Question: W preempts and N follows with a 3D bid which may be preempt or indication of a strong hand. That leaves S in a quandary. Has N preempted and has a weak hand and so S should pass or is N a strong hand and S should bid 5D? How can S determine what to do?
Mark:
The hand is an excellent illustration of the power of
preemptive bidding. As you point out, 3 diamonds has a wide range of strength
both for offense and defense. Not only that, but East's raise to 4 hearts has 2
possible meanings. It could be done with a weak hand and lots of hearts,
meaning it as a sacrifice, or a good enough hand to make 4 hearts a good bet to
make. The South hand happens to make it a pure guess whether it's right to bid
on or defend. In an expert bidding panel, I expect to get about an equal number
of 5D and P. 4 Spades is an interesting and possibly successful
speculation by South, but it's too wild even for me to consider.
As it is, there are 3 possible contracts: 4H by W, 5D
by N and 4S (however unlikely) by S. 4 hearts is almost sure to be defeated by
the singleton club lead, whether or not N cashes a diamond to begin. West
actually can create the best chance to make 4 hearts, by giving the defenders a
chance to make a mistake, if they play low on the club lead. If S takes the
jack and gives N a ruff, N can try to reach S with (what he hopes) the ace of
spades. Curtains! W can draw trumps because N now has only 2 left and still have
the necessary stuff to trap the club king with a ruffing finesse and a trump to
get back to cash winning clubs. Kudos to W if 4 hearts was made that way. Extra
kudos to the defenders if W played that way and they didn't fall into the trap
of taking a greedy quick ruff, or if they did ruff the club at trick 3 but led
a 2nd high diamond to shorten dummy's trumps and prevent declarer from scoring
a 10th trick. To summarize the point of the hand, anyone who ends with a plus
score of any size is likely to get a good duplicate result. Aggressive bidding
coupled with very good play, as usual, gets the top score.
Incidentally, I need to clarify a point about
North's 3 D bid and the terminology of the question. There is no such thing (or
there should not be) as a pre-empt over a preempt. A jump bid over an
opponent's preempt always shows a very powerful hand with length and
strength in the suit bid. A simple overcall at the cheapest level, as in
the present case, necessarily has a wide range and can be difficult for partner
to gauge.
Another important point: South has a very difficult
decision after 4H by E. They are entitled to take some time to think it over.
Part of N-S bad luck is that the information that everyone can glean from
South's long thought before passing, is "UNAUTHORIZED" information to
N. N has a minimum overcall of 3 D and no reason to bid on over 4 H. Ideally
the Director should be called before N has a chance to act and will
instruct N to pass in this case. If the Director is not called and N bids 5D,
the Director should be called, but rectification becomes messy and may deprive
both sides of a chance to shine in the play or defense. Since the result of any
contract is not clear, the Director will probably award average plus, average
minus, no one will feel fully satisfied and feelings could be hurt.
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