Jennbridge: Preempting in Santa clara

Preempts can be exciting--you set the bidding in motion at a high level and sit back to watch the fireworks! If it is your hand, your descriptive bid can aid partner in making an intelligent decision. If the hand belongs to the opponents, your preempt can force them to guess at a high level, making it difficult for them to land on their feet.

Most of our preempts worked out well in Santa Clara.  I'll present in this post two hands where our preempts helped our partnership bid to the right contract.

Midway through the second qualifying session of the All Western Open Pairs, I picked up this hand at favorable vulnerability.  RHO passed and it was up to me.

♠	7 6
♥	6 5
♦	K J 9 8 7 4 2
♣	J 9

My partner, Larry H. and I don't have any strict guidelines for preempts, so even though I didn't like my hand or my suit, I got the ball rolling with a 3♦ bid--an aggressive preempt.

My partner held the strong hand so this gave him the opportunity to trot out a bid that doesn't come up very often.  He bid 4♣ which we play as preemptive Gerber.  This is a special ace-asking bid used over preempts which can help you stay at a low level and play in notrump if that is deemed best.  I bid 4♥, showing 1 keycard and no trump queen.  Partner jumped to 6♦.

A heart was led and a powerhouse was tabled.

♠	K Q 3
♥	A K J 9 3 2
♦	A Q 5
♣	A

♠	7 6
♥	6 5
♦	K J 9 8 7 4 2
♣	J 9

 
The play was relatively simple.  I drew trumps in two rounds, then played a second heart and ruffed a heart, setting them up.  A club ruff followed and I could discarded my spades on the good hearts.  My hand is  North in the following diagram.

All Western Open Pairs, Evening Session 2 of 4

Board 16 West Deals E-W Vul	♠ 7 6 ♥ 6 5 ♦ K J 9 8 7 4 2 ♣ J 9
♠ A J 10 9 ♥ Q 10 8 ♦ 10 3 ♣ Q 10 6 4	N W E S	♠ 8 5 4 2 ♥ 7 4 ♦ 6 ♣ K 8 7 5 3 2
	♠ K Q 3 ♥ A K J 9 3 2 ♦ A Q 5 ♣ A

NS 6♦; NS 5♥; NS 4N; EW 1♠; EW 1♣; Par +920

While most of the field bid the diamond slam, our score of 940 netted us a good result: 28 of 38 matchpoints.  The score of 920 was below average.

(For more information on Preemptive Gerber, see p. 15 of my booklet, Losing Trick Count, Vol. II, available on this site.)

2.  With both vulnerable, partner dealt and opened 3♣.  As North, I held:

♠	Q
♥	A K 9
♦	K 10 8 5 3 2
♣	K 6 5

I started evaluating my hand. I liked my trump support, my distribution (ruffing values) and the honors in the red suits.  Losing trick count and cover card elements indicated that we had a good chance of making game, so I jumped to 5♣.  Heck--perhaps the opponents could even make 4♠ and this would shut them out!

Friday Open Pairs, Afternoon Session 1 of 2

Board 23 South Deals Both Vul	♠ Q ♥ A K 9 ♦ K 10 8 5 3 2 ♣ K 6 5
♠ A J 8 4 ♥ 10 8 5 4 ♦ A 9 7 ♣ 10 9	N W E S	♠ K 10 9 6 5 2 ♥ Q 3 2 ♦ Q J 6 ♣ 7
	♠ 7 3 ♥ J 7 6 ♦ 4 ♣ A Q J 8 4 3 2

NS 5♣; EW 3♠; N 3♦; S 2♦; EW 1♥; Par +500: EW 5♠×−2

A heart was led and partner resisted the temptation to go down at trick one by winning the ace.  The hand required some careful handling.  If trumps are drawn and turn out to be 3-0, two spades can be cashed when the opponents get in with their ace of diamonds.  He therefore led a trump to his hand and a diamond toward dummy.

LHO took his ace and cashed a spade and the hand was over.  The losing heart could be pitched on the diamond king and a spade could be ruffed.

Only half of the field bid and made 5♣, so plus 600 was worth 17 of 25 matchpoints.  Some pairs stopped short of game and a few pairs went down in 5♣.

Next up:  Some wild hands where our preempts wreaked havoc with the opponents' bidding!

See you at the table!