STICK OR TWIST

By Patrick Jourdain (Wales)

The Round 9 VuGraph match between Russia and Hungary hinged on decisions after One Notrump had been doubled for penalties. Here are three of them:

Board 4. Dealer West. Game All.

West held: ª A 4 3 2 © 6 3 ¨ A Q J 10 5 2 § A

The Russian West opened One Diamond, heard an overcall of One Notrump doubled by his partner, and his RHO redoubled to show a rescue into an unspecified suit. West passed this back to the overcaller, who bid a compulsory Two Clubs, which East doubled. RHO passed, showing that clubs was his suit. What would you do?

West Passed. His partner held: ª Q 6 5 © A J 10 4 ¨ 8 4 3 § K 7 4

and can hardly be blamed for doubling both contracts (The Russian captain thought that a forcing Pass is better on the second round, as the opening 1¨ is normally five cards.) Two Clubs doubled made on a diamond lead (best defence holds it to one off) and you have a cold Three Notrumps your way. This bad result was obscured as the Hungarians at the other table reached a hopeless Six Diamonds! But Russia could still have scored much better by bidding 3NT instead of defending Two Clubs doubled.

Four boards later it was East who had the decision. He held, as dealer at

Game All

ª K J 7 5 3 © J 8 ¨ A J 9 5 2 § J

Both tables opened One Spade, and heard an overcall of One Notrump doubled by their partners. If RHO Passes, what would you do?

Suppose for the moment that you Pass and the overcaller removes to Two Clubs, which your partner again doubles. When this gets round to you, what do you do?

Before saying what actually happened let’s shift to the overcaller’s seat. He held

ª A Q 10 © A 4 3 ¨ 7 6 § K Q 5 3 2

After dealer has opened One Spade and you have overcalled One Notrump you are doubled on your left and this is Passed back to you. Do you agree with the overcaller who stuck One Notrump doubled?

These decisions contain some important matters of principle. The first is that where you have unexpected length you should be wary of passing when your partner doubles a suit rescue. On the first of our deals West held a good six-card diamond suit. It provides five tricks in Three Notrumps but only one in defence of Two Clubs doubled. So, though he is happy to Pass One Notrump doubled, he should not have passed Two Clubs doubled. He is worth Three Diamonds, though even Two Diamonds is constructive. If you remove immediately, before Passing the double back to the overcaller, you clearly have a weak distributional hand, so Passing first and then removing later shows a constructive distributional hand. So, even if West bids only Two Diamonds, his partner, with ten points, has enough to bid Two Notrumps and be raised to Three. This would have improved the Russians’ score from -180 to +630.

On the second deal East has a weak distributional opening and, though it is close, should I believe, remove to Two Diamonds immediately, before the double gets back to the overcaller. At one table the Hungarian East Passed both the first double and a later double of Two Clubs. The actual auction, though, was this:

North’s redouble was an unspecified rescue.

Before we see what happened to Two Clubs doubled let’s go back to the question of whether the overcaller should have stuck One Notrump doubled at the table where his partner Passed. The theory that partner’s Pass implies positive willingness to play One Notrump doubled is, in my opinion, wrong, but the key thing is to know for sure whether it means this. In practice responder had Passed because he had a flat hand with two points! One Notrump doubled was held to three tricks for a penalty of 1100. Removing to Two Clubs fares much better. On a spade lead Two Clubs doubled went one off when the opponents can make Three Notrumps.

I believe that unless South had an agreement that partner rescues with a flat Yarborough he should remove (one of the Editors however agrees with the player, saying “Running is for Wimps! “)

West who held

ª 4 2 © K Q 9 6 5 ¨ K 10 4 § A 10 4

has a clear double of the overcall, and a reasonable double of the run-out (though this is borderline). I believe, on both deals, the second double shows at least three trumps to an honour (though some would make a forcing Pass on such a holding).

To summarise: on the first deal West, with a good hand and a long suit was right to Pass the double of One Notrump but then should remove the double of the run-out. On the second deal East, with a weak 5-5 should have removed at once. Although this would have given up the 1100 gained at one table, at least you get to Three Notrumps for a probable +600 rather than the +200 obtained by the defender who Passed both doubles.

And South, the overcaller on the second deal, with a five card suit and a weak doubleton should, in my opinion, remove unless he has a specific agreement with his partner that responder’s Pass guarantees positive willingness to play One Notrump doubled. Hungary, by leaving in the doubles both in attack and defence, lost 14 IMPs on the board.

Also note a point about leading against the doubled contracts. Against the suit run-out it was right to lead a trump on both occasions. Leading partner’s suit was clearly inferior.

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