Dealer: S Vul: E/W
NORTH
♠ 73
♥ K4
♦ KQ109753
♣ J8
WEST EAST
♠ 102 ♠ KQJ65
♥ J102 ♥ Q963
♦ A84 ♦ 2
♣ K9542 ♣ Q63
SOUTH
♠ A984
♥ A975
♦ J6
♣ Q83
On Friday, 9 May the Warwick Bridge Club will hold a dual celebration: the 40th anniversary of the founding of the club and the 90th birthday of co-founder Neil Bonnell, starting at 4.30pm.
The renowned Australian Bridge player the late Ivy Dahler had the favourite saying “The hardest bid to make is Pass.”
This advice applies particularly to responses to a pre-emptive bid. These bids are made when a player holds a long suit, but is not strong in the other suits. The idea is to upset the other pair’s bidding. At one table (no names will be revealed) after North made the pre-emptive bid of 3D, East doubled and all passed. Declarer won the necessary nine tricks and had the score increased to 470 instead of 110. East needed to be a little stronger to enter the auction. At another table South was looking at North’s bid of 3D and decided to improve on it by bidding 3NT. Again here was a player with too weak a hand to bid over a pre-empt. One more Ace or King would have improved South’s chances. Their result was a bottom score of minus 200.
At the third table East/West were still in the auction at the three level, goading North into bidding 4D, which failed by one trick. It would have been better for N/S to pass or, if they felt lucky, to double their opponents’ bid. East/West can win no more than eight tricks in either clubs or spades. There is another principle to keep in mind after a pre-emptive bid: because the pre-emptor has already told the full story about the hand, the pre-emptor should not bid again. Pre-emptive bids are meant to be disruptive and are often difficult to play against.
Results, 28/04/25 (5 & 1/2-table Howell): N. Collins D. Moran (60.2) 1; R. Hart N. McGinness (58.8) 2; J. Mobbs S. Goddard (53.7) 3; W. Milne S. Sipple (52.3) 4. Friday, (02/05/25 (4 & 1/2-Howell): N. Bonnell V. Prentice (63.2) 1; P. Kelly D. Moran (62.5) 2; J. Rose N. McGinness (59.0) 3; T. Hinde J. Mobbs (50.0) 4.
