6-5 Hand and Unfairness at the Bridge Table

You are West, in third seat. How would you open this hand:

♠ 4

♥ 6

♦ A10743

♣ AQ10654

Only 10 HCP but 6-5 distribution. Many players who play reverses would open 1D and then rebid 2C because a reverse (opening 1C and rebidding 2D) would promise 17 HCP at least. But if you have 6-5 distribution and an opening hand, you may still reverse by opening 1C and then rebidding the diamonds twice to show that your distribution is 6-5 rather than 5-4.

But is this an opening hand? It only has 10 HCP. According to modern bidding practice, this qualifies as an opening hand because it has 10 HCP and 10 cards in its two longest suits (called the Rule of 20). With only five losers and 2-1/2 quick tricks and satisfying the rule of 20, this hand clearly qualifies. So the corollary to this rule is that if your hand is 6-5 and you have enough points to qualify for an opening hand, it is strong enough to reverse. Here’s the layout followed by the bidding:

East dealer

North

                        ♠ AQJ32

                        ♥ KQ9832

                        ♦ --

                        ♣ K9

West                                        East

♠ 4                                           ♠ 10987

♥ 6                                           ♥ A4

♦ A10743                                ♦ KQ92

♣ AQ10654                            ♣ 872

                        South

                        ♠ K65

                        ♥ J1075

                        ♦ J865

                        ♣ J3

But as played at a local bridge club, North opened the bidding out of turn with a conventional Precision opening bid of 1C which shows 16+ HCP and says nothing about clubs. The director was called and East did not accept the bid so North was advised that when the bidding came around to him he could make a “comparable” call but if he did anything else his partner would be barred for one round. East and South both passed and West opened 1C. North bid 1H, which the director ruled was a “comparable call.” This was incorrect (see below), but the bidding went on as follows:

West  North East   South

                            P          P

1C       1H           1NT      P

2D       2H           3D       4H

5D       All Pass

At this point the director showed up and pulled the boards, saying everyone would get a “No Play” because the next round had already begun. West protested, saying that they had to wait more than five minutes to start the round because NS was slow in playing the previous round and then north’s bid out of turn caused an additional delay of a few minutes while the director was called and had to make a ruling, so EW should not be penalized, but should be protected. He also said that his opinion was that 5D making would be a top board and a “No Play” would damage EW. The director was not persuaded.

After the game the printout revealed west was correct because at all 11 tables the NS pairs were in 4 or 5 hearts, making. No E/W was in 5D. 5D is cold, but even if it goes set one trick it would be a top for EW. The only problems are the 4-0 trump break to the jack and playing clubs correctly. But normal play when there are four trump to the jack missing is to first lead to the hand that has two of the top three honors to discover the distribution of the missing cards because that keeps a two-way finesse in play. When west leads to dummy’s KQ and reveals that South holds all four trump, the finesse is easy to take back to west’s hand to the A-10. Played correctly, West loses only the spade ace and the club king. Had North had all four diamonds, West could come back to his hand with the ace and finesse through the board which would still have the Q-9.

As to playing the clubs, the correct play is to put the king in North's hand since he showed a big hand and finesse by playing the 10. If North wins the jack, then play the ace hoping that North had KJ tight. As the hands exist, though, the finesse of the 10 forces out the king and the jack falls under the play of the Ace and the queen.

Even though it is clear that fairness requires that EW get a top board since all the scores (except one where North bid 6H and went down one) are NS and the delay was clearly not the fault of EW, the director refused to grant EW equity.

In a telephone call to the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), West was advised that once cards are pulled from the board, the hand must be played, either immediately or as a late play, further buttressing the EW claim that they should have been awarded the top score on that hand. The ACBL said that at the very least EW should get an average plus, but the director only awarded the average of their game, which was less than an average plus.

The ACBL further stated that the director was wrong in ruling that North’s 1H overcall was “comparable” to a Precision 1C opening bid and that his partner should have been barred from bidding for one round. Since his partner passed anyway, that didn’t matter, but she took her unauthorized information (that North had 16+ HCP) to jump to game when she only had 6 HCP, something she’s unlikely to do without knowing that North had a huge hand, which she could not know from the bidding as it existed.

Do You Rebid 1 No Trump, or Make a Support Double?

Here’s your hand sitting west as dealer:

♠ KJ5

♥ AK2

♦ Q8632

♣ 74

Here’s the bidding:

West            North           East   South

1D               P                 1H     1S

?

Many players play a convention called “support doubles.” This means that if you open and partner bids a suit and your RHO overcalls, if you double you are promising three cards in the suit your partner bid. Since partner may have only four cards in the suit, you should not raise with only three cards in her suit, so this gives you the opportunity to tell her that you have exactly three cards in her suit. This is a nice conventional bid, but it can cause problems.

Without a support double, you would have to decide whether to raise her suit with only three cards, or to bid 1NT over South’s 1S. This 1NT call limits your hand to not more than 14 HCP but promises a stopper in your RHO’s suit.

So what do you do here? You have two possibilities, the support double or 1NT. The answer is that you should bid 1NT. Why? Two reasons; the first is that if you bid 1NT, your partner may use New Minor Forcing to show that she has five cards in her suit and 10 HCP, if she does. The second is that it limits your hand to not more than 14 HCP. If you make a support double, it has two negatives; first is that it does not limit your hand, so your partner doesn’t know if you are minimum or huge. Second, it does not tell her that you have a stopper in your RHO’s suit.

Here’s the four hand layout:

North

                        ♠ 1083

                        ♥ 764

                        ♦ AJ10

                        ♣ A1085

West                                             East

♠ KJ5                                      ♠ Q4

♥ AK2                                     ♥ Q953

♦ Q8632                                  ♦ 4

♣ 74                                        ♣ KQJ632

                        South

                        ♠ A9762

                        ♥ J108

                        ♦ K975

                        ♣ 9

If West bids 1NT, the bidding will probably end there, although with a pretty good six card suit, East might raise to 2NT, which West will pass. That’s the way it should be bid.

Alas, in the actual hand, West chose to make a support double. That really screwed things up because North then raised partner’s 1S overcall to 2S (something he probably would not do with his meager 3 little spades knowing West has a stopper in spades, although he might still bid on since he has two aces) and East bid 3C! The bidding got out of hand and West bid 3NT, which went down one.

The hand was played 12 times. It is unlikely that South overcalled 1S at many of the other 11 tables because it is a very aggressive bid. Five were in 1NT making two. Four were in 3NT, down one. One was in 2H, making two and one was in 4H, down one. One was in 2NT, down two, which is incomprehensible; right contract, but how in the world was it played to go down two?

This hand also shows the way aggressive bidders can mess up opponents’ bidding. South’s 1S overcall was precarious with only 8 HCP. But if South doesn’t overcall, West will bid 1N and the auction will end. South’s overcall enabled North to enter the bidding and get West and East to bid to an unmakeable contract. Good bid, South!

Defense: What do you lead after taking partner's opening lead?

Here’s your hand sitting North, and the bidding:

♠ 82

♥ AKQ864

♦ 96

♣ 1097

West          North   East   South

 P                2H     3S      P

All Pass

Partner leads the JH

Here’s the dummy (on your right):

♠ Q7

♥ 53

♦ KQ432

♣ J652

You take the Queen and declarer discards the 10. What do you return?

If you said that you would take the second heart immediately you probably lost the hand. Partner’s lead of the jack must be either a singleton or a doubleton because declarer discarded the 10. That is probably a false card, to keep you from continuing hearts. If partner has a doubleton (probably), that means that declarer has three hearts and will lose all three unless she can trump your third heart lead. There are two trumps on the board. You want to get a third heart trick so you want to get the queen of trump off the board.

So the answer is that you must lead a trump. Even if declarer has the ace, she has to lead another heart to be able to trump with her queen and you can take it and lead your last trump to get rid of the last trump on the board, so she’s stuck with a losing heart in her hand and she goes down one.

Here is the four hand layout

North

                        ♠ 82

                        ♥ AKQ864

                        ♦ 96

                        ♣ 1097

West                                        East

♠ Q7                                        ♠ KJ109653

♥ 53                                         ♥ 1092

♦ KQ432                                 ♦ A

♣ J652                                     ♣ AQ

                        South

                        ♠ A4

                        ♥ J4

                        ♦ J10875

                        ♣ K843

This is a real unfortunate hand for east because she has only one possible entry to the board, and that’s the heart ruff which you denied her. She can take her ace of diamonds, then the A of clubs, then leading the club Q to south’s king and she’s got good cards in the minor suits to get rid of her heart loser, but she can’t get there after you take out her trump.

When this was played in a club game, three declarers made either three or four because defenders failed to play trump early to keep declarer from ruffing a heart and discarding her losers on the diamonds. If north never leads a trump, the hand easily makes four. Since partner has the ace of trump even if north takes both hearts immediately, if he then leads a trump partner can take the ace and lead another, getting rid of both trumps on the board.

But north should not count on that. The safest and best play is to lead a trump immediately before taking the second heart because if declarer has the trump ace and takes the return, she still has to lead another heart to get rid of the last heart on the board and north can take that trick and lead the second trump. If he takes the second heart immediately and then leads a trump it’s too late because the board is now void of hearts and if declarer has the trump ace (a better than 50% chance) declarer can take the belated trump lead, play the diamond ace and trump his third heart to get to the diamond king and queen to rid himself of his club loser.

Played correctly, NS should take three hearts, the spade ace and the club king, five tricks for down one in a 3S contract.

Your First Play From Dummy Can Make or Break Your Contract

Here is the bidding, NS passing throughout, East dealer:

East  West

1S     2C*

2D    2H

3D** 4N

5C***6N

*Game Forcing

** Showing 5 cards

*** 0-3 Key cards

West                                        East

♠ J2                                         ♠ AKT853

♥ AQT4                                    ♥ 76

♦ KJ                                         ♦ Q9754

♣ KQJ64                                  ♣ Void

Opening lead Club 10

West is declarer. What do you discard from dummy?

While you are thinking about that, let’s discuss the bidding, which was deplorable. The first four bids were fine, 1S-2C-2D-2H. East’s rebid of 3D to show at least 5-5 in the two suits was worse than awful, for several reasons. One is that in a game forcing auction like this, after showing his tentative shape of at least 5-5, his first obligation is to show that he has a six card spade suit. And it is a very good suit, headed by the AK. His diamond suit is terrible. There’s no reason to show a weak 5 card diamond suit before showing a strong 6 card spade suit. When he confirms he has 6 spades, West can confirm spades as trump since he’s holding two and the bidding proceeds from there. West’s bid of 3S shows slam interest. Since they are in a game-forcing auction, 3S is much stronger than jumping to game in 4S.

It went from bad to worse from there. East forgot that they were playing 3014 key card and responded in 1430, showing 1 or 4 key cards (since Trump had not yet been agreed upon, east was responding as if diamonds were trump). West thought he was showing 0 or 3 and assumed it was 3 and went straight to 6N, lacking two aces.

North was on lead. North was one of the best players in Los Angeles, if not the world and made the best lead that could give West a chance to make it, the club 10. Why was it so good? Two reasons: First, it wasn't the diamond ace. Second, it pulls the club ace without having to force it out by playing the King, which, it turns out, would have doomed the slam because clubs would produce only two tricks instead of three.

Now back to my original question, what do you discard from dummy? If you said one of your two little hearts, you just lost any chance to make the slam. You have to discard a diamond because you have to retain a heart on the board to make the heart finesse. If you discard a heart initially, the only remaining heart will be gone if south leads her heart and there’s no way to get her king.

East took her ace and returned the jack of hearts! Manna from heaven! You are holding the AQT4. If North has the king of hearts, you are down two. If he doesn’t, you can make it if spades break correctly, so you have no choice. You must take the heart finesse.

When it holds, showing that South has the king, you first try to run your clubs. You find out that North has six clubs and you only get three club tricks. But that’s OK because you discard three diamonds on those three club tricks and then lead the jack of spades. North covers, so you run the spades, getting rid of your two diamonds and two remaining clubs in your hand on the long running spades and then lead the remaining heart on the board to finesse south’s king and you end up getting six spades, three clubs and three hearts, making a slam that has only a 5% chance of making, at best. If south returns a diamond, you’re dead because north will get the ace he failed to cash at the beginning. In bridge as in any other game it’s better to be lucky than good.

As to the bidding, here’s the way it should have gone:

East  West

1S     2C

2D    2H

2S     3S

4S     4N

5H*   5S

6S     P

*Two key cards without the queen

Even though West signs off because he knows they are lacking two key cards, East goes to 6S because of the club void, even though it’s in partner’s first bid suit. As long as the spades behave, which they do, 6S is a much easier play than 6N, losing only the diamond ace so long as the heart and spade finesses work.

Here are all four hands:

                      North

                        ♠ Q7

                        ♥ 985

                        ♦ A2

                        ♣ T98532

West                                        East

♠ J2                                         ♠ AKT853

♥ AQT4                                    ♥ 76

♦ KJ                                         ♦ Q9754

♣ KQJ64                                  ♣ Void

                        South

                        ♠ 964

                        ♥ KJ32

                        ♦ T863
                        ♣ A7

           

Reverse Drury

Players have known for a long time that it is wise to open very aggressively in third seat.  It is not uncommon to open 1S on a hand like this one.

♠ KQ875

♥ A74

♦ 984

♣ J10

Bidding 1S makes life tougher for the opponents and it may help you on defense, but it comes with a downside.  If your partner has a maximum passed hand she may start jumping around, getting you too high.

When your partner opens one of a major in third or fourth seat, you need a way to show your good hands.  Often you will have a hand worth ten or eleven points in support of partner’s suit.  You might like to jump to three of the major but if she has a weak or sub-minimum opening bid you may go down. 

The answer is this.  If you have a limit raise for partner’s major, bid 2C instead of jumping to 3 of the major.  This is artificial, stating that you have a maximum passed hand, a limit raise, with at least three-card support.  This converts the jump to 3 of the major to weak instead of a limit raise. Because the 2C bid is artificial and says nothing about clubs, it is alertable, as is the jump to 3 of the major.

QUIZ

W        N         E         S

                      P         P        

1S       P         ?         

ONE               TWO               THREE          FOUR            

♠ KJ84           ♠ J72              ♠ J10754       ♠ 974

♥ Q83            ♥ AK983         ♥ 34              ♥ 64

♦ Q983           ♦ K6               ♦ QJ8            ♦ AQ43

♣ J3               ♣ 732             ♣ Q108         ♣ KQ97

Hand One:  2S.  Make your normal bid.  You need ten good support points for a Reverse Drury bid.

Hand Two:  2C.  This is the Reverse Drury bid.  It says nothing about clubs.  It says you have better than a normal raise, typically a good ten points and up.  Do not bid 2H.  Your partner may pass a two over one bid when you are a passed hand.

Hand Three:  3S.  The jump raise is weak but it promises long trumps without much else. 

Hand Four:  2C, Reverse Drury.  You do have three trumps and you have eleven high card points along with a doubleton

OPENER’S REBIDS AFTER PARTNER’S REVERSE DRURY BID

2D or 2H:       Opener says she has a full opening bid and is interested in game if responder has a good Reverse Drury hand.  It is possible that opener has a very big hand and is waiting to see what responder does next.  Opener may have real diamonds but she may not and just be waiting to see what responder thinks. If she bypasses diamonds and bids hearts, she has at least 4, but still promises a full opening hand.

2 of the major: In this case, 2S.  If opener rebids her major, it shows a weak hand and denies any possibility of game.  Responder should pass.

This is called Reverse Drury because originally the way to show the full opener was to bid 2 of the major suit by opener and the bid of 2D by opener showed the weak hand. When this was changed, the use of 2D to show the strong hand was called “Reverse” Drury. Most people just refer to now it as Drury because I don’t know anybody who plays it the original way.

Opener can bid other things besides 2D or two of the major.  Other bids confirm a full opening bid, too. For instance, a rebid of 2N by opener should promise 18-19 HCP.

QUIZ

W        N         E         S

                      P         P        

1S       P         2C       P        

?

ONE               TWO               THREE          FOUR             FIVE               SIX

♠ AKJ87         ♠ Q9874          ♠ J9874         ♠ KJ98743     ♠ QJ874          ♠ KJ763

♥ 87              ♥ 3                  ♥ AK              ♥ 2               ♥ KQJ            ♥ KQ

♦ Q87            ♦ AK108           ♦ 92              ♦ AK7            ♦ KQ9            ♦ Q98

♣ 873            ♣ K105             ♣ AQ84         ♣ AQ            ♣ AJ               ♣ Q104

Hand One:  2S.  You have less than an opening bid and want partner to pass.  When opener rebids the major, responder always passes no matter how good his passed hand happens to be.

Hand Two:  2D.  Counting distribution you have better than a minimum.  You are willing to go to game if partner has a maximum hand.  If partner has a minimum Reverse Drury hand he will bid 2S and you will pass. 

Hand Three:  4S.  Counting distribution you have around sixteen points and your partner has ten or more with spade support.  Bid game.  Do not bother bidding clubs.  Why tell the opponents something you prefer they do not know?

Hand Four:  4NT.  Ask for aces and bid a slam if partner has one or two aces.  You have about 22 HCP now that spades have been supported. 

Hand Five:  4S.  Just bid a game.  You have a big hand but East has a maximum of eleven points.  When you know game is worth bidding and when you know there is no slam, do not waste time making bids that you do not have to make.

Hand Six:  2S.  This is a 13 HCP hand but it is balanced and minimum and it has poor quality points, (queens and jacks). 

If you have a hand with clubs and no support for partner’s major, you cannot bid 2C because that would promise support for partner’s major.  Bid 1NT and hope for a sane result.  Conventions all come with benefits but they all have the occasional drawbacks too.

Timing is Key to Playing a Hand Correctly

Here are the West and East hands and the bidding; you are sitting West:

West ª Q632 © AJT ¨  AKQ § KQ4

East ª AKT © 753 ¨ T964 § A76

South             West   North             East

                                                            P!

P                     2N*     P                     4N**

P                     6N                   All Pass

! I would open this hand with three quick tricks, even though there are only 11 High Card Points. The bidding would then go 1C-1S-1N-6N because West would figure East with a minimum of 12 HCP for the opening bid. Adding his 21 HCP to 12, that’s 33 HCP and clearly a slam opportunity.

*20-21 HCP

**Asking to bid 6N if at the top of his bid, pass if at the bottom. Since West was at the top, 21 HCP, he bid 6N. With 32 HCP, slam should be tried; with 31, it’s a longshot without a long running suit.

Opening Lead 8§

You’ve got 10 tricks, AKQ of spades and diamonds and clubs and the ace of hearts. Where do you get the other two? If the jack of spades is a doubleton and it drops on the AK, you’ve got another spade because that makes the 10 good, or if spades split 3-3 you’ve got your 4^th spade trick. That’s two chances for your 11^th trick. If you lead out the AKQ of diamonds and the jack falls, that’s another. Considering the odds, let’s say that half of those work. You still need another trick. The only place to get it is to finesse twice in hearts. The question is, what do you do first?

The opening lead gives you the answer right off the bat. You must try the heart finesse first. You know that your Left Hand Opponent (LHO) does not have both the king and the queen of hearts. If he did he would have led the heart king, top of connecting honors. So Right Hand Opponent (RHO) is finessible, either holding both of the heart honors or one. Because of the opening lead, you know he has at least one of them. The reason why you must try the finesse first is that let’s say you lead out the AKQ of diamonds and the jack doesn’t fall. That means that when you take the heart finesse and it loses, the jack of diamonds will be another winner and if the winner of the finesse has that card, you are down. When you take the finesse first and lose it, you don’t have a sure loser to lose because you still have control of the diamonds.

After you take the heart finesse and it loses to North, you may then confidently lead out your AKQ of diamonds to see if the jack falls, which it didn’t. Then go to the board and take your AK of spades. If the jack doesn’t fall, take the heart finesse to your hand, which works because, as you knew, the honors were split, and hope that spades break evenly by leading the queen. As it was, the jack was a doubleton and when it fell, the spade 10 was good so your queen of spades was your 12^th trick, 3 diamonds, 4 spades, 3 clubs and 2 hearts.

This hand was played eight times in a club game consisting of experienced players, mostly Life Masters, and everyone but one person played it wrong. Interestingly, only four found the slam. The other four were in 3N, making 5. Two of those in slam were down one; one was down two and one made it. Here’s the four hand layout:

	North ª 9754 © K2 ¨ J732 § 853
West ª Q632 © AJT ¨  AKQ § KQ4		East ª AKT © 753 ¨ T964 § A76
	South ª J8 © Q9864 ¨ 85 § JT92

6 no trump hand bidding and play

Here are the east and west hands and the bidding:

♠KJ965 ♥AQJ6 ♦85 ♣A3 ♠Q8 ♥53 ♦AKJ ♣KQ9754

South             West   North             East

                               P                 1C

P                 1S       P                  2C

P                 2H       P                  2N

P                 4N*     P                   5D**

P                 6N

*  Roman Key Card blackwood

**1 key card with hearts, the last bid suit, as trump

Opening lead: 10D

Bidding: West got into a bind jumping to 4N so fast, although about the only forcing bid he could make would be 3D. How this would be interpreted is questionable. If East bid 3N, West is still in a bind about blackwood. Had Clubs been established as trump, East could have then responded 5S to RKC blackwood showing 2 key cards and the queen of trump. As it was, West was stuck because if he bid 5N, that would be asking for kings. The only way to get partner to stop in 5N would be to bid an unbid suit, which asks partner to bid 5N. Alas, the only unbid suit was diamonds and that was what East bid in response to blackwood, so West just bit the bullet and bid 6N.

Play: Actually, both 6N and 6C can make. But East, as declarer, ran the clubs, discarding spades, ending her chance to make the contract.

The diamond lead into her AKJ gave her 10 cold tricks, 6 clubs, 3 diamonds and one heart. How do you get two more? You can try to finesse the heart king twice, but that’s a 50% play. If it loses, you also lose the ace of spades. There is, however, a 100% play. What you have to do immediately is to set up the spades, and it doesn’t matter how they split. Lead the spade queen. If that holds for the 11^th trick, go to the board in spades where you have the king and the jack. When they take the ace, your jack is your 12^th trick and you don’t have to take the heart finesse.

I played this hand at a club game, playing West. Nobody got to the right contract, 6N, but us. Just about everyone was in 3N, making 5 or 6. A heart lead (hard to find) holds it to 5.

 Here are the four hands:

♠AT2 ♥KT42 ♦Q742 ♣JT Dlr: North Vul: N-S

♠KJ965 ♥AQJ6 ♦85 ♣A3 ♠Q8 ♥53 ♦AKJ ♣KQ9754

♠743 ♥987 ♦T963 ♣862