Vil on 32WED
From Wednesday 10/08/2016
Board 15 Dealer S NS Vul
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Q64
6542
76
J632As I mentioned in an earlier Review, new Wednesday players seem to have great difficulty in understanding, and using, the TAKEOUT DOUBLE. Here we have a very standard 1D opener from South. What should West do? A takeout double is not ideal and I would in fact PASS, but I can sympathise with the more aggressive players who might double. That would be passed to East. What should EAST do?
The answer is: bid 2D. This is a CUE BID and asks partner to bid their better or longer major. West bids 2H and East has a fairly easy decision to bid 4H.
But let's say West passes the 1D opening, as does North. What should East do? The answer is of course, DOUBLE. South might be cheeky and up the ante with 2D. What should West do THEN? There are two options: the first is DOUBLE, which is the same as before: TAKEOUT, and asks for East to bid his better major. Alternatively, West could bid 3D which is the same but unequivocally forcing to game. In the unlikely event of East having a diamond stopper, 3NT is then an alternative game. The familiarity with takeout doubles and cue bids is clearly lacking in our Wednesday players so it is something they need to practise and cultivate.
Of course there is more to it than that. I note that whereas half the EW pairs did manage to get to 4H, none of them were able to MAKE 4H. Have a think about how declarer should play a 4H contract. This will be covered in my Wednesday Play series. If you already subscribe to that, you will be receiving that article soon. If you are not a subscriber but would like to be, there IS a small charge for that series, so let me know if you would like to subscribe. Drop an email to me at villyn@xtra.co.nz
And brush up on those takeout doubles!
