June 2008 - 42

PLAY BRIDGE

Bridge
Player's
Survival
Kit

Answers to Mike's
Bidding Quiz See page 40
1. West is the dealer. Both sides are
vulnerable.
QJ7
AQ63
KJ82
92
98542
 K 10 8 2
Q7
J7

Leslie Shafer
slamhand@verizon.net

West
1
2
3

Doubleton leads are ugly
Dlr: West  6 5
Vul: E-W  A 4
J874
AKQ94
 10 8
A97
N
QJ86
 K 10 9 5 3
W E
 Q 10 6 5 3
2
S
 10 7
J632
KQJ432
72
AK9
85
West
North
Pass
1
Pass
1NT
All Pass

East
Pass
Pass

South
1
4

West led the 10. The result was
12 tricks for declarer - plus 480.
The Bidding: North toyed with the
possibility of upgrading his hand to a
1NT opener, but with two doubletons
he decided to open 1. I really like
his 1NT rebid because:

❖ Rebidding 2 would have
promised six of the suit.
❖ North expects his clubs to be
a source of tricks in a notrump
contract.
❖ Most important, he wants to show
a "tolerance" for partner's spades
(not enough to raise, but certainly
two or three).
South knew that there was a
"golden fit" in spades and lost no
time in placing the final contact in
4. Had North chosen to rebid 2,
South would have had to either bid
a new suit to force the auction (but
bidding three-card suits is always so
painful) or gamble with a jump to
4 (a jump to 3 wouldn't have
been forcing).
The play: Declarer won the
opening 10 lead with the dummy's
ace and immediately led trump, with
East winning the A. Thinking West
had led a singleton, East returned 

A good partner makes
things as easy for
you as possible.
42

North
Dbl
Pass
3

East
Pass
Pass
Dbl

South
1
2
All Pass

This was a terrible result for North-
South. 3 doubled went down two
when East had five hearts. West could
have made 5, but he was not about to
bid game.
How do you feel about the bidding?
Start with North's double: impeccable.
South's 1 bid was also impeccable.
There are some players around who bid
2 with this hand to tell partner that
they have both majors. That's nonsense.
A cuebid promises invitational values
or more and may or may not have both
majors. Bidding 2 with this hand is
bad bridge.
When West bid 2, North passed. A
2 bid by North would not promise a
better hand but it would guarantee fourcard spade support. Three good bids in a
row by North-South.
South got a second chance and he
used it. He bid 2. Note that South
had limited his hand when he bid 1.
South cannot have more than 8 highcard points, so when he bid 2, he was
not overbidding at all. His 2 bid was
not forcing, and it did admit to a few
points. Typically, South should have 5
to 7 HCP for this bidding.
When West went to 3, North fell
from grace. His original double announced support for the majors and at
least opening-bid strength. That is what
North has. He has nothing extra, and he
does not even have extra distribution.
North's 3 bid was not wise because
Bridge Bulletin
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2008
