SOS Redouble 6/3

SOS Redouble 6/3

Here’s a hand from Tuesday 6/3 in Vineyard Haven. South deals, both sides vulnerable.

                                           ♠ KJ92
                                           ♥ AJ87
                                           ♦ AKQ6
                                           ♣ 2
                                              N
              ♠ A843                                         ♠ 6
              ♥ T9654                                       ♥ KQ2
              ♦ 843             W                  E      ♦ JT72
              ♣ J                                               ♣ AQ975
                                              S
                                         ♠ QT75
                                         ♥ 3
                                         ♦ 95
                                         ♣ KT8643

            This is North-South’s spade hand. Anita Persson and Carol Whitmarsh bid 4♠ and made five (+650). Rhonda Cohen and Eric Strikof made four (+620). Two other pairs bid 2♠ and made three and four (+140, +170). One pair went down at 4♠.

          The bidding was  different at our table: 

South      West      North     East
                (me)                  (Nancy)
Pass         Pass        1♦          2♣
Pass*       Pass**    Dble***    Pass
Pass#       Rdble## Pass        2♦###
Pass          2♥         all pass

            North’s opening bid is normal. The hand is too strong for a mini-Roman 2♦, the only other choice. Nancy overcalls 2♣ vulnerable with 12 HCP plus a singleton, also the normal bid.

* South has a problem. If she chooses to make a negative double here, N-S will find their spade game, but she has only 5 HCP plus distribution, and her length is in Nancy’s suit. Pass and see what happens is not an unreasonable choice.

** I don’t like it, but I pass this hand with 5 HCP. I expect that N-S will bid again, and so Nancy won’t be stuck with 2♣ on a 5-1 trump fit, and . . .

*** . . . and sure enough, North makes a reopening double (for takeout), expecting South to say something. . .

# . . .  but what South “says” is to convert the reopening double to penalties. This is a very good bid. In clubs, N-S should take three diamonds, a heart or two, and probably four clubs. They would have collected at least +800, more than their spade game is worth. (At another table 3♣ was down four undoubled - that South should have doubled!).

## This is an SOS Redouble. I know that North’s double likely indicates both high-card strength and shortness in clubs. South’s Pass indicates length and strength in clubs, behind Nancy. An SOS Redouble says, “Partner, we’re in a terrible spot. Please bid some other suit.” (In the direct position, we play that a Redouble indicates 10 or more HCP, but that can’t be the case in the pass-out seat at a low level.)

### Nancy should have bid 2♥, but she bid 2♦ thinking that North’s opening might have been based on a 3-card suit. I took her 2♦ to be a cue bid asking me to pick one of the two unbid suits (lucky I didn’t pick spades!).

            The opening lead was the ♣2. I took the ♣A and led a spade to my ♠A. I led a heart toward the board, and North played low and the ♥K won. When I ruffed a club, I was over-ruffed, and North cashed three diamonds. North got two more hearts (three in all), but that was all.  Down one (-100) meant that we were beaten on the hand only by the E-W pair who found a way to set 4♠.

            At another table E-W were down four doubled at 3♥ (-1100). I suspect that West may have finessed on the first club lead. That was the top N-S score.

Here are the results from 6/3. 8 tables in play. N/S 1. David Donald & Michele Riel. 2. Duncan & Jocelyn Walton. 3. Claus Buchthal & Sari Lipkin. E/W 1. Bob Roach & Diane Clayton. 2. Bill Blakesley & Hugh Knipmeyer. 3. Dan & Nancy Cabot.