Board 3
South Deals
E-W Vul | | ♠ | 7 6 | | ♥ | Q J 9 2 | | ♦ | Q 5 4 | | ♣ | A K J 6 |
|
| ♠ | A K Q J 4 | | ♥ | 7 3 | | ♦ | J 8 6 | | ♣ | 10 5 4 |
| |
| | | | ♠ | 8 5 2 | | ♥ | A K | | ♦ | 10 3 2 | | ♣ | Q 9 8 3 2 |
|
|
| | ♠ | 10 9 3 | | ♥ | 10 8 6 5 4 | | ♦ | A K 9 7 | | ♣ | 7 |
|
NS 3♥; NS 3♦; EW 1N; EW 1♠; EW 1♣; Par +140
| West | North | East | South |
| | | | Pass |
| Pass | 1 ♣ | Pass | 1 ♥ |
| 1 ♠ | 2 ♥ | 2 ♠ | All pass |
North has standard 1 NT opening if playing ACOL, with 12-14hcp in any position. Difficult. At MPs a genral "truism" is that is u let oppo play in an agreed suit at the 2 level u are destined for bad MPs. So any excuse to bid more should be OK. Here, North bid his opening hand twice, which seems enough. South however has extra values, the extra heart, the AK "honour togetherness", the shortage, albeit in pard's suit, all suggest 3H.
West is close to an opening bid and some might then the auction might look like:
ReplyDeletePass 1S Dbl 2S; 3H All pass
1S 11-20 with five spades (or 4333 15-19 if Acol)
Double takeout asking partner to bid one of the other suits
2S a normal raise with three card support and 6-9 hcp
3H with 7 points and a five-card suit it is usually right to compete when partner has made a takeout double.
Usually I would not open 11 hcp in a balanced hand (5332 is balanced) but the suit is so good. If west passes then the auction might look like:
Pass Pass 1NT Pass; 2H weakness takeout (or 2D transfer)
After that west might compete with spades and north-south could compete to 3H.
If north is playing standard American then auction could look like:
Pass Pass 1C Pass; 1H 1S 2H 2S; 3H All pass
Of course some variations are possible.