Opponents convention card: Majeure cinquième
Opponents playing strength: Excellent
My hand: ♠ A Q 6 2 ♥ Q ♦ 9 8 5 3 ♣ K J 4 2
I open 1 club, West bids 1 spade and partner jumps to 3 hearts. Yeah, he has a weak hand with lots of hearts and I have a 4-1-4-4 hand. Hurray. 3 hearts is probably our safest place at this point so I pass, as does West.
East leads the K of diamonds.
| NORTH ♠ 8 5 3 ♥ A T 8 5 3 2 ♦ Q T 6 2 ♣ | ||
| EAST ♦ K | ||
| SOUTH ♠ A Q 6 2 ♥ Q ♦ 9 8 5 3 ♣ K J 4 2 |
| West | North | East | South |
| 1♣ | |||
| 1♠ | 3♥1 | Pass | Pass |
| Pass | |||
| 1Weak | |||
Well, it sure looks like I'll be lucky to take any tricks at all. I may be able to set up a diamond trick and I probably get 3 or 4 heart tricks. I'll also get a spade. Maybe I can convince West to lead a black suit for me at some point. First the opening lead... K-3-7-2. East shifts to the club ace. A-2-3-2 of hearts. Well, that sure helps. Now I have a club trick and can pitch off a guaranteed spade loser. But there's no real rush for that, so I'll find out the bad news in hearts. 3-K-Q-7. East goes back to a diamond. 4-5-A-6. West plays the last diamond. J-Q-9 of hearts-8. I have a diamond trick now too. Hurray!
East now draws trump for me. Thanks East! 4-2 of spades-J-A. I draw another round of trump. T-6-4 of clubs-4 of spades. Ok, I have the high diamond, 2 hearts, the high club, and the A of spades. The only way I can get 6 tricks is by finessing in spades. I don't see a way that I lose 2 tricks by trying it, and I don't see a way to set anything else up. And I can't drop a stiff king in West unless he's terrible since he already pitched a spade.
I lead a spade and East shows out. Well, I guess there is a chance the Q of clubs is stiff now. So I hop with the A and cash the K of clubs. It doesn't work. Down 1.
| NORTH ♠ 8 5 3 ♥ A T 8 5 3 2 ♦ Q T 6 2 ♣ | ||
| WEST ♠ K J T 9 7 4 ♥ J 7 ♦ A J 7 ♣ 7 3 | EAST ♠ ♥ K 9 6 4 ♦ K 4 ♣ A Q T 9 8 6 5 | |
| SOUTH ♠ A Q 6 2 ♥ Q ♦ 9 8 5 3 ♣ K J 4 2 |
Jack doesn't like my opening bid. He wants me to open 1 diamond instead. Since I'm going to bid spades if partner bids hearts I think I like 1 club more here. Especially since my club suit is so much better and we're playing Walsh.
Ranking after board 3/60: 10/16 with 42.86%
Hi Nick. I think the reason the computer likes 1D is for a potential third round problem. If you open 1C, then it goes 1H, 1S, 1NT, you have no good bid, and pretty much have to pass. After 1D, 1H, 1S, 1NT, you have the option to bid 2C. To be fair, passing 1NT might not be so bad, and opening that diamond suit isn't exactly tempting.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy these bridge articles. Thanks for keeping up with them!
That is certainly a good point. I think with this specific hand I'd rather sit in 1NT but often you want to keep bidding and starting with 1 diamond makes a lot of sense in that case. You sure can't bid diamonds after opening a club with a hand anywhere similar to this one!
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