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

	A JT653 AQT2 532
T752 A97 J954 AT		KQ864 42 876 KJ8
	J93 KQ8 K3 Q9764

From across the world, a reader sent me this deal from a teams contest in Ireland. Neither side distinguished themselves on the deal, my correspondent ending up in the ungainly contract of 2H in the South seat. Their team mates, in the EW seats, were in 4S. Both contracts failed. Let’s take a look at the full deal:

Dealer S All Vul

	A97 6 97542 KQ87
KJT2 QT42 AKJ6 6		Q8543 753 QT83 A
	6 AKJ98 JT96543

Here is the actual deal that our opening lead problem was based on. Maybe you won’t agree with the bidding, but the bidding of opponents is not your concern, only what you can infer from it. I believe that the opening lead against the bidding that took place is not difficult to find IF you take notice of the bidding and the correct inferences. Let me repeat the bidding: 1S from West, 2NT from East, 6NT from West. Looking at the South hand, what should you be thinking? I was hoping that at least one of my readers would find the correct answer, and I do believe that there is only ONE card that South should lead.

Dealer W Nil Vul

	7 43 K8743 T9854
AKQJ93 AJ AT J73		T5 KQ7 Q762 KQ62
	8642 T98652 J9 A

The closest to the right (and you will agree that there IS a RIGHT when you read on) answer came from one of the many readers who would lead the ten of hearts. His rationale was perfect up to a point but he missed the punchline.

This is the year of “Evil Twos” and “Evil Acol” for anybody who wants to try something a bit different yet not overly difficult to add to their bidding and play repertoire. Did you notice that this is the year 2022 so Evil Twos is an apt description of our opening two level bids and defence against an opposing 1NT opening, so let’s start there.

The reader should by now be familiar with the basic structure of the weak two openings, and overcalls when an opponent opens 1NT. However, to start this series, I want to make one interesting addition to our defence against a 1NT opening by opponents. Our basic “Evil” structure of bidding over an opposing 1NT is as follows:

• 2C: clubs and hearts
• 2D: diamonds and hearts
• 2H: hearts and spades
• 2S: spades and a minor
• 2NT: both minors
• all 3 level bids natural and 6+ cards
• Double: Essentially Penalty (15+HCP)

This deal comes from Thursday 9/12/2021. Perhaps not surprisingly, the final contract almost always was 4S by East, even though a 5C sacrifice should be found without too much difficulty. That is, if NS play “Truscott” and North uses his or her imagination rather than follows what the book says. Let me show you the deal so you can judge for yourself.

Board 3 Dealer S EW Vul

	Q432 T87532 T92
9863 J85 AKQ6 K4		KQJ542 AT6 J9 Q7
	AT7 K97 4 AJ8653