TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS II
Deal no. 1:
Pairs Championship semifinals, some time ago. NS vulnerable, dealer West.
The predominant course of events was three passes with South opening 1NT (15-17 points). The final contract was either 3 or 2NT, everybody easily made 10 or 11 tricks and the average was 400 for NS. But was this deal that flat and boring? There are so few of them, if you only use some imagination and don't just follow the pack.
K2
10975
QJ1053
Q4
J754 A9863
AK932 N J
6 W E 9842
863 S K72
Q10
Q64
AK7
AJ1095
My partner (Nissan Rand) decided that he had a nice non-vulnerable third hand 1S opening. South bid 2C - he didn't want to say 1NT without a spade control, neither he wanted to use take-out double without 4 hearts and with only 14 playing points. I (West) never hesitated and bid what I always do with a hand like this, namely 4S. And 4S it stayed.
If you take a close look at our combined hands, 4S doesn't look so crazy, all we need is only one trump loser and the club Ace on side. As it was, we had to lose 4 tricks, which would have been a nice gain anyway, but South had other ideas: he saw two hands only and didn't know that we had no chance of making the contract!
South led the Ace of diamonds, saw the dummy and knowing that both spades and hearts were divided, simply panicked: he assumed that East had spade AKxxx and close to an opening. If East had something like AKxxx, Jx, QJx, xxx, which seemed highly probable, the only way of defeating the 4S contract was leading a club at once to his partner's King and drawing three club tricks before we could discard them on our high hearts! Pure logic, isn't it? The only point was that East was even weaker, but he liked his distribution too much to pass. The outcome - 420 for EW.
After the deal was over, my partner said that my instincts were right this time and that my bid was very courageous. Was it really? I beg to differ: in my opinion it had nothing to do with instincts or courage, it was a simple percentage bid even - or especially - having considered the possibility of a very weak 1S opening.
Deal no. 2:
How often you have 8 points after your partner opens game forcing 2C? The following deal happened to me only few days ago.
I had: K10x, xxx, KJx, J10xx, my partner opened 2C, I decided to bid 2D (negative), and my partner bid 3NT showing a balanced hand with 25-26 points. And it took me a split second to pass. When I opened my hand after a neutral lead, both opponents - both of them very experienced players - exclaimed in my direction something that sounded like "are you crazy?". Only my partner didn't say a word, took his 10 tricks and said that he tried to take 11 but it was impossible. His hand: A9x, AQ9x, AQx, AKQ, the heart King was off side, no elimination was possible.
All I knew was that my partner's distribution was either 4432 or 4333, but I hated my 4333 distribution so much that I decided against even trying to reach a slam. Were my instincts right? In this particular deal they were, but there are many balanced hands with 25-26 points that enable you to make 11 tricks certain and 12 possible.
Deal no. 3:
It's been happening to me time and time again, and it happened once more: I saw my hand, heard the first two bids and knew, just knew, that I was defending against slam! My partner (North) opened 1H promising at least five hearts, East bid 2D. I held QJxxx, 109xxx, Q, Kx and immediately saw the danger: my diamond Queen looked like minus 2 points, heart void in one of their hands seemed very likely, and if my partner's values were concentrated in hearts they could have had diamond slam here with very little points! The first thing I do in such cases is concealing the too-long fit in my partner's suit and showing off my strenght, and if this doesn't stop them nothing really would. So with a lightning speed I doubled (negative, 8+ high card points, suggesting the two unbid suits). West was no pushover, sensed the potential of their combined hands and jumped to 5D!!! North had hoped for a slow and quiet auction and would have liked to bid 3C... but the bidding reached him on 5 and not 3 level so he passed. East of course didn't expect me to have more than 3 hearts and couldn't have hoped for void in West hand, understood 5D as something like xx, x, KQxxx, Jxxxx and passed. Now I could have passed but we were nonvulnerable and they were vulnerable so I took my chances and bid 5H having decided in advance to bid 6H after 6D... but I hardly expected them to say 6D in this situation. And they didn't! My partner lost four tricks, down two, 300 for EW.
xx
AKQJx
xx
Q8xx
xxxx AK
- N xxx
Kxxx W E AJ109xx
J9xxx S A10
QJxxx
109xxx
Q
Kx
In the afterthought I have some doubts about the 5D bid: my dear West, if you are willing to jump to 5D because you are feeling strong, and since you can't redouble because you don't have enough points, why don't you say something like 3H? Maybe you'll promise 3 more high points, but your heart void and an excellent diamond fit will be obvious and you'll give your partner a fighting chance. Think about it, my friend.
