Partner opens 1S, your right-hand-opponent passes, and you hold ♠Q ♥104 ♦KQJ98654 ♣102.
What's your plan for the bidding?
This hand was dealt in the Life Master Pairs at the 1997 ACBL summer championships in Albuquerque NM, and it generated some lively discussions after the game. Some players responded 2D, planning to continue bidding diamonds until partner got the message. Others, many of whom were playing a system where a 2-over-1 response is forcing to game, chose a Forcing 1NT to limit their high-card strength. This conventional response forces opener to bid one more time so you can continue describing your hand.
Whether you choose 1NT or 2D, the real problem comes at your second turn after partner jumps to 3S. What now?
Even though this was an "expert" event, the players varied widely in their approaches with this hand, and the final scores were all over the map. The most frequent choice was a raise to 4S, which is the contract that would probably score the most matchpoints if it makes. These players figured that their spade queen was a valuable filler, and they hoped their diamond suit would be a source of tricks. Even the two 10's might be helpful "pushers" if partner needed to develop tricks in hearts or clubs.
The second most popular choice was a pessimistic pass. Partner's 3S bid is highly invitational, but the passers didn't like having a singleton (even a good one) for support, and they were discouraged by their lack of aces and kings.
When I held this hand, the dearth of outside tricks slowed me down, too. I chose the Forcing 1NT to limit my hand, with the intention of jumping in diamonds after partner's rebid. When partner jumped to 3S, I found myself tempted by the high-scoring 4S contract, but finally decided that my hand rated to be worthless in any contract but diamonds.
I couldn't bid 4D because we play any new-suit bid here as a cuebid for a possible spade slam -- it would show the ace of diamonds and a good hand (10+ points) with some spade support. So I launched off to 5D, and that ended the auction.
As you can see, the spade contracts were disasters, and most declarers took only seven or eight tricks. The lead was a singleton diamond to the ace, usually followed by a shift to hearts. If declarer tried to cash a high diamond when he was in dummy with the spade queen, he went down 3 -- the diamond was ruffed, the opponents led more hearts, and with no more dummy entries, partner couldn't even lead up to his club king.
Optimism is often rewarded at matchpoints. If partner had held ♦Ax and the same spade suit, the spade bidders would have beaten my score. Counting on partner for a diamond fit, though, seemed way too optimistic to me. When you hold an 8-card suit, the odds are heavy that partner is very short, especially when you know he has a long suit of his own.
That may be somewhat of an over-simplification, but it makes good sense.
When you have an auction in which you and partner have both shown long
suits, and you're in doubt about which one should be trumps, make the weaker
hand the declarer. Since the weak hand will have fewer outside entries,
its long suit may score tricks only if it's trumps -- especially if the
suit is "topless" (missing the ace and/or king), like the one in this hand.
Copyright © Karen Walker