Spot-on! (Le Bridgeur Magazine n°887 – October 2014)

Article written by Jérôme Rombaut and published in the French magazine Le Bridgeur n° 887 on 15 October 2014.

Reopening, even green vs red, has its limits and may cost you dearly…

Here is a deal from the recent national practice session.

My hand, red vs green, is:  A 8  A 6 3  A J 8 6  A 10 9 3.

I open 1NT in fourth seat. After two passes, East reopens with a Landy bid. When it is my turn to bid, the auction is 2♠. With my four aces and four cards in each minor, I decide to reopen with a double. I have enough offensive and defensive play to defend a part-score, either by playing 2NT or 3NT in minor or by defending against 2S. And when it is my turn to bid again, the auction is redouble-pass-pass! What should I do? It is better to discuss the meaning of the pass beforehand to know if it doesn’t mean anything or if it invites to play 2S redoubled. This is the case here, so I pass serenely:

S	W	N	E
Rombaut		Libbrecht
	PASS	PASS	PASS
	PASS	PASS
PASS		PASS	PASS

 Landy

Dummy spreads his cards after the spade 3 lead in North:

Q 9 6 4  10 8 7 5 2  Q 2  J 5

A 8  A 6 3  A J 8 6  A 10 9 3

The reopening bid by East is more than courageous! I hasten to play spade ace and spade. And when declarer then plays a low diamond to dummy’s queen, I take with the ace and I have to decide which suit to return. I opt for a low heart.

Having the lead with the king, my partner plays trumps and declarer is doomed to be defeated by 3 tricks, with a score of +1,000 and a net gain of 13 IMPs.

Please note that given IMP scoring, letting 2S be defeated by 3 tricks without reopening with a double would have earned only 1 IMP. And if opponents had not redoubled, it would have led to the snatched 2NT contract and a score of 0 IMP.

7 3 2  K J 9 4  10 4 3  K 8 2

K J 10 5  Q  K 9 7 5  Q 7 6 4

Q 9 6 4  10 8 7 5 2  Q 2  J 5

A 8  A 6 3  A J 8 6  A 10 9 3