October 2007 - 35

It's Your Call

is gold. I picture:
K 2 3 K 6 4 A Q 10 7 6 3 2,
for example."
Boehm doubles and calls it a
"tough problem." He says, "If partner
pulls the double with a heart void, we
should reach our best contract. If we
defend, I'll lead trumps and go plus."
You may have trouble reaching
your best spot after a double. Partner
might envision your K as the K
instead, and with fewer offensive
values than you have.
Three panelists opt for 3NT.
"3NT looks like the most likely
game to make," says Rigal. "Hearts
should be blocked."
Lawrence and Soloway agree, with
similar reasoning.
Kennedy bids 4. "3NT has practically no chance," she says.
Most of the panelists believe this
is pessimistic. Although there's no
guarantee 3NT will make, 5 should
have play. Meckstroth agrees with
this.
"5," he says. "I would probably
survive 3NT, but sometimes clubs
don't run, or partner could be void in
hearts."
Sanborn agrees with 5. "I rate to
make 3NT facing a singleton heart,"
she says, "but there are no promises
that partner has even one heart, and
I can't depend on him to pull when
he is void. It's hard to construct a
hand where 5 isn't a good contract,
given that partner has at most two
spades (no support double) and at
most one heart. Even 6 is a good
bet, but is too hard to investigate."
Walker takes the direct route.
"6," she says. "With partner's extreme heart shortness, this has to have
a play. If it's on a finesse, it's through
the stronger hand. I could torture
partner with 4, but since he has no
aces to cuebid (outside of clubs), that
seems pointless."
This would be a tougher problem
at matchpoints because you want to
play 3NT if you don't have a slam. At
IMPs, however, you can always play
5 so the 4 cuebid is "free."
"We downgraded 4 in the scoring because it is not forcing," say the
Coopers. "We also downgraded the
October 2007

3NT bid, which seems to be a poor
gamble, especially at IMPs."
5. Matchpoints. Both vulnerable.
A Q 7 6 5 4 A 10 9 5 4 3 10
West
Pass

North
1
1
Call
2
3
2
3
1NT

East
Pass
Pass

Votes
11
4
3
0
0

South
1
?
Award
100
60
40
10
0

Breaking the rules
One of the rules of bidding, is not
to raise partner's second suit with
three-card support. The panel majority doesn't agree with this.
"2," says Robinson. "Even
though you're not supposed to raise
partner's second suit without four,
playing in spades will get a higher
score than playing in diamonds."
"It's close between 2 and 3,"
says Meyers, "but I am going to lie
and raise spades. If we have a game,
it is likelier in spades. If we don't
have a game, I would rather play the
major than the minor at matchpoints."
"This is a classic problem with no
good answer," says Cohen. "Since
it is matchpoints, I'll go with 2.
It's not IMPs, so I won't worry that I
have extra values and that we might
miss a decent game."
"2," agrees Baze. "Taking the
low road to ensure the highest-scoring partscore - it is matchpoints,
after all."
Other 2 bidders make similar
comments.
"We are short a spade and long
an ace - reasonably compensatory
values," say the Sutherlins.
"A slight underbid," say the Coopers, "but we have only three spades
to make up for that."
"Yes, I'm a spade short," says Falk,
"but I have to do something with two
aces and a 10-count."
"I had a similar hand last week,"
says Rigal, "and it worked out poorly
to raise. So on the theory of 'swings,'
it must work today!"

Walker bids 2. "If it's a partscore
deal, I'll take the plus score playing at
matchpoints. If partner has extras and
can bid again, it is critical to choose
the right game. Alternative bids of
2 or 3 make it impossible to get
to 3NT if that's our spot.
"I'd like to have better diamonds
to bid 3. If partner passes and the
opponents balance, I can give an
accurate description by bidding 2
then."
Four panelists bid 3. This is invitational with a six-card (or longer)
suit.
"I don't like it (3) much, but
nothing else is better," says Sanborn.
"I won't try for the 4-3 fit unless
partner bids again," says Freeman.
"Over 3," says Boehm, "if partner continues with 3, I can then
show the three-card spade support."
Lawrence agrees. "We may still
get back to spades," he says. "I don't
want to jump directly to 3 with
only three-card support if any other
bid is possible. Partners have long
memories if it turns out poorly."
The experts who raise spades realize they are breaking a cardinal rule
of bidding. They justify it, however,
because they have extra values,
because no other bid is perfect,
and because of the form of scoring
(matchpoints). The diamond bidders
aren't willing to raise spades with
three-card support, and hope to be
able to bid again.
r

You can participate in It's Your Call.
Go to www.acbl.org and click on My
ACBL. The top scores for August:
June Dettwiller, Holiday Island AR
Jim Humphrey, Highland Park IL
Brian Power, Thornhill ON
Joe Lentz, Alexandria VA
Eric Bizzell, Beecher City IL
Elliot Grant, Silver Spring MD
Florence Weener, Needham MA
Jason Larrivee, Regina SK
Edward Rasmussen, Plymouth MA
Ronald Taylor, Starkville MS
Mike Dorn Wiss, White Rock BC
Michael Zeller, York PA
David Brower, Portland OR
Wafik Abdou, Bakersfield CA
Koba Ter Neuzen, Victoria BC
Christopher Marlow, Wilmington DE
Earle Miller, Lisle IL

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2007
