The Guessing Game 04

This deal comes from a match point session, where aggression and enterprise was generally rewarded but not as much as it could have been had the NS pairs found the very simple way to communicate, which the cards they held allowed them to do. The deal is a bit freakish but that is where the better results can be obtained by aggressive bidding, partnership communication, and lateral thinking by one partner and ‘message received’ by the other partner.

Board 1. Dealer N Nil Vul

	T2 KQJT97 Q63 K4
KQ8754 J5 JT963		A963 A64 942 A82
	J 8532 AKT87 Q75

When North opens 1H, South can immediately see game in 4H. But East doubles. What should South do? Of course South can immediately bid 4H, as I think most Souths must have; but if you’re going to do well at bridge you have to be able to think ahead. East’s double no doubt announces a four card spade suit and the possibility that West will have a big spade fit and may bid to 4S is more than a possibility. North’s hand, apart from the opening bid of 1H, is an unknown factor, and if South just bids 4H, North will be none the wiser about South’s. Scanning through the Xclubs results this was certainly a two way game, with many pairs driven to the five level. Quite a few times, 5H was doubled down one, which is what we might expect, but the interesting thing is that there were a lot of Wests in 5S doubled and making, which is easy to envisage, but totally avoidable for NS.

I now have some questions for the reader:
Q1. When North opens 1H and East doubles, is there any reason why South should not bid 2D? What sense is there in bidding 4H immediately if 2D, as most pairs play it, shows 10+ HCP?
Q2. If South bids 2D, West 4S, and after three passes, South bids 5H, what does that tell North?
Q3. When West persists and bids 5S, passed round to South, and South doubles, what should North now lead as the opening lead?

I gave the said bidding sequence to a number of local players and asked them for their opening lead. I’m saddened, on the one hand that some ignored partner and led the king of hearts. But pleased to see many diamond leads, and even more pleased to see some offer the more unorthodox QUEEN of diamonds, when lowest from three to an honour is what our teachers recommend. Why? Either the queen or three could mislead partner in some circumstances, but the queen is less likely to do so and dummy’s diamonds could well be Kxx.