Bridge Club Bronsbeek

Night of Bronsbeek 2001

Brunssum, Casino Treebeek

December 28-29, 2001

Session 01, Boards 09-12

Aggressive, but not unreasonable bidding sequence:

3§ (Jump cue) = 3+ ©-support, 13-15 hcp, (strongly) invitational or better. This hand looks too good for the mild invitation with 3©, the double raise where RHO passes. If RHO does not pass , but raises the 1§-opening:the competitive double takes over the part of 'limit raise or better:'

Dbl = Competitive, i.e., invitational to 4©, with 3+ support. 3© would be obstructive.

After the jump cue above, East should only pass with a dead minimum. With the hand above, he should bid game.

Some Wests will slightly downgrade for the 3343-pattern, and confine with the milder invitation of 3©, especially when partner frequently overcalls on 4-card suits*. East should still look at it from the bright side, and take up the gaunt.

South will probably lead §8, but even in the unlikely event he finds the ª-lead, East has an easy play for 10 tricks. He ruffes the third spade, draws trumps, cashes ¨A and leads towards ¨Q. If South takes his king, East will dump his §-losers an ¨Q-J, and if he ducks, ¨Q will hold, and allow East to continue §A, §K and § towards his jack.

On a §-lead, East rises with the ace, draws 3 rounds of trumps, and executes the same manoeuvre in diamonds. NS will not be able to shorten his trumps in time.

Only 3 East players manage to take 10 tricks. If the field is this weak, EW should try to stay out of game with less than 25 working hcp, for the part score will always bring them an excellent matchpoints score, whether or not EW can make 10 tricks. Right here, +170 is good for almost 85% of the matchpoints, and even the very poor performance of making +140 brings EW 58%.

*This board certainly supports the case against overcalling on 4-card suits.

Recommended Bidding Sequence:

1¨ = We take the international line of opening 1¨ with the specific 4432-hand, rather than following the stubborn minority that opens 1§ on the doubleton. This, by the way. is the only case to open 1¨ on a 3-card suit.

EW stay out of game nicely, but that turns out to be not enough, if NS stay alert throughout the play. North is likely to lead a §. A low club from dummy gives South the first chance to go wrong. Any sane South will allow this trick to Wests queen. West continues with a heart to the queen. Some fools will cash the ace now, but the vast majority will allow this trick to the queen in dummy. Now, declarer ducks a round of trumps, hoping to find North with AT doubleton. Unfortunately, North wins the jack, eliminates 2 enemy trumps with his ace, and parts with a club for the ace. South forces dummy to ruff §J with his last trump. A low spade from dummy puts NS to a third (elementary) test, which South passes by ducking. Wests jack loses to the queen. North returns a ¨ to the ace. Now West still must guess right in spades. If he plays South for the ten, he will chalk up -200 for only 11.5% of the matchpoints. If he plays South for the ace, he gets away with down one for a score of 42%, owing to the 4-4 break in clubs.

Recommended Bidding Sequence:

1ª = Searching for the best fit around. West has already found the 5-3 fit in hearts, but he would rather play the 5-4 ª-fit, if it is there.
3§ = Forcing game, so East should have at least 18 hcp.
4© = Signoff, an application of the principle of fast arrival. 3© would show some slam interest, and therefore a maximum initial pass. Neither should West aim at 3NT by bidding 3¨, the 4th suit forcing. East has shown a 2-suiter, so from his own doubleton, West is able to see that a ¨-lead is most likely to bring East in trouble.

We don't understand that many Souths fail to find the ¨-lead against 3NT, for it's the only suit, EW have not bid. A ª-lead to the ten, followed by a ¨-return, will even increase the problems of East. This way of throwing away an 85% score (by bidding and making 4©) is a far worse tactical mistake, than doing so by stopping short of a close slam, and finding bad breaks that even cause the 5-level contract to go down.

Recommended Bidding Sequence:

1ª = 5+ suit, 6+ hcp, one round force. Remember, East would use the negative double to show precisely 4 spades.
2© = Destructive. With a little more strength and shape, South's hand would even qualify for a preemptive raise to 3©. If South wants to invite to game, he has many actions at his disposal: the cuebids 2§ and 2ª, the jump cue of 3§, 2NT, and even the support double, which shows exactly 3-card ©-support and unlimited hcp count. This even allows North to distinguish 3-card support in hearts from 4+ support.

NS take 2 hearts and a club, unless they screw up twice in defense.

Go to Boards 13-16

Courtesy of Freek Posthuma

Copyright © 2001-2025 by Michel Franssen