Hi all
Here’s a game from last Thursday. It was a strange and difficult night, I’m still having some difficulties combining competitive bridge with my fulltime job. And there were some partnership hickups too, but better to have them now, than during competition.
If partner has wastage in 
I should just double them and be happy with +300. Then again it could be a neat example of perfect fitting hands where both sides can make game. But I have no way to find out.
When in doubt opt for play. But I agree in advance this attitude costs points. Everybody is fine with 5
.
West starts with the Ace of . Whoa! Partner surely brings some nice cards. I ruff the second round of and I’m almost in claim mode. Both red Kings onside and twelve tricks are so cold I can chill my Martini with them. I play a small trump to dummy and West shows out. Oh! Better cancel that claim mode. I cross to hand with another trump to finesse in , but East wins and returns a third round of trumps.
I have nowhere to go and finish with ten tricks, losing a and two tricks in . Hoek doesn’t mention a thing, but I feel I deserve a suspicious look.
When in dummy I should have ruffed the third and then finesse in . East will win and return a trump, but now I still have enough trumps left to score eleven tricks on a cross ruff.
I got punished for my laziness. I didn’t acknowledge the dangers of a 0-4 trump split and when I found out I was too dumbstruck to rethink my strategy and plan.
Why didn’t Hoek double 4
? Was his pass forcing?
Even if he has a Forcing Pass available, it seems a strange moment to use it: he has only a doubleton in
and his partner will always retreat to 5
when he gets doubled in 5 of a minor.
My 4
bid didn’t initiate a FP situation. Had Hoek doubled 4
it would have shown a maximum takeout double. I would have been in a better position to take the right decision (80% of the time that’s converting the takeout double to a penalty double). But with only two hearts he doesn’t want to encourage me bidding again.
If the pass is not forcing, I don’t understand that bid at all? You let the opponents play an undoubled game with 18 points in your hand and a partner who bids voluntary!!
If pass is not forcing, how can double encourage you for bidding again?
Sorry for the late reply. To make up for it, a rather wordy one.
Double doesn’t encourage to bid again, but if partner bids, I don’t want to encourage him to rebid
. As it was pairs, that seemed quite likely.
And I wanted to double, but in my book it more or less confirms the earlier promised shape. After all, partner must be able to judge whether to pass or bid based on points as well as distribution. Exchange a
and a 
in both the North and East hand, and 4
makes. (Unless I start with the 
Queen and declarer ducks… )
What can happen if I pass? From Jannes’ point of view the points are evenly distributed, with mine over West’s. He has a singleton or void in
, giving them a ten card fit. With nothing to say he may pass, and we defeat 4
. Or he may double, or with a distributional hand he may bid. At least now he probably wants to introduce a worth-mentioning minor, in order for me to better judge what to do over 5
.
So I rated 5
going down as 20% and 4
X going down around 60%, opposed to 4
going down undoubled 40% and a minor game as 80% (shared top). I opted for the 40/80% pair, with still a chance for the 60%.
We still scored a puzzling 61%. One EW pair remained in a safe 1
+1, and two were doubled in 4
, one -1 and one -2 for 78% and 89%. Three NS pairs were playing 4
going down 4, 3 or 1, one in 5
-2. And three NS pairs reached 5
, -3, -1 and one making, which was a full top. (Here is the moment where I don’t mention a thing.)
Anyway, that’s what I was thinking and hopefully it’s clear now why I didn’t double. My logic could be faulty, I’m the first to admit that. Maybe that’s why I don’t have a book.
P.S. In the EGBC clash, about which Jannes has written earlier, I had QJ98x in trumps, defending 4
, and I didn’t double while partner had opened the bidding. Still there, KJ? ;-)