Over The Top ...
Sacrifice bidding is something that few new players have as yet mastered, and perhaps that is just as well. But it helps to understand what it is about and how you can recognise when you have a good enough hand to compete, be it at a low part score level, or much higher.
Board 13 from 22/05/2019
Dealer N All Vul
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A9
AJ987
KJ
AJ83When North opens 1H, East has the perfect takeout double. The shape is ideal and eleven high card points is more than enough to double with that East hand. South should now bid more than just 2H because five card support plus a singleton is far too valuable to just give a minimum raise. Most advanced players play ‘Truscott”: after a takeout double at the one level, when you have a fit in the opened suit, bid one level higher than you would without the takeout double. Thus, 3H is perfectly descriptive of South’s hand.
Some Souths might even bid 4H, but nothing should stop West from bidding spades at the lowest necessary level: the moment partner makes a takeout double which should guarantee a four card spade suit, whatever NS bid, West should bid more. That is simplifying things but for the purpose of this discussion, West should know that EW have a TEN card spade fit, which should make at least eight tricks in a spade contract as long as East has four spades and a minimum of 11 HCP.
Most readers will have read my very much simplified version of “TNT” (Number of TRUMPS equals number of TRICKS) and I won’t go into that now. Two Wests had the enterprise to bid 4S when NS bid to game in 4H. One scored a top for down two, the other a bottom for down three. The moral of the story? If you’re going to sacrifice, pick the right time snd sharpen up on your declarer play.
