Vil Gravis's blog

This deal comes from Friday 30/01/25. The bidding by NS was pretty tame but was as described in YC19, with North overcalling 2C and passed back to West. This was the first problem I posed to my panel of club players, with many opting to continue bidding and only one or two leaving North in 2C. Considering NS can make 7C passing would have produced a reasonable outcome. This was the scenario at one table when West decided to bid 2H after North’s overcall and two passes: North bid 3C, East 3H, South 4C, pass, pass and East then kept competing and bid 4H. North, despite being a died in the wool conservative, having ventured a mere 2C overcall with his first bid, was now more confident and doubled 4H. The NS defensive play was far superior to their bidding and West was down five for 1100 and not a happy declarer. East is recovering in A&E from tomahawk blows to the head following a late night discussion with West.

Board 24 Dealer W Nil Vul

	AT87 AT7 A AQT93
KQJ63 Q643 Q3 K7		954 K982 T8652 8
	2 J5 KJ974 J6542

The second one from our first Tuesday session of 2025 has the same theme but in a different context.

Board 23. Dealer S ALL Vul

	Q3 J52 J752 T642
98764 AQ6 QT8 K5		JT KT874 9643 J3
	AK52 93 AK AQ987

Preempts are not just there to be used as interference value against opponents, they are also there as a constructive tool. In this deal, North had a perfect 3D opening but few Souths made the best use of the information.

Board 17 from Tuesday 3/12/24
Dealer N Nil Vul

	T8 A3 KJ76532 84
J74 J87 94 K9763		Q953 QT54 8 QJT5
	AK62 K962 AQT A2

This is worth reporting. My hapless correspondent wanted to know where he went wrong in a 4H contract that everyone was making. Deep Finesse was there to prove that he should have made 4H like every other declarer, so where did he go wrong?

Board 13 from Friday 29/11/24
Dealer N All Vul

	Q743 QT86 943 42
J2 2 KJT76 A9873		KT6 73 Q85 KQJT6
	A985 AKJ954 A2 5

This deal comes from the NZ Wide Loveblock event on Friday 15/11/24. I have chosen it because a deal like that will never come up again but it does illustrate the need for a more intricate bidding system to handle an opening 1NT from the opposition, not just Hamilton (aka Cappelletti or Pottage - ed), which seems to be the most common in current use. Let’s look at the full deal before I make some suggestions.

Board 4 Dealer W All Vul

	AKQ862 KQT9432
J4 A75 T943 AKJ5		973 8 AKQJ82 Q83
	T5 J6 765 T97642