BRIDGE
Starting low
Andrew Robson
WHAT WOULD you open the bidding with all 13 spades? Given that there are more grains of sand in the world than the number of deals necessary to make such a hand a favourite to occur, it is a question of amusing conjecture only. Terence Reese recommended opening just 4+ with all 13 clubs in his marvellous book What Would You Bid? because opening 7+ tele- graphs your hand and allows for sensible opponents to bid over it. Holding all the spades gives you much more safety what can the opponents bid over 74? Amazingly, all 13 spades were dealt (admittedly in a goulash where the cards are dealt in groups) to a player in Gloucestershire recently.
Dealer West East-West vulnerable
South West North East
pass pass 74
7NT pass pass pass
South, John Reynolds, decided to believe East's vulnerable 74 opener and found the brilliant bid of 7NT. With West on lead, East's hand would be completely useless. West led ♦l0 against 7NT, and declarer won. Placing West with all the missing VS (obviously!), he advanced VI West cov- ered with •K and North won VA. Declar- er crossed to +A and led V2, covering West's V6 with V7. Crossing back with 4K, he finessed against West's ♦10 and cashed dummy's two remaining Vs, dis- carding +9 on the last V. All that remained in his hand were winning •S and the Grand Slam was his! East was left to rue that he had blown a once-in-a-life- time opportunity. Aiming to play the hand at all costs, he would have done better to open 44, then continue bidding 4s at the lowest level thereafter. Most likely he would end up declaring 6 or 74, probably doubled.
Previous page
