Your Bid Your Lead 02

Unfortunately, due to the lack of sufficient entries from readers, this feature will not be continued.

Here is a summary of the panel’s answers and assigned score to the bids and opening leads, based on the panel’s answers, the majority answers scoring the most points, rightly or wrongly, along with my own comments where they may be of interest to the reader.

You are SOUTH in each case, and playing MATCH POINTS at your local club. Basic Acol, 12-14 1NT with transfers. 1C,1D,1H,1S all natural and 4+ cards.

YOUR BID
1. Dealer West All Vul
The Bidding has been:

South	West	North	East
-	3	X	4
?

T8

K97532

AT873

Scores: 4NT 10 5D 8 5C 6 PASS 1
Most advanced players play 4NT in such a sequence as asking partner to bid the better minor rather than an ace or key card ask. Given partner’s takeout double, this hand is good enough for game in either minor, and no guesswork should be required which one.

2. Dealer West All Vul
The Bidding has been:

South	West	North	East
-	Pass	1	Pass
1	Pass	1	Pass
?

J82

KQT875

T3

A8

Scores: 2D 10 3H 9 2H 6
I personally don’t see any use for 2D as ‘fourth suit forcing’ with this hand. 3H should show a good 6+ card suit and forcing to game as I play it but even if only highly encouraging it fits the bill, whereas 2D as fourth suit forcing in my opinion will get you nowhere.

3. Dealer South Nil Vul
The Bidding has been:

South	West	North	East
1	2	X	Pass
?

KT975

KQ85

K

A94

Scores: PASS 10 2NT 8 3NT 6 2S 6
While the majority vote was for PASS I totally disagree with it. My favourite answer came from John: “2S. The hearts are sitting under West’s and partner does not yet know I have five spades.” Unfortunately John was the only one, so I have to give PASS the top marks. By the way, 2H made an overtrick.

4. Dealer West EW Vul
The Bidding has been:

South	West	North	East
-	1	Pass	1
Pass	1NT	2	Pass
?

T42

JT92

KQJ84

T

Scores: PASS 10 2H 8
Surely North’s club bid must be natural, but there were almost as many who would bid 1NT 2C NB ? 2H. Personaly, I would bid 2D every time, surely the diamonds are good enough even if East does have a four card suit. And if partner doesn’t like it, he knows what to do!
This strange auction occurred in real life. South now bid 2H and North didn’t like that and bid 3C which West doubled, down three. 3D would have made an overtrick!

YOUR LEAD
5. Dealer East EW Vul
The Bidding has been:

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	3
Pass	Pass	Pass

J7

Q72

A6

AJT862

Scores: DA 10 CA 1
A big majority for the DA, reasonably enough since a diamond ruff is a possibilty. The club ace is a shocker but I give it one point for the one panelist who chose it. At the time, only a heart lead worked out because West had KQx of diamonds and ace of hearts. I do have a lot of time for a heart because the bidding clearly places dummy with most of the high cards outside spades.

6. Dealer East NS Vul
The Bidding has been:

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	Pass
1	31	Pass	4
Pass	Pass	Pass

Your Lead from:

AQ984

J974

KQ84

Scores: KC 10 SA 8
Not everyone likes the ‘idiotic’ Leaping Michaels but we find it extremely effective. Only two votes for the ace of spades but it was the only lead that would have beaten 4H. But it makes sense since we are completely in the dark as to which minor West holds or how many hearts North might have to surprise East with. North did have five but dummy’s singleton spade king ran away and East managed the 5-0 break superbly.

7. Dealer North Nil Vul
The Bidding has been:

South	West	North	East
-	-	2	Pass
Pass	3	Pass	3NT
Pass	Pass	Pass

4

T2

A8532

Q8753

Scores: C5 10 S4 6 D 3 6
This is not the time to lead partner’s suit. East passed North’s weak 2S so must have spades well covered. Which suit, then? Generally better to lead the suit you can hope for more useful cards in partner’s hand and keep the one with a certain entry. A club would have beaten 3NT and yes, East’s 3NT was not the best judged bid, holding S.AKJ9 and H. J97. No doubt he was annoyed that West bid 3H rather than finding a double! A low club lead and justice would have been served!

8. Dealer East Nil Vul
The Bidding has been:

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1NT
Pass	2	Pass	2
Pass	Pass	X	Pass
3	Pass	Pass	3
Pass	Pass	Pass

T5

K95

KT954

632

Scores: S10 10 D10 3
Not a good time to lead a diamond from that holding despite partner having suggested some help there. What partner has guaranteed, though, is four spades so why not lead your doubleton in her suit?

I regret to say "YourBidYourLead" is a dead duck, which may be a disappointment to some. But with very little participation from readers outside our little circle, no point in continuing. I know some of the 'improvers' on our panel have particularly enjoyed the exercises, and I say a special thanks to them. I will be doing something for interested people at the Hutt Club if given the club's support so may see some of you then.

If you're reading this then I' sorry to tell you it has been my final contribution to X-Clubs.

Best wishes,
Vil

Editor's note: I am sorry to see Vil go. After many years and hundreds of articles - including a lot of his earlier writings - Vil has been THE major contributor to this website. My heartfelt thanks go out to him for his dedication. Would anyone else like the job ... pay's pretty rotten!

However - it feels like another nail in the coffin of post-Covid bridge. People are leaving clubs because of small table numbers, learner intakes are down, organisers are happy if a face-to-face tournament attracts 12 tables. One wonders if the game and bridge clubs in general will come to be seen as a phenomenon of the 20th century. Friday daytime X-Clubs is a bit of a bellweather: pre-Covid we used to nudge 500 pairs but last week only 381 turned out. Online bridge is obviously having an effect .. and maybe that's not a bad thing. Just an evolution of our game? If you would like to share your thoughts on this topic please use the Contact Us item in the top menu.