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The Best Game.

for Junior and Intermediate players....and others. It's Fri day!

Sometimes, the best game is not in the trump suit where we have the most trumps. It is not in no trumps, either. We are normally talking about the situation where our best fit is in a minor suit but where we have too many losers to make 5 of a minor and where we have a suit wide open making 3NT an unlikely make. A situation like this:

 

What is East’s best bid here? It does not matter whether 1 promises at least 2 clubs, or 3 clubs or 4 clubs. The answer should be the same.

The answer should be 3. By bidding after your limit bid in clubs, your partner should have a strong hand, at least 16 hcp with some interest in game…but which game? A change of suit to 2 should be forcing for one round and be a natural suit and if you have nothing better to say, you bid 3 which is a sign-off bid.

Yet, here, you do have something to say. Your hand is maximum for your 2 response. With holds in both the unbid suits, you might bid 2NT. That, though, is not the case here. Even though you have only 3 card heart support, you can afford to raise hearts. Why is that?

The answer is that in bidding 2, you were denying 4+ cards in a major suit. So, your support should be 3-carded and ideally at least one honour card in the suit.

Your partner will realise that you have 3 card support and will choose the final contract. In this case, it will be 4.

 

North is likely to lead K and after the defence take two diamond tricks will switch to a spade. West will take A, draw trumps in 4 rounds to be followed by 5 rounds of clubs. The defence will take a spade at trick 13 but by then West will have taken 10 tricks.

5 will fail as declarer will lose 2 diamonds and 1 spade trick. Against 3NT, West would score 10 tricks if the defence do not lead diamonds but only 8 tricks if they do…and both North or South are likely to find a diamond lead.

The key to the bidding is that East could support hearts after having denied a four-card major earlier in the bidding. Interestingly, if West opened a 15-17 1NT, it would be much harder to identify the diamond weakness and 3NT would likely be the final contract.

North could have helped East-West with a rather poor 1 overcall after West’s 1. Sometimes, opposition bidding helps one side…and it is not the side which overcalls. Perhaps East bid 1NT over 1? West should still bid 2 and East's best bid is still to support hearts. 

Nevertheless, here, East-West should not need the opposition’s help  after the 1 opening to reach the best game contract, the one where the declarer has a total of only 7 trumps.

Richard Solomon

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