E/W Vul
IMPs
Dealer: West
Lead: 
2
billyyeh A K Q K Q J 3 10 9 4 A 10 6 |
||
| mgold J A 9 8 5 4 2 Q J 3 K 7 2 |
![[W - E]](http://gee.aaronhaspel.com/files/2012/10/t.gif) |
zl1 10 9 7 6 5 2 10 7 6 A 2 Q J |
| Maestro 8 4 3 — K 8 7 6 5 9 8 5 4 3 |
| West 1 3 Pass |
North Dbl Dbl Pass |
East 2 Pass Pass |
South Pass 4 |
The results of listening carefully to your partner and acceding to his wishes can be readily observed in today’s hand. West opens a borderline 1H; many players would consider 2H with his hand. North doubles with his monster, and East makes a standard but minimum raise in hearts.
Gee has a hand with some offensive but next to no defensive values. Either bidding or passing is reasonable (I would bid) but if he does want to compete then he must, with 5-5 in the minors, bid 3D over 2H, which allows him to show the clubs on the next round and avoids the risk of selling out to 2H when three or four of a minor makes your way.
Gee passes. West makes a “Law” bid with his six hearts and sub-minimum. Larry Cohen warns in his books that if you follow the Law of Total Tricks you’re going to go for a nasty number once in a while, and this is such an instance. North doubles with alacrity, and correct defense (an early diamond shift) puts 3H down 2 for 500.
Ah, but Gee, perhaps regretting his pass over 2H, and holding half a trick more defensively than he’s promised, comes in from left field with a 4D bid! This converts +500 into -50, with two unavoidable losers in each minor. Until the play.
Gee wins the opening club lead with the ace. You or I might think about pulling trump at this point. The master, however, leads the HK, ruffs it low, crosses to dummy with a spade and leads another heart, ruffing low again. The second spade is ruffed by West, who continues with the CK and a third round, giving East a ruff. The spade return is ruffed by West, who returns the HA, ruffed by Gee in hand. At this point, having shortened himself twice in hearts, he is in danger of going down 5 or so if either West has the last two outstanding trumps, so Gee makes the shrewd safety play of leading good clubs to force East and West to make their trumps separately. This guarantees down 3.
It is important, as Gee well knows, to clear up little misunderstandings like this one before they poison the partnership. So after the hand Gee assures his partner that he knew exactly what he was doing when he yanked his penalty double, which I’m sure came as a relief.
G: Not an accident I did not pass 3HX pd :)
G: I really meant not to leave 3HX in…was sure we have 4D makeable
billyyeh: OK G.
Am I reading this correctly? Did Gee pull the double, not because he was afraid that 3HX would make, but because he thought 4D was makeable? I think I need to go lie down now.
In my opinion, the original takeout double is misdirected. Holding only 3 card support for ALL the unbid suits, I would overcall 1NT, which I play as a good 15 to a bad 19. Even if my agreed range was topped out at 18, having one extra point is a baby lie, whereas the actual hand lied all over the place. One third of the hand value is in the opps suit, with a triple stopper; exactly what suit is being asked to take out? I don’t like the pass over 2H either; 3D is obvious, with a planned rebid of 4C unless partner bid 3S, which I would raise to game. One must remember that South had a Lebensohl 2NT/2H available to ‘get out’ in either minor; having not bid SOMEthing/2H would imply a 3433 yarb or similar, something we know as impossible since there are not 17 H’s in the deck. The trouble started with North’s original misdescription.
Assuming North had a REAL original X, South would pass with any piece of garbage with which he did not feel constrained to bid in the first place, even a 4144 or 4054 or 4045 yarb. That is why North’s SECOND Double is also takeout, implying a 4144 moose, and insisting South find a bid (or Pass for blood, perhaps holding the opps suit and naturally being unable to make a Responsive Double/2H in the first place). Holding AKQx,x,AJxx,AQxx one would again X 3H; in no way is the second X penalty — it is simply ‘more’ takeout, showing a hand with enough values to continue competition by finding a fit, even at the 4 level, or defending for blood.