Question: East went down 4 in this hand. One of the cardinal rules in bridge as taught is to never rebid a suit unless you have six of that suit. In this case, East returning to hearts may have curtailed some of the bloodletting. What are your thoughts?
Mark:
I think the main error was made by West in this case. As
soon as E overcalled 1 heart, W knows their side has an 8(or more) card major
suit fit. It is up to W to see to it that the hand gets played in hearts. Yes,
it's a fairly nice 5 card spade suit, but there's no need to go looking for a
better fit than the one already known. East made a simple, non- vulnerable 1-
level overcall. That doesn't have to be anywhere opening bid strength. It could
be done on an 8 or 9 point aceless hand like the one here. W is a little strong
for just 2 hearts. Most strong players play 3 hearts in that spot as
preemptive, not really interested in game and an immediate 2 diamond cue bid to
show a hand with heart support and strength to invite game if E had an
actual opening hand. I really recommend this approach. In this case the E-W
bidding after 1 heart would be 2 diamonds, 2 hearts (declining). It should
probably end there and 2 hearts would likely be made. With careful play, good
guessing and a mistake or two by the defense, E could conceivably bring in 9 or
even 10 tricks in hearts, but it's too aggressive to really go there. Each side
has equal high card strength and it's only an 8 card fit.
Last week we had a hand with an 8 card major suit
fit, where a lucky lie of all 52 cards made it such that a pair bidding NT
would outscore a pair in the major suit fit. I said at the time that you
should not worry about such unusual occurrences and that playing in the major
last week was the right thing with an unlucky result. This time NT bidders got
what they usually deserve. E could and should have gotten off a little cheaper
than down 4, but not by much. Presumably, they were so discouraged by the bad
contract that they lost concentration.
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