TALES OF AKARANA

NS vul. North dealer

                                        Spade-small JT9

                                        Heart-small K8543

                                        Diamond-small 2

                                         Club-small KT75

Spade-small KQ6543.                                                        Spade-small A72

Heart-small AT9                                                                Heart-small 72

Diamond-small 9                                                                     Diamond-small QT7543

Club-small 932                                                                  Club-small 84

                                        Spade-small 8

                                        Heart-small QJ6

                                        Diamond-small AKJ86

                                        Club-small AQJ6

 

Bidding:

N.          E.          S.          W

2Heart-small        -            4Heart-small      4Spade-small

-             -            4N.       -

5Heart-small        -             -           -

 

where:

2Heart-small was less than an opener 5Heart-smalland 4+ of another suit.

4N asked for other suit but was undisclosed.

Declarer went 1 light after a Heart-small lead, which West ducked then after declarer gave up a Spade-small West played AHeart-small and another. Declarer then opted to play off top Diamond-small instead of taking finesse and subsequently had 2Spade-small losers.

5Club-small however would have made if North had shown their side suit.

At Akarana they normally play teams events so bidding and making games is normally more important than overtricks,

I have a couple of observations about this hand:

Firstly on the declarer play after the first 4 tricks. By playing on Diamond-small immediately an opportunity was missed to count the cards in West’s hand. At this point declarer knows West has 6+Spade-small3Heart-small and so has only 3 or 4 cards in minors. By playing Club-small first as a discovery play, being careful to retain an entry, to Dummy declarer will learn West has either a singleton or void in Diamond-small and then taking the finesse instead of playing off high Diamond-small is marked.

Secondly, playing teams whether or not North bid’s 5Club-small or 5Heart-small should East have bid 5Spade-small as a sacrifice/safety play?

There is an adage that the 5 level belongs to the opponents but this is not always the case. Here where NS are vulnerable and if they can make game for 600 or 650 and EW would only go only 3 light in 5Spade-smallX for 500 bidding 5Spade-small should at least be considered. Also it should be considered how likely in the other match our partner’s would have been allowed to play in 4Heart-small making 4. If we believe this is likely then defending offers the biggest potential swing.

In the end East needs to judge the likelihood of NS making their contracts as well as what EW can make playing in Spade-small.

The only possible way to do this consistently is to have an agreement what the 4Spade-small bid means in this situation. Given the vulnerability it is less likely the immediate jump bid to 4Heart-small by South is a sacrifice bid but West could have had a much stronger hand and how would they have shown this?

One method is to base overcalls at this entry level on losers and not HCP. Using this method where a double would show 6 or less losers and an overcall 7 losers enables East to make some assessments to aid there decision to pass, double or bid 5Spade-small. First using rule of 18 as they have 8 losers this indicates EW can make 3Spade-small (on actual hand NS can restrict to 2Spade-small by leading trumps at every opportunity). This confirms a 5Spade-small bid would only likely be 2-3 light. Second, because East knows West’s hand shape is likely to contain 10 total losers that they only have 2-3 cards higher than a J and that South must have a genuine game going hand.

Does anyone have any other thoughts on how to improve judgement in these situations or is it just best to stick to the old adage?

  

 

 

                          

 

Started by SEAN LYNCH on 16 Feb 2019 at 10:41AM

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