Quick Tips

I will be writing up interesting hands from the Friday Duplicate sessions for 2012.

Friday 3 February 2012

Hand 13 (dlr N both Vul) could have been a disaster, and if you managed to avoid it, good for you.

South has the most interesting hand, and when East overcalls 1S, perfectly normally, South should not bid at all, certainly not show the diamonds. Poor old West passes too, hoping that the other side will bid again, but fearing a big number coming from 1SX'ed. North should make a reopening double, not bid hearts. Any reasonable opening hand should take this action, rather than bidding, or passing , because partner may have exactly the sort of hand that South has - lying in wait for East.
So the bidding will go 1C 1S p p X p p p , and East will play 1SX'ed. If the defence gets it right, the result will be -3X, (-800) or even -4 X (-1100) . You should be hoping for a good result on this hand, rather than bidding 3NT, which is not easy to play at all. We need to look for low level penalty doubles when the trumps are stacked so badly for declarer.

Friday 27 January 2012

After South's 4S opening, West should do something, either 5H or X, to show values. The worry is that partner has already passed, and we are commiting to the five-level. But preempts are designed to upset the other side's bidding, and they usually do just that. 5H (X'ed or not) will go down at least three tricks, for - 800, especially if North leasds the DA, and gives South a ruff wiht their singleton trump! Cruel! The only consolation is that NS are easily making 4S.