It was a rowdy day at BBR.
6 and 7 card fits making overtricks in game - Slams getting doubled and going down - Phantom sacrifices!
Playing with a regular partner, I found myself in a horrible contract after a bidding disagreement once again. There's only one way this contract makes....
Yes. You guessed it...
My lovely hand:
2H! South comes to life! Oh no!
Partner rebids 2D, passed to me.
Although I've seen some rule of 20 and rule of 16 openers today, I'm not getting talked out of game on this hand. I've already decided that.
3H by me which we play as western cue. I'm hoping my partner has a heart stopper because I know my Left Hand Opponent and his pass and bid of 2H likely shows something like 6 points and a 5 card heart suit headed by the 10.
Partner disappoints by bidding 3S. I was half expecting to play this in 4D (ugh) but 3S is encouraging so I take a stab at 4S.
As it turns out I have one way to play this hand, but my right hand opponent takes considerable time before passing.
He's allowed to think, but his delay has woken up both his partner and myself.
Whoops.
Partner mouths that he only has 2. Uh Oh... The 8 of diamonds comes down to:
I need 10 but I'm not thinking about that now. All I need is a nice break in spades and I'm home free.
I stick in the 10 of diamonds, covered by the jack and my queen.
A low spade to the king, both follow - a low spade to the 10, both follow.
Ace of spades, both following. My Queen drops the Jack from righty.
I run off my diamonds and claim 11 tricks - 4 spades, 6 diamonds and the Ace of clubs.
All 4:
As you can see I have no prayer.
Someone smart once said that if it's good enough to bid it's good enough to lead.
My partner bid diamonds twice and South sets up my long suit for heart pitches beautifully. Thanks South.
What makes this hand sinful?
1. The 3S bid. This is sort of an unusual sequence and it's hard to find where we want to play this hand - but in my opinion, 3S should promise 3. My partner should bid 4D and I will regretfully pass.
2. The slight hesitation from North. Maybe I have ESP and maybe North was carefully considering his options (raise hearts? double? Hoping for 2 hearts, a heart ruff and something else out of partner's 2H bid?) But for me, this is always a happy pass. I'm more inclined to play the spade suit the way I did, but who's to say I won't play the 10 towards dummy and hope the 9 drops? This is a hand I never once consider bidding with. Don't give any extra information. If every pass is an easy pass, you never give anything away. If some passes are easy and some are hard, you wake everyone up that you have something else to contribute but just couldn't find a bid. It's tough because we all need to think, but this is a decision that needs to be made earlier.
3. The 2H bid is horrendous. If you are going to bid on this hand, open 2H. Vulnerable with 3 out of the top 5 and 7 points, I'm really not thrilled with this. If I have 3/5, I damn well better have a great 10 points. I don't like my 3 spades that much either because partner could have a spade fit with me that we will never find. This is 1st seat too. Don't pre-empt partner. Don't lie to partner. Don't mislead partner.
But to come in after partner has passed? You only get ONE BITE AT THE APPLE! This is a new phrase I'm bringing back and will continue to reiterate. If you don't open this 2H, you MUST pass.
You are fooling no one. My partner can easily pass, I double and on good defense we set it one for +200. Meanwhile we can only make +130. Yay! We found a zero!
You should always look to balance or find a sound bid later. I'm not saying you should pass with every hand that has less than 24 high card points. Not at all. If you trust that partner will balance if it's right, you don't have to make gross overcalls.
For South to re-enter the auction, I expect 10-12 points with a decent 5/6 card suit. Shortness in our suits would be nice too. Partner should be able to trust your bid when you come in the auction like this. Don't make him guess.
Pass - 1D - Pass - 1S - 2H --- This partnership shows 6-12 points, 4 (hopefully 5) to 6 hearts, says nothing about shape or suit quality.
Wouldn't it be nice to know that partner has values and/or a solid suit?
If we change the vulnerability to favorable for N/S, and give north one more king and maybe one less spade, he's probably always competing. And with that dummy, he will be miserable.
Give partner a chance to do something intelligent.
4. Lead your suit, not the opponents. KJ10 is not a great suit to lead from, but the opponents should not have a stopper on this hand. West denied one and East shouldn't ask if he has one and wants to play 3NT. (He can just bid it). Honestly, I'm not thrilled about my other options. I don't really want to lead trump here, I'd rather not under lead the king of clubs and my heart holding has holes. But I sure as sugar plums NEVER EVER EVER want to lead a diamond on this hand.
1 out of 84 times someone leads a singleton, their partner has the Ace and they score a trump they were NOT otherwise entitled to. It can fail 83 times, but that 1 glorious time it worked is the reason we keep trying it.
Maybe I'm leading through strength! Maybe declarer will be silly and duck to my partner's Jack!
NO!
It didn't happen!
It never happens!
If you are totally desperate or defending 1C, by all means, take a shot.
But why would you ever want to set up my long diamond suit to allow me to pitch all my losing hearts?
Rant over.
I hope you can all see this now.
Someone else was in 3NT making 5. I'm hoping they didn't lead their singleton, but you never know.
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