going to lose the match except for this hand:

I opened 1D and north bid 2C (as who would not – my opening bid showed 3+ diamonds), east doubled and I bid 2D despite the minimum since diamonds is where I lived. North now bid blackberry and when I had one ace put the hand in 6D and we won 11 much needed IMPS.

Cover an honor with an honor?

It's pairs and the opponents are in four spades. You figure that it's a four–four fit and dummy holds Q J 4 3 and you have K 2. Declarer leads the queen and the question is: should you cover an honor with an honor? In this case the answer is yes since partner holds 10 9 6 and you will get a trump trick. In the event, the queen was not covered and, even though partner played the nine to induce declarer to try to smother the ten, declarer played low from dummy at the next trick and made an extra trick.

Suppose, however, that partner holds the 10 6 5. Now if you cover, declarer can finesse against the ten to pick up all the trumps. If you don't cover, declarer is put to the guess. So the answer is no!

Missing the ten and nine, the percentage play by declarer is to start with the ace (unless declarer decides to take advantage of our twosome by leading the queen and see what happens). What do you make of this problem?

Defence

It's IMPS and south at our table opened 1D, my partner (west) doubled, north bid 1H, south rebid 1NT and was raised to three. What do you lead from the west hand. Partner led the spade three and it worked out well. Declarer won the king in hand and drove out the heart ace. West persisted in spades and declarer won in dummy, cashed the hearts, and took a diamond finesse to the queen and king. West cleared the spades and I had a diamond entry at the end to defeat the contract and win 10 IMPS.

Precision corner

Partner (south) opened the hand 1NT instead of my choice of 1H. I bid 2C (stayman) and when partner showed hearts, I bid 2NT (invitational). Naturally partner accepted and bid 3NT and we made +430 for a 7 IMP gain. On this hand if the opening bid is 1H, I would bid 2D and partner would bid 3NT so we get to the same spot. However, the auction might proceed differently.

Suppose south chose to open 1H and north had a hand where he had to bid 1NT. Now south would have a decision to make: bid 2NT to show the strength and risk getting too high or bid 2C and get passed out in a 4–3 fit when game is possible.

Partner decided to open 1NT to narrow the range down to 13–15 HCP at the expense of having trouble showing the fifth heart. What do you think of this?

On this hand the auction went too fast, leaving me with a big guess.

Partner (north) opened 1C and I bid 2NT. Partner asked for a further description with 3C and I bid 3H showing 11–13 HCP with four cards in each major (balanced distribution). Partner then leaped into blackberry and bid 5S when I showed one ace. What is the meaning of 5S? Is it signoff in 5S? Is it a relay to 5NT? Your guess. I guessed to pass and it was right/wrong/right! It was a signoff in 5S but it looks like 6S is a make, but the spades were 4–1 so we made just five. North could (should) bid 3S to set trumps before using blackberry.

What do you bid and why?

You are south and it's your call (matchpoints). Do you bid 1D or do you bid 2C? My choice is 1D as the opponents might be able to preempt in a major and leave you guessing at a high level. Partner responds 1H and you have to choose a second call. How about jump shifting to 3C? At least that is forcing. 3NT could miss a slam. 3D could be passed! Let's say you bid 3C. What is north supposed to say? 3H underbids the hand. My choice is 4C. What is south supposed to bid over that? Looking at both hands at matchpoints (yuk!) 3NT (oops we are past that) seem to be right. At IMPS 5D looks best. However, there is much to be said for bidding 6D as the opponents are likely to lead spades and then it comes down to a 3–3 club break with real squeeze chances.