Deal 20

      Imagine an opponent has opened the bidding. Do you now need opening points to enter? NO! There is only one opening bid in Bridge and it has already been made. If you bid, you do not promise opening points. But you do promise a good suit. What do I mean by ‘good’? I mean at least five cards headed by a couple of honours (remember the ten is an honour). With a lovely five-card suit, I encourage you to enter the bidding (at the one-level) with as little as six or seven points. If you have a five-card suit you would like partner to lead – one that can be introduced at the one-level – then bid it. Partner is not clairvoyant.

       What happened

      North-South sailed unopposed to 3NT and West naturally led

J, losing to

K. East continued with

9. Winning in dummy with

K, declarer was able to cash five diamonds,

AK, and the two major suit aces. 11 tricks.

       What should have happened

      If East overcalls 1

over 1

8 (top from two) vs 3NT. Dummy plays

3, East

9 and declarer

4. East continues with

K, again ducked. Winning the third spade with

A, declarer leads

3 to

A. Note this play: he does not mind losing the lead to West should he hold the guarded

K (West has no more spades). He leads to

A in case East has a singleton

K. Not this time!

      Declarer next leads

2 but East wins

K and tables two winning spades. Down one.

Tip 20

      An overcall does not promise opening bid values.

       Deal 21

      Focussing on overcalling, let us say that you have an opening hand without a decent suit. Is it good tactics to overcall? NO! Just because you were going to open the bidding does not mean you should bid after an opponent has opened. If your suit is poor, and the hand looks like it will ‘blow up in your face’ should partner have a lousy hand, PASS!

       What happened

      How South wished he had kept quiet. West’s double of his 2

overcall showed a confident expectation of defeating the contract. How right he was!

      West led his singleton spade and East won

A. At Trick Two East switched to

A (dummy’s weakness) and followed with

10. Declarer won with

J and led a heart (a trump would work better). West rose sharply with

A and led a third diamond which East trumped with

K and led a second spade. West trumped with

4 and led his fourth diamond. East overtrumped dummy’s

6 with

Q and led a third spade.

      Declarer, down to just his five trumps, tried

7, but West overtrumped with

8. West exited with a heart and declarer trumped perforce and led another trump. West won

J and

A. The defence had scored an unbelievable ten tricks, which included all six trumps. Five down and 1100 points to East-West.

       What should have happened

      Without the overcall, East-West would alight in an uninspiring 2

contract. It would probably make an overtrick.

Tip 21

      Just because you

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