Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - July 26, 2021- Why did 3NT go down?

 

Question: We bid this to 3NT and went down, was there a better place to be and how do we get there?

Vic:

Light opening bids in 3rd seat are a modern day trend. From that perspective, 1he 1C opening bid by West with a hand that meets “Rule of Twenty + Two” standards is certainly acceptable. Other than that opening bid, however, EW should be Passing not Bidding. Unfortunately, EW did not start passing & drastically overbid their hands. They deserved to go down.

Given the vulnerability, my suggestion is that North should have Passed as well. North, however, opted to overcall 1S. Did they really want partner to lead spades should they end up defending? Their spade suit is pathetic.

Both sets of partners hold weak hands. My DealPro analysis program advises that EW deserves to take 7 tricks playing a heart or spade contract & NS 7 tricks playing a club or diamond contract. That is the best either side can do versus good defense.

Subsequent to the actual 1S bid by North, I would argue that East should Pass, crossing their fingers that NS end up in a spade contract, ideally DBLed by West. Even a one level spade contract played NS deserves to go down.

The only player in this auction who gets credit for bidding their hand properly is South who Passed 4 times.