Bidding With Difficulty

by Phillip Alder

In fourth position with only your side vulnerable, you pick up the following hand:

♠ J 7 3 2 ♥ – ♦ A 9 4 ♣ A K 7 5 4 3

The bidding starts like this:

West	North	East	South
Pass	2♦	3♦	?

Your partner’s opening bid is the Multi, promising a weak two-bid in either major suit.

When you have decided on your course of action, or inaction. In fourth position with only your side vulnerable, you pick up the following hand:

♠ J 7 3 2 ♥ – ♦ A 9 4 ♣ A K 7 5 4 3

The bidding starts like this:

West	North	East	South
Pass	2♠	Dble	?

What would be your plan of campaign for the auction?

This was the full deal, from Round 5:

Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul.
	♠ A K 10 9 8 4 ♥ Q 10 3 ♦ 8 7 ♣ 9 2
♠ Q 5 ♥ J 9 8 6 5 4 ♦ J 5 ♣ Q 10 8		♠ 6 ♥ A K 7 2 ♦ K Q 10 6 3 2 ♣ J 6
	♠ J 7 3 2 ♥ – ♦ A 9 4 ♣ A K 7 5 4 3

You will notice that Seven Spades is a decent contract that makes easily (although one declarer in the Bermuda Bowl took only twelve tricks).

There were 66 tables in play. At four of them, the auction was not recorded. At ten tables, the bidding started Pass – 2♦ – 3♦. At all ten, that concluded the action! South was certain partner had hearts, so (s)he was not willing to bid. Every declarer went one down, but each was hardly disappointed by the result. At 20 tables, West opened the bidding, nine times with a two-diamond Multi and eleven times with two hearts. This was the least successful North/South auction:

West	North	East	South
2♦	Pass	Pass	3♣
Pass	4♠	Pass	6♣
All Pass

Presumably South thought his partner’s bid was a fit-showing jump, or something along those lines. Six Clubs went one down, losing 17 IMPs against Six Spades after this auction at the other table:

West	North	East	South
2♥	Pass	4♥	Dble
Pass	4♠	5♥	5♠
Pass	6♠	All Pass

The most successful sequence after West opened occurred in the Bermuda Bowl match between Japan and New Zealand

West	North	East	South
	Nakamura		Shimizu
2♥	2♠	4NT	6♥
Dble	6♠	7♥	7♠
All Pass

Did Yoshiyuki Nakamura and Yasuhiro Shimizu fall or were they pushed?

At the other table, New Zealand stopped in six spades after this sequence:

West	North	East	South
2♦	2♠	Dble(i)	Pass
3♣	Pass	4♦	5NT
Pass	6♣	Pass	6♠
All Pass

(i) Pass with spades; bid with hearts

Clearly North and South were not on the same page as to the meaning of 5NT. North opened One Spade three times, twice stopping in game and once reaching six spades. North opened Two Spades at eighteen tables. Clearly some pairs paid the price for wild pre-empts. Even opposite a second-seat adverse vulnerability Two Spades, nine Souths did not even try for slam. But one of those decisions had its funny side:

West	North	East	South
	El Ahmady		Sadek
Pass	2♦	Pass	2♥
Pass	2♠	Dble	Pass!
4♥	Pass	Pass	4♠
Pass	Pass	Dble	All Pass

Tarek Sadek must have felt very happy when he saw East’s double, but was probably less enthused when he saw that plus 1390 was losing 2 IMPs to Six Spades plus one. However, at the other table Tarek Nadim (West) and Mohamed Samy Ahmed Heshmat sacrificed in Seven Hearts. They were doubled and lost 1100 but gained 7 IMPs.

There were two successful auctions to Seven Spades. In the Bermuda Bowl, the Indians Subhash Gupta and RajeshwarTiwari bid like this:

West	North	East	South
	Tiwari		Gupta
Pass	2♠	Dble	5♥(i)
Pass	6♣(ii)	Pass	7♠
Pass	Pass	Pass

(i) Exclusion Roman Key Card Blackwood (ii) Two key cards In the Seniors Bowl, Stephen Brown and Pierre Daigneault from Canada conducted this auction:

West	North	East	South
	Brown		Daigneault
Pass	2♠	3♦	4♦
Pass	4♥	Pass	5NT
Pass	6♠	Pass	7♠
All Pass

But one North/South pair were given a very hard time by Tom Townsend and David Gold of England.

West	North	East	South
Townsend		Gold
2♠(i)	Pass	3♦	Dble
Pass	4♠	All Pass

(i) A weak pre-empt in any suit

It was a flat board, though, because the English North/South pair stopped in Five Spades, South not looking for slam opposite a Two-Spade opening.