Attention to Basics

From Wednesday (7/09/2016).
Board 9 was something of a puzzle to me. I will reproduce only the NS hands here, because they are all that matter.
Dealer N EW Vul

Q

AQ98

K9762

Q62

AJT865

T3

T

AT92

SIX pairs played in 3NT. I can't really imagine how they bid to get there. Bidding GAME is reasonable enough but NOT in No Trumps. For a start, NEITHER the North nor South hand looks to be suitable for No Trumps, since both have a singleton, and the singleton is in partner's suit. Without any interference bidding, how should the bidding go? I can guarantee that most of our Wednesday players did NOT bid this hand properly. What probably occurred a number of times was that North opened 1D, South bid 1S and North bid 2H!!

That is WRONG in most more advanced pairs' vocabulary, because 2H in this sequence is a REVERSE and shows 17+ points, which is what North does not have. North should rebid 2D. Why? Because South has bypassed hearts, therefore is unlikely to have four or more of them unless the spades are longer. A bid of 2H takes the bidding too high if South has a preference for diamonds. That is the basic definition of a REVERSE. Those readers who persist in bidding 2H with this type of hand should read up about reverses and what they are and how, and why, they are an intrinsic part of decent bidding.

After the 2H bid that shouldn't be made (North should just rebid 2D to show a 5+ card diamond suit), NS probably then did not know how to proceed and blundered into 3NT. A decent spade suit, which is what South has, and that sort of distribution, should result in South bidding 4S even if North chooses to bid 3NT. Unless the spade suit can be put to use in 3NT, 3NT is unlikely to make, and if the spades turn out to be inaccessible through lack of ENTRIES in a No Trump contract, they can still make many tricks in a spade game. Just think about it.

Another one that presented a problem, this time in declarer play, was board 11. Once more I will show only two hands, this time they are East-West.

West:

9

QT954

KJ4

A743

East:

A42

AK3

AQ873

K8

I am somewhat dumbfounded with the results that occurred when this hand was played, most of the time in hearts by West, with the queen of clubs being led, not that it matters what is led. What does matter is that so many of our declarers were incapable of taking thirteen EASY tricks.

The normal and recommended play in the heart suit is to take the two honours IN THE SHORT HAND first, i.e. the ace and king. When declarer does that, the fact that South started with Jxxx is revealed and it is no problem to then lead the three to the nine (if South does not produce the jack), that cannot be difficult. I can only surmise that some of the declarers simply did not bother to look at what North played on the second round, whereas others must have made the incorrect play by starting with the QUEEN of hearts, thus giving themselves no chance of picking up the jack. Playing off the two top honours first when you have three cards in a suit should be standard practice unless you have a reason for playing the suit in a different order, e.g. to end up in the short hand so you can lead something from that hand.

Attention to BASICS, folks, PLEASE!