All About Communication

Board 3 from Wednesday 9/08/2017 Dealer S EW Vul

	A65 A76 JT76 JT3
KQT98 K AK2 AK65		J4 QJ95432 953 7
	732 T8 Q84 Q9842

This deal provides us with a fine example of why I have been so fixated with trumps. The moment East picks up their hand, there should be only one thought: “no matter what happens, if we were to play this hand, it has to be in hearts”. The East hand is totally useless unless the heart suit is TRUMPS. As simple as that. If hearts are trumps, East has five tricks at least. In No Trumps, East has ZERO tricks. In spades, East might be able to help by way of one or more club ruffs. That we will talk about later.

Suffice to say that East should think of nothing but hearts as trumps IF EW were to end up playing the hand, which is highly unlikely anyway. Normally East would just sit there and pass unless West forces the bidding. And that is exactly what could happen. West does have a very big hand, and might well open a game forcing 2C. If that happens, East must make a negative response of 2D. Then, when West bids 2S, East can make a second negative bid of 2NT. The bidding will not end there because West's opening of 2C, then rebid of 2S, is unconditionally game forcing. Over East's second negative of 2NT, West bids 3C and only now it is time for East to reveal all. East bids 4H which should give West the message loud and clear: “This hand is only any good for playing in HEARTS, and I have a lot of them. Don't even think about going anywhere else unless you have an absolutely huge hand. I have described MY hand exactly”.

What happened at the Hutt club? One East was in 4H, three Wests were in 4S, with the others in contracts that I can't even begin to imagine how, or why, were arrived at.

Incidentally, the three pairs in 4S did well anyway, because NS failed to find the best defence. Imagine how 4S would play if the defence starts with two rounds of trumps: dummy becomes totally useless.

Just one final word: if West opens 2C and then launches into 4S, that is the time that East won't have any way of playing in hearts. In all other scenarios, a decent EW pair will end up in 4H. Even if West opens 1S, I believe East should endeavour to get to a heart contract by responding with the weakest bid he can make: 1NT. Then, when West jump shifts to 3C, East can bid hearts and hearts again, to get the message across that way. That is what partnership understanding, and bidding communication, is all about.