When not to rock the boat
From Wednesday 19th April.
Board 19 Dealer S EW Vul
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732
K9654
KT832
The EW hands in combination should add up to a small slam, but today we won't talk about slams. Instead, I would like to talk about more mundane matters, one of them being the importance at match points of choosing a No Trump game ahead of a minor suit game. The scoring is so much slanted in favour of No Trumps that you should choose 3NT rather than 5C or 5D whenever it is sensible to do so. Not only that, nine tricks are usually easier to make than eleven. Here, West opens 1D and East responds 2C. West should now bid 3NT, which is the 'book' bid: a balanced hand and 17-19 HCP.
Now East should be looking for 6C, but this being a Wednesday at The Hutt, it is wise to settle for 3NT. Only TWO pairs were in 3NT, one on a heart lead and one a diamond lead. Both should have made six comfortably after that but only one did. But both scored much better than the two pairs in 5C who made five and the one in 5C who lost the way for down one despite eleven TOP tricks (six clubs, three spades and two aces). Then we had one West in 1D. Must have been some sort of infringement like a bid out of turn or perhaps East had gone to sleep, not a good thing to do at the bridge table.
And finally, one that I must mention: One West was in FIVE DIAMONDS DOUBLED. With proper bidding, it is difficult to see how East's six good clubs got lost along the way, but not only that, there is one very important thing that new players should learn: when opponents are clearly in the wrong contract, and North should surely suspect that, then why do you need to double when you are getting 100% anyway. Unlike some ingenues who believe they can give something 120%, you should know that at bridge there is nothing more than 100%.
See what could have happened if East had decided that partner had mis-cued and decided to run to 6C over the double. While I don't expect that on our Wednesday night it would have made, it is nevertheless makeable so you can see how dangerous North's double of 5D was. Double in competitive situations, surely, but when the opponents have freely bid to an unmakeable contract, why rock the boat?
