Judgment Day

N/S Vul
IMPs
Dealer: South
Lead: 5

	francis K 10 8 Q 6 5 4 3 — A Q 8 6 4
seddon A J 7 4 10 Q J 7 5 K 9 7 3		tomn Q 9 5 2 J A 10 9 6 4 J 10 2
	Maestro 6 3 A K 9 8 7 2 K 8 3 2 5

West Pass Dbl Pass

North 1 Pass Pass

East Pass 4

South Pass 4 Pass

 

If two wrongs don’t make a right, what do three wrongs make? (Answer below.)

Gee, South, has three chances to bid today. With a 2-6-4-1 hand, ten prime points and semi-solid hearts, many players would venture 1H. Others might take into account the unfavorable vulnerability and open 2H. Gee, possibly uniquely, passes.

North opens 1H third-hand, which for South is surely a dream bid. East passes, and again it’s up to our hero. Game is surely cold and slam is probably in the offing if North has a real opener, depending on his distribution. There are even magic minimum hands on which the grand is laydown, like Axxx Jxxxxx void AKx, and of course North may have considerably more than that.

South could bid Drury, then splinter in clubs. He could splinter in clubs directly. He could bid Jacoby 2NT, if the partnership plays that as a passed hand. (Whether he should be a passed hand is a different question.) And he could also sign off with 4H, Gee’s actual choice. An oft-cited piece of bidding advice is “to have your bid, plus a queen.” Having your bid plus an ace and a king is perhaps taking things too far.

West doubles for takeout, which I can’t fault on the auction and at the vulnerability. North passes, to await developments, and East bids 4S.

It is difficult to construct a North hand on which N/S can take fewer than eleven tricks, and on such a hand 4S probably makes as well. You don’t want to defend under any circumstances. A novice would bid 5H. An expert would probably bid Key Card Blackwood. Our hero passes.

North should double. He has three probable defensive tricks and it’s unlikely that 4S can make on this sort of distribution if West can’t open and East can’t bid over 1H. But he passes, mesmerized by his partner’s bidding. Gee leads his stiff club, and N/S take the first six tricks plus the trump king, for down 4.

Three wrongs, it turns out, make +200. Or -10.36. Depending on the units you prefer.