10th October 2018


A bidding problem from the last round of matches in the Northern League..


 S  K108
 H  QJ83
 D  KQ103
 C  A9

Vul vs non-vul. IMPs Dealer North

South
West
North
East


Pass
1NT
Pass
2C Pass
2H
Pass
3H Pass
?

After you open one notrump (15-17) partner goes through a simple Stayman sequence to invite game.  Do you accept or not?

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At the table John Currie decided that, despite only holding a minimum point count, the good honours in the long suits, the honours in combination and two tens made it worth bidding game.  This follows the philosophy that at teams you should bid your games and then try to make them.  Dummy was

 S  AJ72
 H  K1092
 D  96
 C  1085

As can be seen, this contract relies on reasonble breaks and probably having to find the spade queen.  But defending is much more difficult than declarer play and when South lead a "safe" spade from 965 most of declarer's problems were over and game duly made for a good swing in both comparisons.  Most pairs didn't bid game and of those that did about half went down.