Dubious Logic

Should a 4 card major inhibit a pre-emptive opening?

I am seldom canvassed on questions of bidding so when a correspondent asked me for my opinions on a hand from the recent Eastern Counties Match against Cambridge University, I felt honour bound to give a full analysis. These were the cards in question, both vulnerable, dealer West:

This was hardly a triumph for my partner and me, but let's not go into that just yet. Before a suggested auction, first you have to ask, what contract do you want to be in?

And that is not so obvious. 5♣ is cold, but even four hearts is perilous if the defence lead a spade - or a club for that matter. I suppose you could duck a heart after a top spade lead but then you might well go down to West's 4=4=3=2 when a fourth round of spades promotes a trump. Drawing trumps from the outset only seems to work when they are 3-3. No, hearts is an uncertain prospect, and if you can't make game opposite that dummy, you may well ask why make them trumps?

What about 6♣? You appear to have twelve tricks against normal breaks; 1 spade, four hearts after ruffing the suit good, and seven clubs. However, unless you stumble into this and the opponents fail to lead a spade the entries are not pleasant. Say you win the spade lead and have to set up hearts. If you draw trumps you'll need them 3-3.

Alternatively, you could ruff the third heart and hope to get back to dummy with the second club. That requires clubs 2-2 (about 40%) but still needs hearts to break relatively favourably. That line is slightly worse than hearts 3-3 and still a long way from making slam good. But.. There's nothing to say they have to lead a spade, so in practice, it's not so bad a contract.

I was rude about playing in hearts but that doesn't mean you should suppress the suit. If West may open 3♣ with four spades and a void, you might find a dummy with the majors the other way around. Facing two spades and four hearts, slam is excellent and when West control bids diamonds you could be away. On the actual hand, after 3♣ – 3♥ how should West proceed? I think 4♦ is a little rich here with only two trumps and a club suit headed by AQ (as opposed to say, AK) and 4♥ is enough for me.

I don't think the simple 3♣ - 5♣ is foolish. Nor perhaps even 3♣ - 3♥; 4♥ - 5♣; now pass or off to the races with; 5♦ – 5♠; 6♣. Although 5♣ in this sequence is forward going, you shouldn't control-bid in partner's suit (unless you have a clear agreement to the contrary) without being prepared to play there.

I've assumed you will open the West cards with a club pre-empt and I stand by that. The hand is pure in clubs and you will find the play hard to manage in spades unless partner has top cards (and perhaps five of them). Yes, the three club opener will sometimes back-fire – and not just because you have four spades – but it is what the hand is really about. If you are worried about partner sacrificing with short spades, then it is clearly better to have a poor holding even if it is longer than they might expect.

But what if you pass as opener? East will open a heart and West can now bid… What exactly? It would be reasonable to bid two clubs (then expect to have to continue with three clubs) but it would be a mistake to try one spade. This did happen at the county match and poor West was end-played in the auction, never able to mention clubs. If you had not passed and regarded 2♣ as inadmissible (for example, you weren't strong enough) then starting with 1NT is the way to get to clubs. With a less robust club suit, say AJ9xxxxx, responding 1NT then backing into clubs would certainly be correct.

One last observation and one confession: notice that seven clubs is just on the heart break and so, surprisingly, no worse than six – with more upside. And what happened at my table. West opened three clubs and East bid 3NT. The hand with KQJ to six diamonds was not on lead and a spade was selected – thirteen tricks.

Published Saturday 2.Apr.2005