Evil 22-07
As I will be away for a week, I guess I had better not keep you in suspense about the “Evil Doubles”. In competitive bidding, when three suits have been bid or implied, a double of opponents’ suit shows either two or four cards in the unbid suit and either ace or king. There is good reason for this being so specific. Three or five cards seldom present an opportunity for a ruff for the defence and there are other ways to bid a hand that does not meet this very specific requirement. So, let’s take a look at the deal from No.6 and see what might happen after an Evil double.
Dealer N Nil Vul
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A
JT653
AQT2
532North opens 1H and East overcalls 1S. South bids 2C. (Those who would not bid 2C - as discussed in the last article- will have to forget about Evil doubles because DOUBLE would imply two suits. Knowing partner has at least 10 HCP must surely help in later bidding.) Whether West bids 2S or even 3S, North DOUBLES. When the end contract is 3S DOUBLED, South has an automatic opening lead of the king of diamonds. North does not need to signal but reverse attitude (which I personally do not like for good reasons) works perfectly here, and when North then plays three more rounds of diamonds, declarer will sensibly discard a heart loser from hand rather than ruffing. But South will also discard two hearts and when North switches to a heart and then gets in with the ace of spades on the first round of trumps, another heart allows South’s jack of spades to score a second trump trick. I won’t bore you with what could happen if the defence has less information to go on and South leads the king of hearts.
I would dearly love to see a few more advanced pairs trying the Evil way of doubling and when that happens, will await what happens with interest, fully expecting that if it ever enters the USA, the bridge administrators will immediately outlaw it, as they seem to do with much that is innovative and makes bridge better and more interesting!
Next week: another case of an Evil Double from the past. Any that arise in current play, please tell me about them!
Warning: Evil doubles are for experienced partnerships so make sure you and your favourite partner discuss them and agree how you play them. They won’t happen often but when they do........
