Doubly Expensive

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday November 9, 2004

Ron Klinger

It is great fun to double the opponents and see them fail (chuckle, chuckle, inwardly, of course), but the last laugh belongs to declarer when the doubled contract succeeds. These deals arose in the second last session of the final of the 2003 Bermuda Bowl:

East dealer; Nil vulnerable.

West North East South

--- --- 1H 2C

Pass 2S Pass 2NT

Pass 3NT Dble All pass

Lead: DJ

East?s double asked for a non-heart lead and the strong inference is that East has strength in spades, dummy?s suit. East captured the DK and now needed to lead the SK or SJ to beat the contract. If declarer ducks this, East can switch to a club and dummy is dead. Figuring West had to have the SQ not to lead a spade (surely West

would have started with a spade from a doubleton or 10-x-x), Lauria shifted to the S4 to the queen and ace. Declarer played the H9, ducked by East and by South. A club to South was followed by the HK. When the clubs split 3-3, declarer had five

clubs, three hearts and the SA for +550. At the other table:

West North East South

Soloway Duboin Hamman Bocchi

--- --- 2D (1) 3C

Pass 3H Pass 3NT

Pass Pass Pass

(1) Flannery: 4 spades, 5+ hearts, 11-16 points

Lead: S3

Declarer ducked in dummy and East took the SK to return the S4 to the queen and ace. The H9 was led and East ducked. (It is easier to defend double dummy.) Declarer ducked, too, and made the same nine tricks as Meckstroth, but 4 Imps to

the USA. The next board:

(See top of next column)

South dealer; E-W vulnerable.

West North East South

Versace Rodwell Lauria M?stroth

--- --- --- 1D (1)

1S Dble 4S Pass

Pass 5D Dble? All pass

(1) Could be short

Lead: CJ

Declarer won, drew trumps and played on clubs, discarding a spade on the third round. When clubs proved to be 3-3, he discarded two hearts from dummy and played a heart to the jack to score an overtrick for +650.

Answer to yesterday?s problem: East had no business doubling 5D just on the basis of two aces. North or South might have been void in spades. East could have produced a better sequence: a 3D limit raise over the double to show the values to raise to 3S with 4+ trumps and then leave the rest to partner. As North-South

could double 4S for +500, East had done too much already with the jump to 4S and then trapped himself into doubling because he had not shown a strong raise yet.

At the other table: West North East South

Soloway Duboin Hamman Bocchi

--- --- --- 1C

1S 2C (1) 4S Pass

Pass Dble Pass 5D

Pass Pass Pass

(1) Shows diamonds

Lead: S10

Declarer made eleven tricks for +400, which meant 6 Imps to the USA. Had West started with the SK and switched to a low heart, there was some chance declarer might go one off. As the margin in the match was a mere 1 Imp to USA, Italy would have won had Lauria desisted from either double.

Only the mediocre bridge player is always at his best. Tomorrow?s problem:

South dealer; N-S vulnerable.

West North East South

--- --- --- 1H

Pass 2NT Pass ?

How would you proceed as South

© 2004 Sydney Morning Herald

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