TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS
Do I trust my instincts? Of course I do! But do I trust my instincts completely and blindly? It depends on my partner and whether I play teams or pairs: with a partner that knows me and trusts me and in pairs rather than teams (a different kind of responsibility) I follow my instincts almost blindly. By instincts I mean the combination of the aggregate experience based on countless various situations (years ago I learned to forget specific hands in order to avoid unnecessary waste of time and mental energy and to the amazement and disbelief of my bridge buddies I can't recollect a hand few minutes after I played it) , very fast reasoning based mostly on elimination and some talent in immediate recognizing potentially interesting situations. But luckily or not, people are different, so I strongly recommend that you test your instincts hundreds of times in weekend rubbers with your friends, before you decide whether to trust them or not when it really matters.
What do I mean by trusting my instincts? Here are few examples:
Deal no. 1:
A109xxx N E S W
Kx ---------------------------
xx - - 1D 2C
xxx 2S 3C 4S 5C
Kxx J - - x -
xxx N Q10xx - -
x W E AQJxx
AKJ10xx S 9xx
Qxx
AJxx
K109xx
Q
My third hand opening was pretty weak, but when the bidding reached me again, I had no problems at all! Of course I wasn't 100% sure we could make the game, but I bid 4S with a lightning speed and they bid 5C almost as fast.
If you analyze the bidding, the 4S bid is the only logical one: you can count on 6 spades in your partner's hand, some 3 or 4 hopefully small clubs, and only 3-4 cards in the red suits. If your partner has AKxxxx in spades, there must be a good play for 4S! And if he's got weaker spades, his remaining points must be in the red suits, and 10 tricks should be possible too.
As it happened, 10 tricks were cold even with the perfect defense, but the outcome wasn't so bad either, since all the rest of the field played on 2 or 3 level.
Deal no. 2:
National Pairs Championship few years ago, quarterfinals, both vulnerable. All North players opened 1NT (15-17 points), East doubled, and West in most cases bid 2S. The most popular score was 110 or 140 for EW. Let's see what my partner (Nissan Rand) wrote in his column:
"After I (East) doubled 1NT, my partner Alex Wagner (West) passed! North redoubled (conventional, SOS), South bid 2C which I doubled. You can easily see that even 1NT doubled would have costed them at least 500, but this one was even better!
K94
Q1082
AKQ
J95
Q10832 A6
K3 N AJ954
1043 W E 862
1073 S AKQ
J75
76
J975
8642
Wagner led the King of hearts and another heart. I finessed the Queen and played the Ace of hearts, on which the declarer discarded a spade and Wagner the 3 of diamonds. I played another heart, another spade from the declarer, my partner ruffed with the 3 of clubs. His Queen of spades took the fifth trick. A diamond from West taken in the dummy, a spade ruffed by the declarer, diamond to the King and the King of spades, I ruffed with the club Queen and returned a diamond which my partner ruffed. I had to take another two trump tricks and the final score was 1100. The crucial part of this deal was my partner's brave decision to accept my double with 5 points in his hand."
Thank you, Nissan, but I was anything but brave! My pass was a percentage bid and I believed in my instinct and our defense. My understanding of percentage bids may seem strange to some people, but what do I care? It works!
Deal no. 3:
Several times in my long carreer I raised to game or even to a slam with a trump singleton. The only time I bid a slam in my partner suit with a void happened in some championship many years ago. We made the slam, but I forgot the exact distribution. But in my mind raising with a singleton deserves at least a short paragraph, since it always brings a huge gain even if it's logical and quite obvious.
This one happened to me lately and in my mind bidding as I did was the only choice.
xxx
Axxxxx
xxx
A
N
W E
S
Axxx
K
Axx
KQ10xx
S W N E
------------------------------
1C p 1H(1) p
1S p 2H(2) p
3D(3) p 3S(4) p
4H(5) all pass
The bidding was completely natural:
(1) 6+points, 4+ hearts
(2) weak but if you think it over, 2H after 1S must mean a 6 card suit
(3) I willed my partner to reveal his spade fit and 3D was the only way to do it
(4) a spade fit was a music to my ears, it covered some possible losers
(5) imagine some possible North hands: QJx, QJ10xxx, xx, Jx or Kxx, QJ10xxx, x, xxx or KJx, Q109xxx, Kx, xx or... Anyway, I had to bid 4H now...
Well, I didn't play this hand and can't know what thoughts exactly crossed my partner's mind, but I'm sure his first one must have been related to a definition of a fit. Mine too: how a sane person can bid 3S in this sequence with three small spades? Mind you, I would have bid 4H anyway - wouldn't it have been even nicer to find a spade singleton in North's hand and some 7-8 good points in hearts and diamonds?
All in all, my partner took 11 tricks (he lost two trumps but the club Jxx dropped), and I can't complain about scores of 90%. Saying pass after 2H never crossed my mind, neither did bidding 3NT as did most of the field. In my eyes a hand like mine is perfect for a suit contract and bad for NT. Instinct? experience? higher knowledge? you name it!
