Avarice Preceedeth The Fall

How many of our beginners, I wonder, play weak twos in the majors, and how many of them play 2D also as a weak two. That is the norm according to the NZ Bridge lessons, is it not? But it’s not enough to have learnt that the weak two bid is based on a six card suit and 6-10 high card points, you must also know what to do when partner opens with a weak two.

Board 14 from Wednesday 09/01/2019
Dealer E Nil Vul

AT86
AQJ52
85
K9
Q43
K98
A3
AQ753
K
73
KJT976
T862
J9752
T64
Q42
J4

I would have thought that every East who plays weak twos would have opened the East hand 2D. That is what happened in the instance I want to talk about, because there are some lessons to be learnt. West, quite correctly, passed. West should have at least 16 HCP and support for the opened suit to make a move, so this one is close but pass is correct. When West passed, it was not difficult for North to find a bid of 2H. When this was passed round to West, here is where West made the mistake of bidding 2NT, in the hope that he would be able to make use of dummy’s long suit, with the king of hearts providing a stopper in opponents’ suit. West made the bid more in hope than based on logic. East had not guaranteed the KQ of diamonds , and West’s Ax was not enough. But when West bid 2NT, North doubled! That should have given West the opportunity to reassess and bid 3D, a much safer contract.

There is always safety in a long TRUMP suit so West should have bid 3D in the first place not 2NT but the intrepid West decided to take the challenge and passed. Disaster fell upon him when North led a low heart, allowing West to score the king. Now West took the best possible line in the diamond suit and took the ace and followed with a finesse to the jack when North played low. After all North had
doubled so might have had the queen. No such luck and +500 to NS.