Hand of the Week, Vol. 2 No. 24

This hand was randomly dealt at the 10 August session of the Monday evening bridge lesson series. A fine bidding sequence describes North's hand perfectly and leaves South in a position to make a very unusual, but logical, choice of final contract:

	K 9 3 A K J 7 K Q 9 6 4 9
	A T 8 7 Q 5 4 A 3 2 7 3 2

West	North	East	South
	1	Pass	1
Pass	2	Pass	3!
Pass	3	Pass	?

The 1 opening and 1 response are routine. North is slightly short of the usual high-card quota for a reverse, but reasonably adds a little extra for having 3 good spades and shortness in an unbid suit. The 2 rebid promises 17+ with 4 hearts and at least 5 diamonds, as well as denying 4-card spade support.

If South had clubs stopped, he would now bid notrump. If he had six spades, he would rebid spades. With only 5 spades, he would want to ask North if he had 3-card support or not. With a notrump-oriented hand but weak clubs (as on the actual deal), he wants to ask North if he has a club stopper.

South can ask both of these questions with his 3 rebid. Much more often than not, a bid of the fourth suit in this type of auction doesn't show a real suit, but simply forces opener to make a third descriptive bid: 3 with a sixth diamond, 3 if 5-6 in the red suits, 3 with three spades, 3NT with clubs stopped. On this deal South doesn't get the 3NT answer he was hoping for. Instead, he is told that North has three spades, four hearts, five diamonds, and one club.

A South on autopilot will say "OK, we have an 8-card diamond fit and we can't play 3NT. We must belong in 5." It's true that diamonds is your only 8-card fit and that you can't play 3NT. But think about what will happen if diamonds are trump: the defence will lead clubs every chance they get, forcing North to ruff to regain the lead. In effect you'll be playing a 4-3 fit after trick two. Declarer will run out of trumps, if the defence can make him ruff twice, or if the diamonds break 4-1.

Dealer North None vul	K 9 3 A K J 7 K Q 9 6 4 9
J 6 5 4 T 8 3 J Q J T 8 5		Q 2 9 6 2 T 8 7 5 A K 8 4
	A T 8 7 Q 5 4 A 3 2 7 3 2

The alternative which you may not have considered: play in your 4-3 spade fit. There are two big advantages to playing in spades: you only need to take 10 tricks rather than 11 to make your contract, and -- more importantly -- you can ruff losing clubs in the hand that started with three trumps, retaining all four in your hand. In general, ruffing in the short trump hand creates an extra winner while ruffing in the long trump hand just uses up a trump winner.

As the cards were actually dealt, 5 has absolutely no chance, while 4 is makeable with careful play and a bit of lucky guessing which order to cash your red-suit winners. Even if you guess unluckily and go down one in 4 you will still at least tie everyone going down in diamonds. If you make it you'll score up a spectacular top.

Back to HOTW index
Back to Articles index
Back to TaigaBridge home