Dubious Logic

Suffolk Pairs Semi-Final

The Suffolk Championship Pairs is an inclusive event: qualification is from club heats, roughly half those entering being successful, then a semi-final where the field is reduced by half again. That semi-final stage sees a wide range of participants, in terms of both geography and experience. This year's event was no exception and the deals offered chances to partnerships across the spectrum.

Early on, it seemed as if the Great Shuffler was trying to even things up a little. What would you call after this brief auction, your side only vulnerable?

Well of course it depends what you expect for North's double. Increasingly, four-level doubles lean toward take-out as is almost completely the case over three-level pre-empts. True, partner will pass with balanced hands and attempt to take four tricks rather than ten or eleven, but that doesn't stop them being essentially for take-out, where close decisions are based on the offensive potential - trick taking as declarer - rather than defensive assets.

Against us, South gave no thought to bidding and passed – she presumably knew her partner well. North held ♠AQx ♥AK ♦K109xx ♣xxx; halfway between a rubber-bridge double and a take-out. Four hearts had to lose four tricks, four spades had to lose lots – spades and diamonds were with East and you would be doubled to add to your troubles. It is hard to pass that North hand - it could well be wrong to do so - and I can imagine making either of the two fatal calls of double and four spades.

How would you bid these hands?

East was worried her partner might pass a call in either of the bid suits and so felt she had to guess the final contact. That guess was 3NT but a club lead established four tricks for the defence and they had to get in with the ace of spades. I'm always surprised that so few players play any conventional help for their auctions after a no-trump rebid. After all, everyone plays something after a no-trump opener, why not invest some effort here?

In this particular case, it would suffice to simply agree that (for choice) both three spades and three diamonds were forcing, unsure, in the first instance, about the best game. Here opener could raise three spades to four or bid three spades over three diamonds, ensuring the best game contract was reached.

Suffolk Championship Pairs 2007
There will be 24 pairs in the final on April 22^nd, these were the four section winners:
John & Elizabeth Clement
Michael Sherer & Eric Newman
Jan Harvard Davies & Adele Wayman
Frank Mansfield & Ron Champness

Published Saturday 10.Mar.2007