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nearly that many!

How to handle all those hearts!

A hand like the following has been seen many times before but there seems a wide difference of opinion on how it should be treated. Many who held this hand and their partners did not seem to be on the same wave-length when it occurred in a recent Open Teams event.

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South Deals
N-S Vul

 

N

W

 

E

S

   
 

Q 6 2

A K Q 10 9 6 3 2

K

4

 

West

North

East

South

 

 

 

?

What would you open? Also, if you open 1Heart-small, your partner bids 1Spade-small. What now?

Before we hear from the Panel, let’s get rid of one option. This hand may contain (most of the time) 8 playing tricks and could be counted as a 4-loser hand, but you should not, would not want to, and are now barred from opening such a hand as a 2Club-small Game Force style hand. It falls far short of the “Rule of 29” requirements for such a bid if you have less than 20 hcp (hcp + length of 2 longest suits must equal at least 29). No argument.

So, to the Panel. Andy has seen all this before:

Andy Braithwaite “1Heart-small: This is an old chestnut- originally opening 1Heart-small and rebidding 4Heart-small after 1Spade-small showed some spade support. But this seems to be a forgotten agreement now and 4Heart-small now shows 8 playing tricks with solid hearts (although it could be argued that 3NT may mean the same thing)

Anyway, 1Heart-small seems to be the only logical opener and 4Heart-small the logical rebid as the minor holdings look too vulnerable to try 3NT.”

 

Nigel Kearney “1Heart-small: If I had a way to show a strong 4Heart-small opening, I would do that, otherwise the hand is too good to pre-empt in first seat and is not even close to a 2Club-small opening. On the next round I would bid 4Heart-small. We need quite a lot from partner for slam to be good, e.g., Spade-smallAKxx Heart-smallxx Diamond-smallxxx Club-smallAxxx.”

 

Kris Wooles “1Heart-small followed by 4Heart-small. 4Heart-small meaning a self- sufficient suit and a hand not good enough to open with a game force but enhanced sufficiently by the 1Spade-small response to be able to bid game.”

 

Michael Cornell “1Heart-small and rebid 4Heart-small which in my book is simply about 8-9 tricks, obviously long hearts and too strong to open 4Heart-small which is what I would open opposite a passed partner.”

 

Bruce Anderson “1Heart-small and over the 1Spade-small response I bid 4Heart-small showing a self -sufficient suit and the values to make game more often than not over a one level response. Obviously, there could be problem bidding this way as if partner is very short in hearts with long strong spades and a minor suit ace; then it is likely a slam will be missed, but I can see no other way to get this hand across.   

I would not open this hand 4Heart-small because as in my view it is too good for that bid; with one of my former partners, I used to play 4Club-small as a strong 4Heart-small and 4Diamond-small as strong 4Spade-small opener. I would use that option if it was available, albeit there is again the potential problem of partner having a good hand with long strong spades.”

 

Initially agreed but not really in unison about what the jump to 4Heart-small shows. Way back in time, I learnt that the 4Heart-small rebid was a rather minimum hand with 7+ hearts, not normally with much interest above game, rather a gamble. Our Panel seem to have revised that. Should it have spade tolerance? Nice if it has but is that guaranteed?

1Heart-small was not our only choice of opener:

Peter Newell “4Heart-small: At this vulnerability I like to play sound 4Heart-small bids, and while this is a good one, it is still within my range.  I think 4Heart-small describes the playing strength, a good suit (of course not this good..) and will make it harder for the opponents to judge whether to sacrifice or not.

 

If you choose 1Heart-small and your partner bids 1Spade-small, the 1Spade-small bid has improved my hand further as the Spade-smallQ looks like a very good card. 4Heart-small doesn't really do justice the hand as it is too good for 4Heart-small as you would bid 4Heart-small with the same hand and 1 less heart. However, I like the alternatives less unless one has some kind of artificial game forcing bid available. Any other bids will give partner a very misleading picture of my hand, so I would rebid 4Heart-small as at least it gets across an excellent suit and strong playing strength.”

 

Certainly, 4Heart-small is an opening option when vulnerable but it was interesting the reaction of the partners of this opening bid. The range was from passing out 4Heart-small, using Key Card to simply bidding 6Heart-small. Who was right?

 

South Deals
N-S Vul

A K 8 7 3

5

Q 8 5 3

A K J

J

J 7 4

J 6 4 2

Q 9 8 6 3

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

10 9 5 4

8

A 10 9 7

10 7 5 2

 

Q 6 2

A K Q 10 9 6 3 2

K

4

 

West

North

East

South

 

 

 

?

11 pairs reached slam out of 24. Of those 11, only 3 bid it after a 4Heart-small opener. 13 auctions started at the 1 level, 11 at the 4-level.

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It paid to be, this time!

 

Thus, a variety of opinions. At this vulnerability, I would not mind starting at the 4-level and if you check on key-cards, you will be in slam per force. North would just have one nervous moment if West found a diamond lead, though few did.

Richard Solomon

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