The Kibitzer is Shirley Wright: Volume 4
The Kibitzer is Shirley Wright: Volume 4
At the Tuesday June 8, 2004 Sectional Tournament at Clubs,
this amazing hand occurred:
West dealt, with NS Vul
West: S-Jxxxx H-10xxxx D-Qx C-x
East: S-AKQxxx H-None D-A C-AKxxxx
Try to fill in the bidding you think best after
West North East South
Pass Pass 2C (1) 3D
?? ??
Answer:
West’s bid:
West has a terrible hand, but despite that, s/he has two suits and there is no time to waste. Looking ahead, even though a pass by West is 100% forcing, only bad things can happen after a pass by West: North might raise to 4D or with a different hand East may bid 4C. So with both majors, West must bid 3S now and if not raised, by bid 4H next. Neither passing or if you play them, making a negative double (which shows support for all unbid suits), is acceptable.
East’s bid
West North East South
Pass Pass 2C (1) 3D
3S 4D ??
East has a clear-cut call of 7S. No other bid comes close to being correct. It is true, that there is a chance you have a Club loser, but let us analyze the situation via tricks not points. East’s hand has one possible loser, a Club.
Partner’s 3S bid surely shows a 5 card suit. Partner could have any number of Clubs. With fewer than 3 Clubs, you can ruff all of your club losers. If partner has 4 Clubs, you only go down on a 3-0 split to the Q , or when East holds the CQ, only on a Club ruff on the opening lead. Finally, if partner has 3 Clubs, there is a 3/7 chance that one of those is the Q, making 7S cold, a 52% chance if partner has Jxx, and a 40% chance if partner has xxx. Even with partner holding 3 Clubs, this works out to be a 2/3 shot under this worst case. The overall grand slam chances are of the order of 90%.
If West passes over 3D, East will never learn West has more than 3 card Spade support. In fact, after
West North East South
Pass Pass 2C (1) 3D
Pass 4D ??
the correct call for East is 6S and West cannot move over that call.
Lesson: East should reward his/her partner’s 3S bid by taking it to the limit (7S). If you bid only 6S over 4D, you are not listening to your partner, or the other players for that matter. After all, you have no Hearts, and noone is bidding Hearts. You partner probably has a bunch, making shortness in Clubs all the more likely. Many hands are best bid by evaluating trick taking, rather than thinking point count.