Crazy Bidding #11-38

IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

with Larry Matheny

Every now and then I run into a crazy hand. Here is one I watched via on-line bridge and I couldn’t believe the auction.

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

#11-38
Dlr	W
Vul	E-W

	AKJ74

	AQJ3
	AK86

	Q10952
	KQ6
	K
	Q1032

/images/pad.bmp

	83
	J109875432
	10
	9

	6
	A
	9876542
	J754

West	North	East	South
1	DBL	3	Pass
3	DBL	4	5
Pass	6	Pass	Pass
Pass

BIDDING: North couldn’t believe he saw a spade bid on his right but with such a huge hand he made a takeout double. East held NINE hearts with very little else and made a weak jump bid. South held seven diamonds but decided to stay out of the fray. For some reason West rebid spades even though he held great heart support. North doubled again and South finally came alive. Poor frustrated North didn’t know who to believe but carried on to the slam.

PLAY: West led the king of hearts and South discarded a club from dummy. At trick two declarer played a diamond and was delighted to see the king appear on his left. With 12 tricks a certainly, declarer turned his attention to the overtrick. He felt confident he could take the spade finesse in order to discard two clubs from his hand but he saw a better solution. He cashed the ace-king of clubs followed by the rest of his diamonds. In the 3-card ending, West could not protect the black queens and soon gave up.

I exited that game and decided to find another table that might be a little less exciting.