Another Tale of Two Sixes

by Jonathan Mestel

At IMPs, vulnerable against not, you hold A6x Axxx Kxx Axx and RHO opens 3. What do you do?

If you pass, so does LHO and partner bids 3. If on the other hand you double, partner bids 5. In either case, what is your next bid?

In a Gold Cup match I somewhat conservatively first passed and then bid 3NT. The full hand was something like

N/S Vul - K109x AQJxxxx xx Dealer E KQJ107x Qxx xxx x       N W        E       S 98xx Jx - KQJ10xxx A6x Axxx Kxx Axx

East       South       West       North       3 P P 3 P 3NT all pass

Not a great success, as 6 is rigid. However, I ducked the K lead and won the spade continuation throwing a heart and a club from dummy. I then ran all the minor cards to reach the following ending:

- K109 x - J Qxx - -       N W        E       S 9 Jx - K 6 Ax - x

When the last diamond was led, E/W are caught in a double guard squeeze. In fact Heather Dhondy as East threw a spade establishing my 6 as a threat against West, I threw a club and it was all over. A slightly better defence is for her to throw a heart and her partner to throw a spade, when I have to guess whether she has in fact been squeezed in clubs and hearts, or whether to finesse for the Q.

There was nothing clever about this, but it did afford me a certain Pyrrhic satisfaction. At the other table, Jeremy Dhondy doubled 3 and raised 5 to six, although presumably partner would have bid the same with one more black card. His 6 scored more than my 6! We lost the match by 10 IMPs, and this was one of my (many) contributions to the result.