Your Call 12
The very first board of the session produced a deal where both sides had the opportunity to gain the upper hand with some aggressive, albeit reasoned, bidding.
Board 1 Dealer from Friday 23/08/24
North Nil Vul
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JT76
75
A943
T96Should East open the bidding after a pass from North? East’s hand does comply with the ‘rule of 20’ which is hard to believe at first glance, so why not open the bidding, but which suit? If you open your longest, clubs, it may be impossible to describe your hand without overstating it as a ‘reverse’ if you later bid hearts. A 1C opening will also be more prone to interference. I suggest that the East hand is better suited to a 1H opening, treating it as a 5-5, enabling East to rebid clubs twice. Whatever East opens, South will bid spades. The South hand is perfectly suited to an ‘intermediate jump overcall’, 11-15 HCP and a 6+ card suit. That should work well for them, because North can now bid 3S knowing it is what NS should be able to make, or go on to 4S if EW find 4H. But in a match point session most Souths would overcall 1S, West then make a ‘free bid’ of 2D and North compete to 2S.
It is not easy to guess just what could happen in the different scenarios if a) East opens 1C, if b) East opens 1H, if c) East passes, and the subsequent bidding by NS, so a brief analysis of the results across all of X-Clubs may throw some light on things.
80 Souths played in 2 or 3S (3 doubled in 3S making); 44 Easts in 4H; 35 Souths in 4S down one; 7 in 5H (only one made) and, unbelievably, four Easts played the hand in a part score in hearts!
The readers can draw their own conclusions. Their call!
