September 2014 - 49

Newer Players

Play & Learn
BY PAT HARRINGTON

 mrsbridge@embarqmail.com

Bidding over preempts
As South, with nobody vulnerable,
you hold:
♠3 ♥K Q J 7 4 ♦A 8 4 2 ♣6 4 2.
West
3♠

North
Dbl

East
4♠

South
?

Before reading further, what's your
call?
Partner's double is for takeout. Generally, doubles of preempts through
4♥ are takeout-oriented. Even when
the preempt is above 4♥, double is not
unilaterally for penalty. Many players
agree that these doubles show general
strength and can be taken out with a
hand having enough distribution to expect to make a high-level contract, but
may also be passed for penalty. Make
sure you know how your partner intends a double of a high-level preempt.
Here, North has made a clear takeout
double of 3♠. It's reasonable to expect
North to have three-card or longer
support for the unbid suits, with spade
shortness and a hand worth about 16
points, including distribution. If East
had passed 3♠, you would happily bid
4♥. But East bid 4♠. What's that all
about? Whose hand is it?
Raising partner's preempt to game
could show a hand strong enough to
expect game to make, or the raise could
be furthering the preempt in an attempt to steal the contract.
Given your 10 HCP and partner's
double, it's likely that East is extending
the preempt just to make life difficult.
Annoying? Yes. Unfair? No. With the
right hand, raising the preempt and

bidding to go down is good bridge.
Because a 3♠ opening tends to show
a seven-card suit, expect East to have
at least three-card support. Notice that
would give partner a doubleton spade,
which is consistent with the spade
shortness needed for a takeout double.
What action did you take?
While East's 4♠ might elicit
thoughts that involve some not-so-nice
four-letter words, you won't vocalize
any of them - including pass. You can't
pass when partner, who has taken a
strong action, has no clue that you have
strength. Your decision is whether to
bid 5♥ or double for penalty. What's
the right decision? Examining the
complete deal will reveal your best call:
Dlr: West ♠ 8 6
Vul: None ♥ A 10 8 2
♦KQJ6
♣AJ3
♠KQJ9742
♠ A 10 5
♥95
♥63
♦3
♦ 10 9 7 5
♣ 10 9 8
♣KQ75
♠3
♥KQJ74
♦A842
♣642
If you chose to double 4♠ with
South's hand, your side will collect 100
points.
What if you chose to bid 5♥? Your
unavoidable losers are one spade and
two clubs, so 5♥ is down one, giving
E-W plus 50.
There is a game that makes. By

North, 5♦ cannot be defeated. Before
drawing all of East's trumps, declarer
ruffs a spade loser. Once trumps are
drawn, South's five-card heart suit
allows for a club discard. No discard is
possible in 5♥. More tricks are often
available in a 4-4 trump fit than in a
5-3 or even a 5-4 trump fit. If South
declares 5♦, however, the opening
lead of the ♣10 defeats the contract.
But nobody is likely to reach 5♦, not
with a sure heart fit and little room for
exploration.
Is 5♥ a bad bid? I would be tempted
to bid 5♥ with South's hand based on
10 HCP, the singleton spade and the
nice five-card suit. Preempts make
you guess, and you won't always guess
correctly.
Does the fact that 4♠ goes down
only one make 5♠ down two a good
sacrifice for E-W? Not this time. A
good sacrifice goes down less than
the value of a game the opponents can
make. You should expect a sacrifice to
be doubled for penalty. The problem
here is 5♥ does not make. Defending
5♥ will give E-W a plus score. Bidding
5♠ turns that plus into a minus. That's
called a phantom sacrifice and is not
winning bridge.
Without exceptional distribution,
we're generally content when our sacrifice pushes the opponents one past
game. As the late expert Ed Manfield's
1987 winning Bols Bridge Tip suggests,
the five level belongs to the opponents.
N-S should double if E-W continue to
5♠, and settle for collecting plus 300. ◾
September 2014 Bridge Bulletin

49
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2014
