RECALL the Amanzimtoti Duplicate Bridge Club discussion of two weeks ago about the ‘disruptive skip bid’ and the rule of 7?
Well board 7 from last Wednesday certainly caused some problems for one adventurous pair who disregarded or forgot to apply the rule.
Take a look at the hand: Dealer is East and E/W are vulnerable.
North
- ♠ AKT42
- ♥ J8
- ♦ Q53
- ♣ AQ8
West
- ♠ –
- ♥ KQ9
- ♦ AJT64
- ♣ JT652
East
- ♠ 9
- ♥ AT7543
- ♦ K72
- ♣ K74
South
- ♠ QJ87653
- ♥ 62
- ♦ 98
- ♣ 93
During the afternoon the board was played seven times at different tables by 14 different pairs. Six times the contract was by North/South (N/S) in spades – either 4S or 5S – where not one of the contracts was successful. So a good result for East/West (E/W) – yes six good results even though E/W were defending the contract.
Now at my table South opened 3S – that disruptive skip bid – a bid I am sure happened at many other tables. West now sits with a reasonable hand, five Diamonds and 11 points. Now the Rule of 7 would say pasd – you cannot make a contract at the four level if you assume your partner has just seven points. But West bid 4D!! North had no hesitation to bid 4S.
So now what would you do if you were East? Holding three diamonds, a singleton spade and 10 points (remember West made the 4D bid, assuming East held just 7 points) – so East bid 5D (must make 11 tricks).
North doubled the contract. The end result was E/W made 10 tricks to go I off – a big top for N/S. So West paid a heavy penalty for a rather adventurous bid.
There is another way this hand could play out if E/W bid the ‘weak 2’ system. With 10 points and six hearts, East would open 2H and E/W could go on to 5H which might just make.
Bridge – all the fun in the world.
Results for last week:
Tuesday, 2 October first Lynn Welch and Hazel Du Toit, Barry van den Heuwel and Dot Niddrie 58.33%.
Wednesday, 3 October first Betty Venter and Des Crawford 66.05%, second three pairs joined for second place with 58.02%.
Toti club welcomes visitors. Call Diane or Eric on 031-903-2684, 072-035-3586 or 083-234-6877.
Sessions are played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 12.45pm.
