A Bit of Holiday Reading

Hi all - I hope you’re looking forward to next year’s bridge and don’t forget to keep your questions coming!

Now to continue with our discussion on the 1NT opening and what happens after that. I must set the reader straight on one thing: overcalling when an opponent has opened 1NT is quite a different matter to overcalling when an opponent has opened in a suit.

I will repeat what I have said before: the 1NT opening bid is about as accurate a description of a hand as you can get in ONE bid. When your partner opens 1NT, YOU are in charge. You can decide where you want to go and how to get there. If there is any interference bidding by way of an overcall, you should be able to take the appropriate action, though sometimes it is not easy to do so with any certainty.

The main thing is that you know immediately whether you have the ‘balance of power’ by way of point count, and whether you have sufficient strength to either INVITE game or to FORCE to game. You will invite if you have 11 or 12 HCP and you will force to game, or bid game immediately, if you have 13 or more HCP. That is not particularly difficult if there is no opposition bidding. You have STAYMAN available to look for a major suit fit, and you can also invite or force to game in whichever way you have been taught, i.e. you may have learnt to play transfers, or you can invite via Stayman or by simply raising to 2NT if you have no interest in a major suit fit. And you can force to game by jumping to 3H or 3S, which shows EXACTLY a five card suit and asks opener to raise to game with three or more card support, or to bid 3NT with only a doubleton. Jumping in a minor suit should generally be reserved for times when you have an interest in a slam rather than just game, remember that minor suit games require 11 tricks and at least 28 HCP as a rule.

I have digressed a bit and will talk more later about how to invite and how to force to game, but to return to overcalling when an opponent opens 1NT. That can be fraught with danger if opponents know what they are doing and are capable of either doubling or finding ways to keep bidding if that is more productive. One note of warning if you either overall an opponent’s 1NT or decide to double when an opponent enters the bidding at the two level over your own 1NT your PLAY will need to be up to scratch, whether you end up as declarer, or end up defending.

The deal that we have been discussing provides a very good example, so I will now take another look at it. It will help you with your defence.
Board 13 Dealer N All Vul

	A742 T984 KQ8 K5
63 Q5 AT64 T9642		JT8 AKJ76 J5 J73
	KQ95 32 9732 AQ8

This is not a straightforward situation, but let’s say that East is playing the hand in 2H after overcalling North’s 1NT. At the club, two Easts did play in 2H, neither of them were doubled. Clearly, the DOUBLE, either penalty or takeout, is not on a Wednesday agenda as yet, but I hope will be in six month’s time!

One East was down TWO in 2H, but the other one actually made 2H, a huge difference, and a difference that was totally contributable to the DEFENCE that NS produced. In one case, I am guessing, NS simply took all the immediate tricks they could, which was five, and then gave up. That is not what defence is about, so let me now turn to the case where NS defeated declarer by two. South started with the king of spades opening lead, as any teacher would recommend. When the king held, it was not too difficult for an intelligent South to work out what might happen next: with only two spades in dummy, if a second spade was led, that would clear spades from dummy and allow declarer to ruff the third one in dummy. It was thus not difficult for South to immediately switch to a trump. Declarer won this and led a second spade, but the defence led a second trump to clear trumps from dummy and declarer then lost a third spade trick. The defence also played on DIAMONDS as soon as they won the first (or second) club trick, whereas in the other case the defence must have taken their club tricks and thus set up at least one club trick in dummy while declarer still had the ace of diamonds in dummy as an entry. The good defenders realised that it was necessary to prevent a spade ruff in dummy and did just that. They also realised that there was no hurry to take what club tricks they could, and that they would come sooner or later. Grabbing tricks as quickly as possible, especially against low level contracts, almost NEVER works to your advantage. I hope the reader will be persuaded of that and learn from this example.

I intend to write much more on defence in the coming year of Midweek Reviews. And if you’re interested in more reading over the holidays, go to Maciej’s web site, 13Tricks.com and check it all out, including any of my earlier articles that may be of interest to you.