BRIDGE
Weak response
Andrew Robson
Iremember a hand from The Macallan — possibly the world's premier invitational tournament held in London every January — in which every single player responded to their partner's opening bid in spite of holding just four points. Their reasoning was as follows: if partner held a good open- er, no real harm was likely to come; if part- ner held a minimum opener — 12 points or so — then it was important to bluff the opponents out of a likely game contract.
Dealer North Neither side vulnerable 4A KID 4J 8 3
• A 8 6 • 9 4 • A J 8 7 4 K J • A J • 3 9 8 5 5 3
• 9 7 5 V 7
• K 7 2 • K Q 10 4 9 6 N W E
4 10 6 2
• Q 104 3 2
• Q 106 +5 2
The Bidding South West North East 1* pass 1V pass 4V pass pass pass The decent five-card major and partial • fit, in addition to the possibility of psyching the opponents out of a contract, make South's 1V a winning bridge bid. He must have been delighted to have responded when a most suitable dummy appeared. He reckoned without the impeccable defence of Charlie Hunter and Louise Guinness.Louise, West, led •9 and South played low in dummy. East won •K and returned •2, won by declarer's •O. Declarer led a low V, West played low and dummy's 11,1 won. The VK continuation was won by West's VA and East made a most informative discard — what should he throw? Charlie, East, realised that the only chance of beating the contract was for part- ner to hold 4A and to have the courage to underlead it in spite of dummy holding just a singleton. He discarded 4K, a card he could not afford unless he also held 40. Reading the discard, Louise dutifully led a low 4.; Charlie won 44) and led the third • for West to trump. One down.
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