Double Game Swing *

We had an interesting double game swing hand last night at teams, although its potential went largely untapped.

With no one vul, I dealt as North and opened 2H with:

x
K987xx
Kxx
Qxx

Not such a great hand, but a good way to kick off the last match of the evening at the local club.

Frank, my partner, bid 2N, asking about my hand. I hardly had time to worry whether my hand was “bad” or “good” under our modified Ogust convention before my RHO bid 4D!

I passed, Frank bid 4H and RHO doubled! All passed and Frank put down:

Axxx
Axxx
Jx
xxx

x
K987xx
Kxx
Qxx

Not too bad for a doubled 17 point game. RHO won the diamond lead with the Ace and made life easy for me by cashing the AK of clubs. Trumps were 2-1, no ruffs were lurking and I scored up 590—a good way to start the match.

At the other table, there were 3 passes and a 1D bid by the person holding the cards of my RHO. My hand overcalled 2H and it went pass, pass, double. LHO bid 2S and RHO ended up in 4D down 2. Our counterparts didn’t find the 4H game. Neither side found the 4S game!
The other two hands were:

West (My RHO)
KQ
Q
AQ109xx
AKxx

East (My LHO)
J109xxx
J10
xx
Jxx

As you can see 4S will often make, although good defense will beat it. The top losers are the major suit aces and the DK. The diamonds set up easily with the Jack falling doubleton.

The 3 point hand with the long spades is actually pretty powerful opposite a strong hand with tolerance for spades. At both tables the 20 point hand was bid strongly, but at one table the weak hand passed 4H doubled and at the other table 4D was passed. It is probable that 4S would fare better than either of those contracts even if it didn't make!

Take another look at the potential of this 3 point hand, and the next time you hold one like it, think long and hard before passing short of a 4S game on a similar auction.

Think how satisfying it will be after the match when your teammates announce “plus 590” to be able to respond “plus 420--win 14”!

See you at the table!