Five of a Minor 5/15

Five of a Minor              ♠♥♦♣

            One of the least likely contracts to earn a top board in duplicate is 5♦ or 5♣. Very often the same cards will make 3NT, perhaps with an overtrick or two. An eleven-trick contract yields +400 (or +600 vulnerable), while nine tricks at 3NT earns the same with a reasonable potential for more.  Even 5♣ with one overtrick loses to 3NT with one overtrick. Consequently, duplicate players work hard to find a major suit fit, and you see some odd 3NT contracts.

            Here’s a hand from Thursday 5/15 in West Tisbury, where 3NT and 5♣ were both wrong:

                                           ♠ J52

                                           ♥ 7

                                           ♦ AK62

                                           ♣ KJ876

                                              N

              ♠ 763                                            ♠ AKQT8

              ♥ 8652                                         ♥ T4

              ♦ JT875         W                  E       ♦ Q843

              ♣ 9                                               ♣ A5

                                              S

                                         ♠ 94

                                         ♥ AKQJ93

                                         ♦ –

                                         ♣ QT432

            West deals, both vulnerable. Here’s how the bidding went at our table:

South         West           North           East

(Nancy)     (Rhonda)    (me)             (Eric)

                  Pass            1♦*               1♠

2♥             Pass            3♣                 Pass

5♣**         Pass            Pass              Double***

all pass

* The clubs are longer, but if I open 1♣, I’ll have to reverse to show the diamonds over the likely South responses. This hand has attractive shape but minimum values. Make the ♣J into the ♣A, and I’d open 1♣.

**  This is where the three tables diverged. The choice for South is between showing the excellent club support and rebidding the excellent heart suit. The two other Souths bid 3♥ or 4♥ here. 5♣, however, was a reasonable shot.

*** Eric takes a bit of a chance that he can cash two spades or that a diamond trick will develop. On the bidding, cashing two spades might seem unlikely, but Eric said that he was optimistic because Rhonda hadn’t supported his spades.

            Eric did cash two spades and later got the ace of trumps. 5♣ was down one doubled for -200. Bill Blakesley and Hugh Knipmeyer played 4♥, losing the same three tricks for +620 when hearts behaved.

            At the third table, North tried 3NT after South bid 3♥. This is a bid you won’t often see at party bridge, but it’s not that uncommon at duplicate. North has a “partial stopper” in spades. This means that she hopes her partner has the ♠Q or four spades to the 10, and hopes to take one spade (or one club), two diamonds, and six hearts, stealing a 3NT game from misfit hands.

            When we lived in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., I used to play with and against a man named Angel Belik, then in his 90s, who had once played big-time international bridge as a member of the Brazilian national team. Angel used old-fashioned bidding methods (strong twos, four-card majors, Gerber for aces). He would often bid 3NT holding as little as Qx in an unbid major. After a time, I learned that defending against an Angel 3NT and holding AKJxx in an unbid major, it was not a good idea to lead fourth highest. More than once I watched him make 9, 10, 11, or even 12 tricks when I could have taken the first five.

            However, in the hand in the diagram, at 3NT East took the first six tricks, and North was down two (undoubled) for -200.

            Some bidding systems have a way to ask for a stopper. Over South’s 3♥, George Willoughby as North would use a “Western Cue” bid of 3♠, which says, “Partner, if you have a stopper in spades, bid 3NT.” South in the hand above, lacking a spade stopper, would bid 4♥, which makes. Nancy and I don’t use Western Cue, because 3♠ in our system would say, “Partner, I have heart support, slam interest, and first-round control (ace or void) in spades.”

            A final thought. When your partner has bid 5♦ or 5♣, by-passing a 3NT contract that you think your side can make, sometimes you might as well bid the small slam. 6♦ down one may be the same bottom matchpoint score as 5♦ making five.  (The situation is very different at IMPs, however.) 

Results from 5/15. 3.5 tables in play. 1. Claus Buchthal and Nancy Neal. 2. Dan and Nancy Cabot. 3. Anita Persson and Carol Whitmarsh.