| ♠ J 10 ♥ J 5 4 ♦ A 7 5 3 ♣ K Q 9 3 |
It's not normally my style to open light with a balanced hand. If I'm going to open light, I prefer to have something to pull to when partner starts doubling. But I need to do something to generate some action, so I decide to try out a one diamond opening. This is something I probably would not do in a real match, because I wouldn't want to destroy partnership confidence. This action doesn't really satisfy the "reasonable but different" criterion. But Jack has no memory, so this decision will have no effect beyond this one board.
LHO passes, partner bids one heart, and RHO bids one spade. I double to show three-card support. and LHO bids three spades, which ends the auction. How bad can this be? It's surely their hand, and they could easily be either a trick too high or a trick too low. I lead the king of clubs.
| NORTH ♠ K 9 ♥ K 3 ♦ K Q 10 8 6 ♣ A 7 6 2 | ||
| WEST ♠ J 10 ♥ J 5 4 ♦ A 7 5 3 ♣ K Q 9 3 |
| West | North | East | South |
| 1 ♦ | Pass | 1 ♥ | 1 ♠ |
| Double | 3 ♠ | (All pass) |
LHO did well to pass over one diamond. I would have bid one notrump myself. As a general rule, I like passing with good hands containing length in opener's suit. But it doesn't look right with this hand, since it will be difficult to get back into the auction later.
When you pass over an opening bid, any aggressive action on the next round should show a trap pass: length in opener's suit and at least a sound opening bid. For example,
| West | North | East | South |
| 1 ♦ | Pass | 1 ♥ | Pass |
| 2 ♥ | Double |
should be a good three-suited take-out double. (Not a weak black two-suiter, a hand with which you surely would have bid on the previous round.) After this double, a diamond bid by South is natural.
| West | North | East | South |
| 1 ♦ | Pass | 1 ♥ | Pass |
| 2 ♥ | 3 ♣ |
should show five or more diamonds and a secondary club suit. A three-diamond bid by South would be a preference, possibly only a doubleton. While technically this hand meets the requirements for this auction, it would not be a good choice. This hand has too much defense and not enough offense to bid unilaterally at the three level, which is why I would simply get the hand off my chest by overcalling one notrump on the first round.
Once North did pass, however, the auction went very well for him. He should pass again over the support double, then double whatever we land in. If we land in one notrump or two diamonds, the double would be for penalties. If we land in two hearts, the double would be for take-out. The latter double should show a good hand, primary diamonds, club support, spade tolerance (since he could raise with real support), and willingness to defend should his partner have a heart stack. In other words, it shows pretty much the hand he has. His initial pass left him in a perfect position, and he failed to capitalize.
On my king of clubs lead declarer plays the deuce from dummy, partner plays the four, and declarer plays the five. If I can establish a second club trick before my diamond ace is knocked out, we will have three tricks in the minors. We need two more, which doesn't seem like a lot to ask for. Partner might have the ace and queen of hearts. Or he might have either major suit ace plus a slow trump trick. (As little as the eight of spades may suffice.) I can either continue clubs myself, hoping partner has jack doubleton, or I can play a heart to partner's hoped-for ace and allow him to lead clubs in case he has ten doubleton.
A club continuation is necessary only if partner has the club jack and some hand without the heart ace that nonetheless contains two tricks. That's pretty obscure. A heart shift seems better. I play the four of hearts--three--ace--seven. Partner shifts to the jack of clubs--eight--three--ace. Declarer plays a spade to his queen and the deuce of spades back to the king as partner plays three, four. He leads the queen of diamonds--deuce--four. I take the ace and cash the club queen as partner discards the deuce of hearts.
If I tap declarer, he will be down to the same trump length as partner. I don't think that can hurt in this particular case. But why take the time to work it out? It's clear a tap can't help us, so I play a heart. Partner eventually scores a trump trick for down one.
| NORTH ♠ K 9 ♥ K 3 ♦ K Q 10 8 6 ♣ A 7 6 2 | ||
| WEST ♠ J 10 ♥ J 5 4 ♦ A 7 5 3 ♣ K Q 9 3 | EAST ♠ 8 7 4 3 ♥ A 8 6 2 ♦ J 9 2 ♣ J 4 | |
| SOUTH ♠ A Q 6 5 2 ♥ Q 10 9 7 ♦ 4 ♣ 10 8 5 |
It looks as if we were indeed in serious trouble in the auction. If North passes the support double, we rate to go for 800 whether we land in one notrump, two diamonds, or two hearts. Partner's best action would be to pass as well, holding our loss to a mere minus 380. Perhaps North is supposed to prevent that by redoubling. But I'm not even sure what that means. I've never discussed a redouble of a support double in any partnership, so I would be afraid to produce it.
At the other table, North opens one diamond in second seat. He rebids two clubs over his partner's one spade response and buys it. There are several reasonable lines of play where North might go down, but he manages to avoid all of them. Making two for a five-imp gain.
Me: +100
Jack: -90
Score on Board 71: +5 IMPs
Total: -135 IMPs
Although I am sympathetic to Jack North's pass over the 1D opening (no source of tricks for a 1NT contract, assuming a non-diamond lead) and to Jack North's decision to bid over the support double (seems likely to North that EW have an 8+ card heart fit), the choice of 3S as a call seems offbeat. Why not 2NT? Once his partner has overcalled, seems likely to North that South has either runnable spades or sufficient scattered values to produce hope of there being a making notrump game. Move the king from hearts to clubs, and I would better understand a 3S raise, as there would then be fewer options to describe such a strong hand (assuming no agreement on meaning of redouble of the support double).
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