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The Natural Psyche…or “Bidding the Boss Suit”.

The race to bid spades was a key factor on one particular board this week. Would you bid them in this auction? You are South with:

 KQT5

 9854

 63

986

and hear the following:

West          North         East            South

1              x                 1               ?

You could make a negative double (maybe a little presumptuous), call 1 (seems better but does that show five?) or look at the rest of your hand and just pass.

What about the following auction where you are West with:

7432

 A7

 AKT8742

-

and hear:

West          North         East            South

1              x                 1             Pass

?

Pass is surely no option here but would you content yourself with 2 or would you show your “powerful” second suit?

I like the idea of sticking in a spade bid here before reverting to where my strengths and intentions really lie. Sometimes, by bidding the suit, it makes it harder for the opposition to find their own spade fit. That was certainly the case here but keeping the opponents quiet also made it impossible for my partner to make his splinter bid:

 

Owen (South) took the conservative approach of passing 1 enabling me to get the spades in first. When partner, unasked, showed some diamond support, I was not going to hang around and battle away against the opponents’ black suit bidding. I kept the opponents out of spades though had guided them to their cheapest dive, in 6, only two down, though no great dive if East-West took their own “dive” in 6.

A black suit lead from North makes 6easy to play (ruff three spades in the East hand), though there are also 12 tricks on the K lead. West wins and has to use a trump to cross to dummy to dispose of their heart loser on the A. Now, West gives up a spade to South whose best defence is a second round of trumps. West can now only ruff two spades in dummy but the fortunate (not a word North would use) lie of the heart suit enables the 10 to be set up to discard West’s remaining spade loser.

Was I too premature, too confident in bidding the diamond game? 9 of the 14 tables played in 5 with North doubling (the “stripe tailed ape” struck again) unsuccessfully six times. Mike Dunn did well by passing. Jeff Thompson-David O’Shaughnessy risked all but survived by diving in 6 while two North-South pairs had contrasting spade excursions, one conceding 50 in 5 and the other just a little more a level higher!

The final table saw some explosive bidding after David Dolbel did call 1 on his paltry 5 count as South. He did not realise then that he was about to be declarer in slam:

West          North         East            South

Pam            John           Michael      David

Canning     Evitt           Curry          Dolbel

1              x                 1              1

2             4              5             Pass

Pass            6             x                 Pass

?

Maybe Pam Canning could have raised to 6 a round earlier but John Evitt made what looked like an advance sacrifice over 5. Even though Michael Curry (East) took the axe to 6, Pam started wondering. Had North-South really bid all the way to 6 on a 4-4 fit? If they had 9 spades and her partner could produce just the K or the A, then all 13 tricks in diamonds would be very attractive.

So, she bid on to 7and got doubled by John Evitt. Michael obliged with the high club but there was nowhere for him to hide that tiny spade.

6 x loses more than the two missing aces. At the very least, West must score a club ruff but West can engineer a heart ruff too. Thus, the race to bid spades had interesting results…a dive over a making slam if South got the spades in first but the slam being missed if West called the suit.

The “boss” suit? Does that mean we must bid it?

Richard Solomon

 

 

 

 

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