Unlucky Louie is no physicist but insists he can prove that sound travels slower than light: Louie says that some of the advice he gave his daughters at 16 didn’t get through to them until they were 22.
Louie held today’s North hand in a duplicate game and heard his partner open 1NT.
“Our 1NT range was 15 to 17 points,” Louie told me. “Should I raise to 2NT with a balanced eight-point hand?”
Louie had raised, and since South had a tiptop maximum, he went on to 3NT. West led a heart: eight, ace, three. South played low on East’s heart return, and West took the queen and led a third heart. East discarded a diamond.
“My partner took the king,” Louie said, “led a diamond to dummy, returned a club to his queen — and exhaled when the finesse won. He went to the king of spades and won a second club finesse with his jack, but when he took the ace, West threw a spade. My partner took eight tricks and gave me some advice: Pass 1NT.”
My advice is to avoid raising with eight points. Partner will often accept with a decent-looking 16, resulting in an odds-against game contract.
Bidding close games at matchpoint duplicate is a losing proposition. If making a pushy 3NT requires luck or careful play, you may get a good result for +150. And if partner can’t accept an invitation to game, he may not make 2NT.
Making 3NT in this deal needed a finesse plus astute dummy play. South must throw his king of hearts under East’s ace. Then South can win a heart trick in dummy — an entry to take a vital third club finesse.
South dealer
N-S vulnerable
NORTH
S K 6 2
H J 9 8
D A 7 3 2
C 8 6 4
WEST
S J 8 4
H Q 7 6 5 2
D Q 10 9
C 5 2
EAST
S Q 10 9 7
H A 4
D J 8 6
C K 9 7 3
SOUTH
S A 5 3
H K 10 3
D K 5 4
C A Q J 10
South West North East
1 NT Pass 2 NT Pass
3 NT All Pass
Opening lead — H 5
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Originally published at Frank Stewart