Four Clubs at Brighton
Just over a year ago, the national controlling body for bridge, the English Bridge Union, made a number of changes to how the duplicate game is played at the table. In came announcements (of no-trump openers and two bids, inter alia) out went alerts of take-out doubles and bids above the level of three no-trump. This was variously understood and followed by the duplicate fraternity; early on there was good adoption of the new procedures but, in my experience at least, proper protocol is still as patchy as those first three months – time hasn't improved matters.
Of the changes listed above, the one that received most support – and is well observed – is not alerting above 3NT. Especially in the local games, where a four club bid can have various significances, this has surely resulted in fewer calls to the director or, let us say, fewer allegations of impropriety, whether voiced or not. I witnessed my first 'Gerber disaster' on this deal from the first Brighton weekend:
| EW Vul. Dealer East | ♠ AQJ73 | ||
| ♥ 86 | |||
| ♦ 6 | |||
| ♣ AQJ42 | |||
| ♠ 94 | ♠ K10852 | ||
| ♥ KQJ75 | ♥ 1092 | ||
| ♦ 9542 | ♦ 73 | ||
| ♣ 85 | ♣ K97 | ||
| ♠ 6 | |||
| ♥ A43 | |||
| ♦ AKQJ108 | |||
| ♣ 1063 | |||
| West | North | East | South | |
| Pass | 1♦ | |||
| 1♥ | 1♠ | 2♥ | 3♦ | |
| Pass | 4♣ | Pass | 4♠ | |
| End | ||||
If four clubs had mystical overtones (i.e. it asked for aces or promised a control), I have always wondered how partnerships sorted out the auction that started 1♦ – 1♠; 3♦ and responder had both blacks. Here South thought she was being asked for aces and gave the correct response; North thought he was offering two suits. Four spades was not the place to play. John Gerber's invention was primarily to cater for having a lot of tricks opposite a no-trump hand – not for the cut and thrust of an open auction, where there are much better uses for the bid.
I didn't include the deal above when commenting on the paucity of slams during the event – North-South can make six clubs but only perhaps, if they'd seen the hand records. This is a proper 'non slam':
| ♠ K2 | ♠ A10 | ||
| ♥ 742 | ♥ AKJ10863 | ||
| ♦ 10862 | ♦ AQJ | ||
| ♣ K1062 | ♣ 4 |
| Pass | 1♥ | ||
| 2♥ | 4♣* | ||
| 4♥ | Pass |
As our system requires more strength than usual for a response at the two level, we use two of a minor by a passed hand to show degrees of support and therefore a simple raise can be quite weak. So when East tried four clubs - a splinter bid showing shortness – though West had good values in context, the knowledge that half of them faced a singleton or void was very discouraging. It was important to stay at this level: South had the diamond king and all three trumps to the queen.
Published Saturday 25.Aug.2007