Major over the Minor II
(continued)
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 ------ |
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 A 7 |
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 10 9 8 7 6 4 |
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 A K J 7 2 |
| A J 7 4 |
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Q 6 3 2 |
| 10 5 |
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9 8 4 2 |
| K Q 5 3 |
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A J 2 |
| 9 8 |
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10 6 3 |
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K 10 9 8 5 |
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|
K Q J 6 3 |
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Q 5 4 |
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Here's a touch of ambiguity. Well, what's a bridge principle without any ambiguities, any borderline cases? It wouldn't be bridge as we know it. My partner and I (well, the computer and I) had a gay ol' time with the bidding. I bid a spade, he bid two diamonds. I bid two hearts and he bid 3 clubs. I bid three hearts and he bid three no. At this point I threw in the towel and said, okay, if you won't show preference, I will and said 4 clubs. Now that pesky partner made the strange bid of 4 diamonds, at which point I figured if he's not proud enough of his clubs to continue with them when I show that preference, I'll try hearts one more time,and bought the bid at 4 hearts.
When dummy came down, I could see at a glance that I had ten running tricks unless hearts are awfully unbalanced against me, and so took my ten for the contract. In any competitive situation -- well, matchpoints certainly -- I should ruff a spade (which means winning the first trick with the ace on a trump lead, to the closed hand with a club, ruff a spade, to the closed hand on a diamond ruff then run my remaining winners for 11 tricks. Now that's going to beat the people in clubs who even make 12 tricks . . . unless they bid it, of course. Yes, that's the rub. You can make slam in clubs on any lead by ruffing two diamonds in the short hand, giving you seven club winners and 5 heart. But you can't ruff more than one spade with impunity in a heart contract and so can never make more than 11 tricks in the shape of 6 hearts and five clubs.
But I wouldn't be ashamed of settling in hearts here. You can't hit all of them right, and I think it self-defeating to dissect every hand where you miss your best spot. That hand's gone. You won't see it again. You need basic principles that steer you right a goodly percentage of the time. If you would be ashamed of being in hearts here, well, be my guest. But in any tournament, I don't think making 5 hearts would be a below average board.
And here is one last comment. In an OKbridge tournament, the spade and clubs suits were almost identical. Both were 4-4. In clubs, the queen was missing, and if you wanna make 7, you've gotta guess right on a two-way finesse in either contract, so for all practical purposes, the play of the hand will be about the same, save only that you'll want to make your play on the queen of clubs earlier in a club contract than a spade. Both suits break 3-2.
This was the difference in scoring: six clubs plus 7: 1.80 IMPs. Six spades plus 7: 3.11 IMPs. Not a terribly big difference, to be sure, but there's one thing I guarantee: it's a difference big enough to miss first place by. And that hurts.