Too Busy?

[OliverC]

An instructive hand came up the other day:

You are South at Game All

K109753
1073
8
986

The Dealer is West and you hear

(1 ) - Pass - (1 ) - ??

What do you do?

.
.
.

If you (or Partner for that matter) utter a peep during this auction, you will almost inevitably push Opps into a game they might not otherwise have bid. Several South's came in with 1 or 2 and invariably EW pushed into 4 or 5 , both of which make. Some EW Pairs didn't need pushing, it's true, and barrelled into game without any interference from NS (5 , 5 and 4 are all making for EW). At our table we stayed silent and the bidding went

1 - 1
2 - 3
All Pass

The full hand was

                      North
                      AQJ
                      Q82
                      Q976
                      J103
West                                  East
842                                  6
-                                      AKJ9654
AJ53                                K1042
AKQ542                            7

                      South
                      K109753
                      1073
                      8
                      986

Sometimes you can be too busy. Here, South has 3-card length in both of Opps' suits, which is not normally the best time to enter the fray on sub-minimum values. If you do come in, and especially if North supports you, East will radically upgrade their hand. It's true that EW probably ought to bid to a game here without being pushed by Opps, but you can forgive them for staying low given the apparent misfit in Clubs and Hearts.

[kenberg]

And if S comes in with 2 it is possible, perhaps likely, that N will decide to try 4 as a sac. It will indeed be a sacrifice!

Another point is that if the opponents finish in 5   they will  thank S for the help in how to play the .
I do think that with 7 hearts to the AKJ and an outside K, a call of 4 rather than 3 is reasonable. I know I am looking at the full hand but I am pretty sure I would do that. The fact that it makes 5 here when partner has a void would seem to support this approach.

On the lead of the stiff it makes, or at least can make,  6. A reasonable line: in in hand, cash the AK of hearts and  when everyone follows it is no safe to try for 6. Lead the , play another pitching the !!S. Ruff a to hand. Usually when they hold 6 trump we need to be cautious in weakening our trump holding but here, knowing hearts are no worse than 4-2, we are safe. When it turns out that hearts are 3-3 we can claim 12 tricks: 6 hearts, 3 diamonds (thanks to the opening lead, and three clubs.

But anyway, to the main point, staying out of this auction is a fine idea. You don't want to push them to a making game, You don't want to help then with the play of the hand, and you very definitely don't want to play 4 X.

[OliverC]

Absolutely right, Ken, but you would be amazed at how some people see a 6-carder in a weak hand and it's like a red rag to a bull, at any vulnerability, even red vs green.

[kenberg]

There is another instructional point that could be useful. I mentioned that after a lead it was safe to try for 6, which is true but just barely. After the AK of then a club and a club, tossing a spade, and a spade ruff back to hand, declarer has four trump. He might need them all. On this hand, if he leads a trump then the two outstanding trump fall and he can claim 12 tricks. But suppose trumps were 4-2.  After ruffing the spade to his hand, he plays a heart (any heart, it doesn't matter). It is taken by one defender, as the other shows out. That defender leads a spade. Declarer ruffs it and leads another heart. Defender takes it and leads another spade. Declarer still has his last trump so he ruffs the spade and claims 1 tricks.

The point is that this is just on the edge of where it is safe to ruff in hand. If declarer's seven hearts had been 6 in hand, one on the board then after cashing the AK of hearts, everyone following, this attempt at 12 tricks would be a very bad idea. Ruffing that spade back to hand might fatally weaken the trump suit.

Not all ruffs are good. Trumps produce tricks, they also give control. Sometimes one takes precedence, sometimes the other.