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Choice of Fits.

“I like having lots of trumps, the more the better” commented a bridge player recently. We were debating which minor suit we would make the trump suit on the deal below.

 

 

1 could initially have been as short as 2. It seemed unlikely to be that short when East bid 3 and certainly was considerably longer when they offered 5 as a place to play. Presumably, they held at least 6 clubs along with a 4-card diamond suit.

The argument/ decision is whether there is any benefit to playing in the 6-3 as opposed to the 4-4 fit. You may be able to repeat a finesse more times in a 4-4 than in a 5-3 or 6-3 fit though one big advantage in playing in a 4-4 fit is where you can use the other suit for discarding losers.

That should not but was the case in the deal above when West ended the auction in 5. It should not have made any difference which suit was trumps but it did:

 

In a way, North-South ended up with a poor result because they really did not bid their hands to the full. The South hand has 7 spades and 2 did not really do justice to that (“a poor man’s pre-empt”). North could also have made life harder for their opponents by raising to 3.

Bidding to 5 is risky as this contract, when doubled, is great for North-South, or a disaster, depending on how South played the heart suit, either -500 (2 down) or -800 (3 down) as the game was Pairs. West’s negative double should guide South to the correct approach.

Back, though, to 5 of a minor. Against 5, East will always make 11 tricks with only a very sleepy North allowing an overtrick. However, it might not be quite so straightforward against 5, after say K from South. Correct count from North (assuming they did not overtake with A) should see a heart switch though mistakes, or perhaps a rather low percentage club lead from South, would see an easy 12 tricks for East. Thumbs up this time for the 4-4 fit though were the J missing, and a 4-1 or worse trump break in diamonds, then the club contract would be much better (diamond discard on the second round of hearts, assuming a correct guess had been made on the first round).

A few boards later came the following:

 

Not the best 12 count, game perhaps depending on partner’s diamond holding. So, you might just invite game but the invitation or straight acceptance would be to 4 not 4. My theory was soon challenged:

 

With a side-suit void, it is hard to see East turning down any invitation. A passive diamond lead from North saw an anything but passive heart switch from South and the contract was defeated by trick 4!

4 may not be very comfortable either though is only threatened by a spade lead from South. East needs to play a diamond immediately to prevent South gaining the lead to give their partner a spade ruff. Otherwise, East can just survive with 2 trump losers and the A. The defence cannot touch clubs without giving East a trick there, as long as they guess well.

It seems unlikely that East would let their partner play in 3NT though, ultimately, that would be the easiest of the three games to make.

With 4 beaten so quickly, I was under fire about the joys of playing 4-4 fits. The second deal provided some though not convincing evidence that they may not be the better choice. I will, in the main, stick to my 4-4 fit.  

Richard Solomon

 

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