Weekly Hand Analysis - Mark Olsky - October 9, 2023 =Game

 

Question:  South did not go to game of 4 spades in this hand because of North's pass in the first round.  What indication does South have to go to game based on the bidding?

Mark:

I'm sure many of you are tired of hearing this, but IT'S A BIDDER'S GAME! Sure, you go down here and there, but most of the time you get good boards if you bid aggressively. Neither North nor South was aggressive enough. Having a 5 card suit where partner opened is huge. When you have a singleton in the suit the opponent has bid, that is very good. Partner's points are likely concentrated in the remaining suits, so it's hard to see failing to take 10 tricks. When you are looking at 2 big cards like the K and Q of spades, those are 2 cards partner doesn't have and could be worried about, so they may be extra cautious. When partner opens 1 of a major and you have 5 cards in that major, not even necessarily honors, and a total of 10 points, you should routinely go to 4. Not only do you usually make it even opposite a minimum opener, but sometimes you preempt the opponents out of finding a good contract of their own. 

  Having said that, I still think South was a little timid not to go to 4. The diamond length tells you that  partner is probably short, you have at most 1 heart to lose. From the South viewpoint 4 spades is only somewhat more than 50% to make. Remember, It's a bidder's game. Even when you should go down in 4 spades (Not the case here) opponents may make a mistake and let you make. Another benefit of bidding on is this: Aggressive contracts build strong play.