BARELY ENOUGH.

by Jos van Kan.

Playing teams (imps) against one of the stronger OKB players (we shall call bigcat to protect his identity) with a reliable partner you get on the very first board in fourth seat as west (no one vulnerable of course) a hand that you regard as due recognition of your merits:
 S:J52 H:A7 D:AK95 C:AQ85

Not surprisingly the auction starts with two passes, but S does surprise you by opening 1C:, which is alerted and explained as precision. (At least 16 HCP, any distribution). You have read somewhere that with a strong balanced hand you should not act immediately over a strong 1C: and now is as good a time as any to test that theory.

So you pass, and LHO bids 1D:, conventionally, showing 0-8 points with any distribution. Partner is silent throughout the auction and RHO now introduces his suit: 1S:. If you had been short in Spades you might have doubled at this point (still take out) to contest the partscore but now that is too dangerous because of the shortness in H:. So you pass again, willy-nilly, and LHO raises, 2S:. Since 1S: was not forcing this shows that he isn't completely broke and has a couple of scattered points.

You're in for a new surprise when S now introduces his second suit: 3C:, as a natural game try (in Spades of course, that is the agreed trump suit) and even more when, after you pass his partner accepts: 4S:!

Could it be your birthday? After two passes you think you're looking at 5 defensive tricks and your double shatters a couple of windows. Your surprises aren't over yet because S redoubles.

So this was the auction:

WestNorthEast South
pp1C: a
p1D: bp1S:
p2S:p3C:
p4S:pp
Xpp XX
ppp
Before you lead you might as well give your adrenaline level a chance to drop a notch or two, so let's ask some questions.

  1. How many points do dummy and your partner hold together at most?
  2. Do you think dummy has a C: picture card? Yet his partner's C: bid must have improved his hand in some way. In what way?
  3. What do you lead?

Answers

  1. You hold 18 HCP, declarer at least 16. That makes 34. Since the whole deck has 40 HCP dummy and your partner share the remaining 6 at most.
  2. That is next to impossible. The only C: picture that would make a difference in his hand would be C:K, but it is a moral certainty that S who holds at least 4 Clubs and quite possibly 5 is not looking at three toplosers in that suit. Not with that redouble. So N is probably short in C: and accepted the game try thinking his partner could establish them by ruffing.
  3. So in order to protect your C: holding you must play trumps. Fortunately you are on lead, so you resist the impuls to lead one of your top D:s, but lead a trump immediately. Those D:s tricks cannot possibly run away.
You're right. Dummy comes down with:
S: 974
H: J953
D: QJT74
C: T
You admire him for his bravery, to bid so much on so little. Dummy plays S:4 on your S:2, partner contributes the 8 and declarer wins the T. Now he plays a small C: to the T, you win the Q partner the 3. You continue with a second trump and partner discards a H: as declarer wins the K. King of clubs follows A, ruff, 6.
  1. Are you still very confident of beating this hand?
Actually, there are some signs of impending doom. Declarer has a 6 card S:, (partner discarded on the second S:) and probably 5 C: (since partner didn't echo). That leaves room for only two red cards. If he has C: J9x left we are doomed, because his C: are good now. (And he loses at most two more red tricks) So partner must hold either C:J or C:9. And we also must make two red tricks in addition. Since partner can hold only two points you must hope and pray those two points are H:Q. Furthermore she must hold H:T also because her Q will be finessed against if declarer holds that card. So you need three specific cards in partner's hand to beat 4S: at this stage and I think that is more than you bargained for when you doubled that contract, isn't it? However, all is well when declarer leads H:3 from the board T, K and A. You try to cash D:A, but that card is ruffed. Declarer draws the last trump, cashes C:J and partner plays the 9. You blow partner a kiss across the table when declarer concedes down 1, since she also holds H:Q. I told you she was reliable. :) The entire hand was:
S: 974
H: J953
D: QJT74
C: T
S: J52
H: A7
D: AK95
C: AQ85		S: 8
H: QT642
D: 8632
C: 963
S: AKQT63
H: K8
D:
C: KJ742
When this deal was played in practice the W player apologized for his double after the hand and rightly so. The lesson to be learned here is that when knowledgeable opponents of their own free will go to game missing that many Aces and Kings they'll have compensating distribution. You should double only if you have a nasty surprise for them. The fact that they are missing three Aces and a King cannot be that surprise, they know that. So you only know the C:Q is wrongsided for the opponents and you are doubling for down 1 at most, but if your partner had not brought that vital C:9 or H:QT (or if dummy had had a fourth trump) the contract would have been made. Redoubled. You stood to gain 50 points (down 1 doubled instead of down 1 undoubled.) You stood to lose 460 points. (4H:XX made instead of 4H: made ). Let's say you defeat 4H: 5 times out of 10. (And that's generous, it will be less often). You'll gain 250 and you'll lose 2240, for a net loss of almost 2000 points. Surprising, no? Following the late great Skid Simon: given the choice to double 4S: on that auction holding  S:QJT9 H:432 D:432 C:432 or the hand you actually held the choice is clear. Take this hand any time over a giant with a couple of Aces and Kings. That's because the opponents know they're missing those cards. But that the trumps break so badly, now that's a nasty surprise.
  1. How do you know you and your partner can beat 4S: on the above hand? You have only 3 points!
  2. What do you think of S's redouble?
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copyright © 1997 by Jos van Kan. All rights reserved.