A Look at the Experts

	10 8 4
	A K J 6
	5 4
	9 6 5 3
2		A K J 3
10 8 7 5		4
A K J 9 2		8 7 3
7 4 2		A Q J 10 8
	Q 9 7 6 5
	Q 9 3 2
	Q 10 6	Opening lead: K of diamonds
	K	Vul: Both

East	South	West	North
1	1	2	2 *
3	Pass	Pass	3 *
Dbl	All	pass	* Alerted

A friend clued me into www.zone.com, where you can find all sorts of card games, notably bridge without cost. [They soon started charging. I don't know if they still exist.] I didn't try a game, but I decided to kibitz a hand or two. Many years ago, when I was writing a semi-monthly newsletter on bridge and the club was within walking distance, I'd often go over and kibitz until I saw a hand worth writing up, which is about what I did here, though in truth, I stayed for a couple after this monstrosity, played at a table occupied by experts the link showed.

I didn't jot down the play, to see if a trick was lost here or there, for what did it matter? The final score was minus 1100 when the opponents, who would seem to have a shot at a five club game even finessing into a stiff king, were willing to let the bidding die at 3 clubs! Let 'em have their partial, for heaven's sake. The highest score they could make was 150! Well, technically, 190 is the absolute highest they could make. And N-S think they're going to improve on that? Down one doubled is too expensive (vul), so were they really bidding to make 3 spades?

Both members of the declaring side are to blame here, but I would have to place the lion's share of blame on South. He has nothing above a queen, except that stiff king, which wouldn't seem destined to win a trick when dummy wasn't showing A Q J to West's eyes. A Q-high spade suit where his second highest spade is only the 9, for heaven's sake. Could South have anticipated disaster? Certainly he should have been able to grasp how unsuited that hand was for a vulnerable overcall. Overcalls, with point counts often under 10, are traditionally made on a good suit, often proving to be a good lead-directing bid. They are stronger (made at the lowest possible level) than a weak jump overcall, for what else can "weak" mean?

So even granting that South couldn't know his K of clubs would be useless, he still should have counted out his hand, totally without a sequence, to about 6 hcp's, 7 or 8 at the most -- vulnerable. But North isn't totally without blame. He'd shown his support once, for heaven's sake. And his hand didn't get any stronger on the second round. Lemme put it this way: Had South opened the bidding one spade, North still has only a single raise to 2 spades coming. But put 'im in competition, and by golly, he wants to go to the three level. I'll never understand this category, why people who could probably cite just what bids are justified with passing partners get so reckless in competition. True, I've never been able to grab one of these overbidders by the scruff of the neck and say, "Tell me, do you know the points required for the 3 level if your partner opens?" Or the like. But lemme just say I've never seen a minus 1100 partial outside of competition, a freely bid partial without any noise from the opponents. I don't believe I have, anyway.

North also might have been guided by my reference to 20 hcp's: I have often stated that without a good fit -- and the 5-3 fit here is not a good fit but a modest one that, of course, would have been sufficient had the partners controlled the other three suits -- and with only 20 hcp's or fewer, the two level becomes risky, the three level downright dangerous. This was demonstrated here in spades! North with 8 hcp's is going to need a partner with, well, at least 13 to make the three level even thinkable. Come to think of it, I take back saying South was the principal goat here. He'd only bid once. Had 2 spades been doubled for minus 800, I'd have to blame South. But North wasn't satisfied with one bid; he's the one who went to the horrendous three level, vulnerable when he'd already shown his support. To borrow from Frank Stewart, give 'em each 100% of the blame.

Minus 1100 when the opponents are willing to play in 3 clubs? I don't think I'd want to be partnered with experts like that!