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“Fair” Support.

You open 1H and partner raises you to 2H, three card support. You have a decent hand, enough for game and bid there directly. Your trump suit is but a little shabby..K8752. Plenty of winners outside, though. Oh, you are missing the A as well. So is partner..but they put down a reasonable dummy, except for the trump suit…H 963. Only three losers there…down one. Sound familiar?

Not today, though!

What would you next bid be? We can tell you that:

1. psyches are not allowed
2. Your partner could bid 2 to show game interest with 3+ spades

You may not initially approve of your own 1 bid but you have no Michaels’ bid available to show spades and clubs. Yes, you might have started with 2 though there is nothing wildly wrong with getting the “boss” suit into the picture, either…. and having a little running side-suit up your sleeve. 2 is, of course, natural.

It’s Pairs and the vulnerability is favourable for your side. So?

That’s mighty fair trump support. If there is a loser or two in trumps, then it is a real bad day!

How high should we go? “Quite a long way” say our experts:

Peter Newell “5:  I think it is likely to be their hand so want to bid quickly, and not constructively as something like a 4 splinter will tell the opponents what to lead and will help them in the bidding. So, maximum pre-emption.”

Matt Brown “5: I don't want to bid any less, and I don't want to bid 4 because I feel it will cause partner to mis-evaluate their hand (with both Major aces, they will get excited and I have just directed the opponents to a heart lead). In Pairs, 5 should be a fair enough score. I don't want to swing too high and too randomly.”

There’s a lot of accurate predictions in the above two comments. The problem with this bid is whether you would bid again if and maybe when the opponents bid more. You seemed to have trapped yourself into a corner not really knowing who can make what. Nothing unusual about that, though!

Both Peter and Matt reject the 4 splinter, but not Michael:

Michael Cornell “4: Pretty easy followed by 5 over partner’s 4 or 5 over anything thing else.  Am I missing something?

Well, only that the opposition may bid 4 before your partner can make that (cue) bid. Also, the point Peter and Matt made about helping the opponents to the right lead against your contract.

Nigel is another who goes straight to game:

Nigel Kearney “5: I expect partner to have some values, not a weak hand and probably six clubs as he might have bid 1NT instead with only 10xxxx. A typical hand might be x Kx AQxx 10xxxxx where one side or the other is making game but probably not both. I could do something cute to try to get a diamond lead against their heart contract but I don't like to give them extra space and doing so could provide a blueprint for them if they actually end up in 5.”

Well, your prediction of partner’s hand was not quite right but it does seem right that partner has at least 6 clubs.

I am not sure and should have asked what they would do when the opponents bid to 5 of a red suit. Bidding 6 then could push them into a making slam.

I know were this back in the days of Master Solvers Club, that Stanley Abrahams would come up with a devilish underbid and end up being dragged to the 6 level. I really doubt that the huge underbid of 3 would ever be passed out…and might just give you more information of how high the opponents wish to go.

The other bid which appeals, despite the void, is 4NT Key Card. No doubt, the opponents will bid a red suit next though knowing the number of aces opposite (and possibly if partner held A, they may have bid no trumps over 1x), may help us in judging how high to go. Remember, you are not leading a club against their suit contract..no point (or maybe there is!). Partner’s answer would have taken you to the contract where you wanted to be:

 

 

South’s 5 shows 2 key cards without the Q (South would have felt they were “without” a lot more than the queen!) It would be a good example of trusting partner in answering Key Card Blackwood. You win far more in the long run answering truthfully than feeling you should tell a little “untruth”!

As North, you would be on a “no lose” situation now. 5 or 5 can go down if North does lead a high club as West will eventually have to guess the spade position. However, 6 cannot be too far away.

6 can be defeated (by K lead) if West can avoid leading a high diamond. Certainly, this gives some validity to the above comments about not bidding 4, especially if that showed a void splinter. However, on that high diamond lead, South who would have uttered those two words in our title as dummy went down, just cannot go wrong in the spade suit. Oh, do remember to draw trump! 8 pairs out of 37 had the joy of making 6, three times doubled. Two others failed in this contract. Four East-Wests took the safe dive in 6x, just down 1 while the rest languished in any of the 4 5 level suit contracts with varying degrees of success.

“Fair” trump support, indeed!

The atmosphere on Sunday may be a little more light-hearted, though not the bidding problem we give you. You may say “it’s no problem” but answer any way…

 

1 promises at least 3 clubs and the rest is what it seems, North’s double being for take-out.

   
 

There is a connection between the happy smiling face of NZ Bridge Secretary, Alister Stuck, and this hand. I wonder if you can guess what it is?

Richard Solomon

 

 

 

 

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