Afir MA08 ORA
BRIDGE
Pointless
Andrew Robson
THE MORE experienced bridge player becomes less and less a slave to points. Would you have had the courage of North, in bidding a slam without a single point in his hand?
The Bidding South West
3NT 44 54 pass
pass pass East 14 pass North pass 6• pass East opened a light but justified 16. An excellent rule of thumb, gospel amongst my students, is to open the bidding when the number of high-card points added to the number of cards in your two longest suits equal 20 or more. In this way you can open more hands with potentially powerful distribution.
South overcalled a practical 3NT — if the opponents started the defence to 3NT by leading three rounds of 4s, South would have nine tricks in his own hand. However, West supported 4s so, when the bidding returned to South, he tried for the
• game instead. North re-evaluated his hand in the light of the new development. Holding a void 4 and five-card support for a partner who had bid to the five-level, vul- nerable, all by himself, North ignored his lack of a single high-card point and bid 64. West led 4K. Can you see how declar- er avoided losing two 4s? He won 4A, cashed VA, crossed to 49 in dummy and trumped a r (with •A). He led to dummy's .10 and trumped another V. He trumped a 4, trumped the fourth round of Vs, trumped a second 4 and cashed the established fifth V, discarding a losing 4. He still had a trump in dummy to take care of his last 4, so the slam venture was successful, losing just one 4 trick.
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