South interferes with the bidding of E/W. Should South's first bid have been a take out double forcing his partner to bid hearts?
Glenna:
S does NOT gave enough points to bid or to
make a TOX!!!! You should have a decent suit and 5 to the 9 is NOT good enough.
To make a TOX, you need 13 points. South hurt his opponents with that bid that
should not be made. Even to overcall you need 8 or more with a 6-card suit and
10/11 to overcall. South had a very clear pass.
The bidding train kept rolling up to 5 diamonds. Should South have ended it on the second bid with a 3NT bid?
Vic:
Answer: NO, south
should NOT go to game in NT on their second chance to call. And shame on the
bidding train for rolling past 3NT.
The 1H bid by North promises a hand that could be as weak as 6 HCPs. It is true that South is probably looking at six (club) tricks in NT, as soon as they get the lead. But if north has only 6HCPs, South could find themselves down before their side ever gets the lead.
South was consequently correct to make a suit bid on their second chance to call. But they made the wrong suit bid. Diamonds are a higher ranking suit than Clubs. Bidding 2D is consequently a Reverse which promises the second suit is shorter (true), but also promises a stronger hand (ideally 19+ HCPs) than South is holding.
Turns out that in the actual auction South did have a chance to bid 3NT over 3D. I have no idea why South bid 4C instead. The subsequent bid of 4NT by North is also a mystery (they have no spade stopper). The mystery 4NT bid left South with three choices: Pass 4NT - bid 5C - bid 5D.
Both 4NT & 5C deserve to make, but 5D deserves to go down one.
Ain't bridge a great game?
South has 15 HCP and overcalls 1NT. North passes and they go down 3. Should South have overcalled 1H first and then went to NT?
Mark:
It's a bit of an unlucky hand for NS. The magic spot of 2
clubs is very difficult to reach.I don't think my partner and I could have done
it. I think the 1NT overcall is a bit pushy, given 3 queens
without good intermediates behind them. Still, not much else fits and
it does seem a bit strong to just pass. If S passes, W bids 1 spade and E bids
1NT or 2 diamonds, ending the auction. Both contracts should make.
Something must have gone awry in the play. 1NT by S
should go down only 1, which is not a bad result at that vulnerability. S
should take 4 clubs, a heart and a diamond. If spades are led at trick 1, S
might even sneak home with 7 tricks. It does take concentration to keep suits
guarded when E takes 4 diamonds after S gets the Q. If E is sneaky and takes
the first diamond and then leads the jack, S may panic and play low, but that's
giving yourself no chance at all. It's scary to play the queen. Kudos to East
if that was the defense.
Do you agree with West going directly to 3NT? This hand made 5 NT.
Glenna:
It was the perfect bid and I would do it also. Nice going W!!!Glenna
Should this bidding by N/S provoke a penalty double from E/W? If so, what determines a penalty double?
Vic:
1st Question:
The standard for a small slam
in NT is a combined total of 33 HCPs. That means South was absolutely justified jumping
to 6NT. Given, however, that North flagrantly overbid their hand, 6NT deserves
to go down two.
In this bidding, West uses a stolen bid double and then North steals East 2D bid. Should East have doubled again because their bid was also stolen or was 2NT or another version of NT the best bid?
Mark:
Actually, I love that 2NT bid, but it requires some pretty
advanced thinking by West. East had no obligation to make any bid over 2
diamonds if all he had was a run- of- the- mill 1NT opening. West was going to
get another chance to "speak." 1NT is normally pretty descriptive and
most of the time no further description is necessary for W to decide where the
hand belongs. Making the unforced bid of 2NT should say, and I think it does:
"I was almost too good to open just 1NT. I'm pretty confident we can make
at least 2NT even with the worst 8 points that W could have for that
implied 2 club Stayman bid." Now West could look at that anemic
looking 9 points and be discouraged, but it's not totally trash, so I'd be
inclined to bid 3NT. It's not clearcut. I empathize with the pass. Now let's
get back to East for a moment. If you are confident that you and your partner
are a well- oiled bidding machine, that 2NT bid is great. I would bid that with
one of my most trusted partners. If my West is a robot or a less expert player
I might take a slight gamble to take the burden of my partner and just bid 3NT.
This assumes that the W player can be depended on to have at least about 8
points for that double, which I strongly recommend. Look at the difference that
9 points makes compared to 8 in this case! Give West 3 small spades instead of
the Jxx. N-S can now cash 6 spades in quick order and even 2NT goes down.
N-S took advantage of the favorable vulnerability to
do some pestering (That's good competitive bridge!) and it paid off by giving
E-W a tough decision instead of an easy one on the way to 3NT.
Incidentally, in the actual auction, a double of 2
diamonds would not be "stolen bid." Pass is a better way to say
you don't have a 4 card major. Double says you have good diamonds and might
want to play defense if the opponents don't have a safe landing place. All
doubles from that point on would be for penalty, but you don't want to do that
at this vulnerability. The reward is unlikely to be enough compared to the
probable 600+ of a vulnerable game.
South had a choice between calling a suit, hearts, or doubling. When you have to make a decision which choice do you choose first?
Glenna:
Usually we make TOX’s with 4-card suits or we
have 18+ points and want to double and then bid our suit.
This hand is in between and South should bid 2 ♥️. If he gets a chance he will follow up with 3 ♦️ to show his shape and a good hand. Sometimes we don’t get a
2nd chance.
IF you have heard of Michaels, this is the perfect hand for it!!! 1 ♠️ and you bid 2 ♠️ which shows ♥️ and a minor. Partner bids 2 NT which is asking for partner’s
minor.
Hope
this helps, remember we double with 4-card suits and bid suits that are 5 or
more cards!!!
Glenna
This board had a better outcome in 3NT than 5 diamonds. As South when do you decide to move to NT?
Vic:
Clubs are for the golf course. Diamonds are for your finger. As South, I am thinking NT as soon as North bids 1H. Over 3D, I would bid 3NT (not clubs or diamonds).
Why would you want to be in a
contract that requires 11 tricks for game, when there is another reasonable
contract that requires only 9 tricks for game?
Question:
In this board North had a first response choice between giving South an indication of points with a 1NT bid or telling North they had support for spades with a 3 spade bid. Do you have a preference in indicating points or supporting a suit on the first response and if so why?
Mark:
The big question is whether this partnership plays 1NT forcing for one round, which is increasingly popular.
We'll assume
for the moment that 1NT is not forcing, and the partnership opens 5
card majors, which is nearly universal in the US, then 1NT denies holding 3
spades. Yes, there are hands, just as this one, where NT will take as many
tricks as spades and maybe more, but the specific card holdings that make that
work are nearly impossible for mere mortals to assess. Maybe world champions
can figure out the value of the 9 and 8 of clubs in the north, as well as the
extra favorable red suit location and the unfavorable spade break. I don't want
to try such a high- wire act and don't recommend it. The choice comes down to a
3 spade limit raise (I recommend not playing a raise to 3 as forcing) vs. going
directly to 4 spades. This hand is on the border, but you must do more with 12
high card points than make a non- invitational bid when your partner opens. The
reason I prefer going with invitation rather than bidding game unilaterally on
this hand, is the nature of the 12 points. They are "quacky", rich in
queens and jacks, which often do not pull their full weight in the play. A
doubleton QJ is especially doubtful to count as 3 points. Once North issues an
invitation in spades, I think South should definitely go to game with a nice,
non- "quacky" 14 points. When the invitation shows a spade fit, the
singleton club adds value.
Now, if N-S play that 1NT is forcing for a round, I'm
pretty comfortable with N's response of 1NT, intending next to show an
invitational hand with exactly 3 spades, as shown in the actual auction. This
is only true if S was required to bid over 1NT, not just that he happened to
have a secondary suit and wanted to show it. Technically, most pairs that play
1NT forcing, will jump to 3 of partner's opening major with the strength of
this N hand but with exactly a 4-3-3-3 totally flat hand. Some very good
players feel strongly that 4-3-3-3 is an absolute requirement. I give this
N bidding a pass, and actually kind of like it, again, assuming that 1NT was
forcing. I disagree with South's pass of 3 spades, even if playing 1 NT as
denying 3 spades as well as a decent 11 points. I would then assume N to have
the Q doubleton of spades and an absolute maximum for the 1NT, so I'd still bid
4 spades.
Looking at the 26 cards in the N-S and not knowing
anything about the location and distribution of the E-W cards, normal
probabilities make it about 60 % likely to take 10 tricks in spades and the
same 60% to take 9 tricks at NT. NT bidders are undeservedly lucky on the
actual hand, as they should take the same 10 tricks as in spades. Anyone who
fails to bid game will get the low score that the probabilities indicate. To
replay my broken record: Just get to the right level in your 8 card major suit
fit and don't try to thread the needle in NT. I tend to tempt fate in bidding
NT more than almost anyone I know, but I get punished plenty, so do as I say
and your results will be good.
This is a good example of why it is a mistake to pay too much attention to the double dummy "analysis." It is no analysis at all, just an exercise in 20-20 hindsight. Imagine a program that "analyzes" your play at blackjack, but the program always knows what the next card at the top of the deck is. If you are dealt a pair of 10s and stand pat instead of hitting the next card which happens to be an ace and, of course, the computer knew that and it tells you you SHOULD have taken the hit, because it just happens the dealer had a 7 up and a 3 underneath, which the computer also knew. How could you make such a silly mistake, turning a sure win into a sure loss?
If you look upon the result of this hand as a lesson as
to what you should do in the future, you'll have the very occasional great
result to go along with lots and lots of losses. Looking at just the 26 cards
in the N-S hand, what contract would you want to be in to have the greatest
percentage of great results and the lowest percentage of bad ones? It is 3NT!
Why? Half the time the hand with all the good spades isn't the one on lead. Any
lead other than a spade practically guarantees that 3NT will be made with
overtricks. Even if the opening leader has a hand that makes a spade lead
likely, half the time the spade Ace is to the left of the KQ3 and again 3NT
makes with overtricks. This means that even if everything else is stacked
against 3NT, at a very minimum 3NT is a big winner 75% of the time and
everything else, including 5 diamonds making, is a big loser 75% of the time.
Of course, it's no fun to be in exactly the right contract and be punished for
it, but it's good bridge to be in the highest probability best contract. At the
end of most days, you come out a winner. Let me point out a couple more things.
Even when everything is stacked against 3NT as in this hand, the defense often
slips up, even when the defenders are experts. Note that 3NT was made half the
time, so even there, had there been any minor suit bidders (thankfully not)
they would not have gotten the meager rewards they aspired to. They'd still be
below average for this board. Note too that the "par" result of 5
diamonds making 5 without benefit of a peek at the E-W cards will only make
half the time. guessing the relative positions of the heart A and Q is a 50-50
proposition. Get it wrong and you take only 10 tricks.
Kudos and condolences to all N-S pairs getting to 3NT
and going down. E-W pairs that allowed it to make (given that it was always
played by North) should examine what went wrong and hopefully learn for next
time. My guess is that they led the spade Ace rather than any other spade.
Nearly all experts would lead the J or 10, depending on their lead conventions.
Even a small one works in this case, since partner has the 9. No need to push
your luck that far.
