By Val Rhead
Would you like chocolate sauce or butterscotch sauce on your ice cream? Do you want to play this bridge contract in Hearts or Diamonds? If your partner has bid first Diamonds and then Hearts in competition, you are allowed to tell him which suit you prefer, even with zero points. You don’t have to eat your sundae with butterscotch sauce, if you hate butterscotch and love chocolate. You don’t have to play the contract in Hearts if you have four Diamonds but only one Heart, and you don’t need extra points to switch back. With zero points you still can change back to Diamonds and partner will know that this is a PREFERENCE BID telling nothing about point strength.
If on the other hand, you have three Hearts and one Diamond, you can show your preference for Hearts by simply passing the Heart bid.
The other night, I had a very good hand with a six-card Spade suit and a five-card Heart suit. The opponents were bidding too, because they had the minor suits. I bid my Spades first. My partner raised my Spades. Because of the intervening bids, I didn’t have a chance to show my Heart suit until I was at the four level. I bid four Hearts in an effort to best describe my powerful hand in case we might have a slam. Partner passed my heart bid. I assumed that he had some Hearts.
After the lead was made, and partner put down his hand as dummy, I saw to my horror that he had the queen and three small Spades, my first suit, and a void in Hearts! “But why,” I spluttered, “didn’t you take me back to Spades?” “I didn’t have enough points to bid again,” he said. So there I was left playing my super hand in a five-card Heart fit instead of in the ten-card fit I have in Spades. I explained to partner as nicely as I could that he didn’t need extra points to show that he preferred Spades. Next time we’re out at a restaurant, I’ll order him a butterscotch sundae even though I know he would prefer chocolate.
If you wish to promote an activity in your bridge group or ask a bridge question, send the information to [email protected] and I will include it in this column.
HUNTSVILLE DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB
Games for the Huntsville Club are Tuesdays, 7:15pm, Trinity United Church 33 Main Street. Please arrive 15 minutes before game time. Contact Jan Roberts 705-635-2522 or [email protected] for information and partnerships.
The following winners are for Tuesday, Nov 1 with 6 tables playing a Howell movement. 1. Liz Graham and Dorothy Russell; 2. Betty Fagin and Brian Brocklehurst; 3. Val Rhead and Peter Rhead; 4. Susan Marshall and Jan Roberts; 5. Liz Barnes and Rod Dixon; 6. Fay MacDonald and Yvonne Cox
MUSKOKA DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB (Bracebridge)
Games at the Bracebridge Club are at the Knox Presbyterian Church, 120 Taylor Road 7pm Monday evenings. Please arrive 15 minutes before game time. For information or partnerships, call Brian at 705-645-5340 [email protected]
The following winners are from Monday, Oct 31 with 9 tables playing a Mitchell movement. North-South 1. Betty Fagin and Brian Brocklehurst; 2. Ralph Hair and Gerry Flaherty; 3. Bev Parlett and Vern Foell; 4. Mary Luke and Donna McIntosh; East-West 1. Art Insley and Don Evans; 2. Fay MacDonald and Mary Whitehead; 3. Carol Anne Robinson and Nancy Barber; 4. Ann Cassie and Bruce Cassie
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