HEAD            




ANSWER - Hand Of The Week - 01/05/03


   I chose this hand because there are many angles to cover in evaluating it. Lets start by examining the West's 6 bid. The score tells us that East/West are down and out and desperate. North/South most likely will be able to bid game on this hand, thus East/West must decide to take an offensive or defensive attack. West has three options, either bid to set, bid to bag or bid to encourage a nil from his pard in hopes of out-scoring the opponents. Judging by his 6 bid, West probably has a strong hand with little potential for bagging making a good cover hand. The 6 bid is a fine bid and leaves his partner with two primary options, bid for set or nil.

   North's 2 bid does not tell us much. North should bid true to his hand's actual value in this situation. Bidding in second seat, he does not yet know if his approach will be taking as many tricks as possible or taking as few. A 2 bid leaves room for both options and gives his partner a little bit of information to work from.

   Unfortunately, not much can be read from East's nil. It could be a very difficult nil with little potential for taking tricks or it could be a beautiful nil hand. East may even be particularly sneaky and be bluffing with no intention of making his nil.

   Assuming East/West pull off their Nil and 6 bid they will have a score of 526 points. North's 2 bid gives North/South 487 points. This leaves South with three options to prevent East/West from winning the game.
  • South can bid 1 and attempt to either bag the 6 bid or set the nil.
  • South can attack the 6 bid.
  • Or South can attempt to outbid East/West.
Judging by South's hand and West's 6 bid, a nil set is very unlikely. South's hand does not have real potential for bagging West. Setting West's 6 bid is not a very viable option since outbidding him is possible, thus South decides he must bid to out-score East and West. Now South just has to decide what to bid in order to out-bid East/West.

   A four bid plus North's 2 bid would bring the table bid count to a total of 12, leaving one bag. Assuming everyone makes their bids, North/South would now have 527 points to East/West's 526 points. However, there is still a valuable bag unspoken for. If West captures that bag, the score becomes 527/527 a tie. So the question now is should South bid 5? With a 5 bid, if everyone makes North/South are guaranteed the win. The answer is NO. If South bids 4 he will take their team to a total of six tricks. To win they must take at least seven tricks. If South bids 5, they still need seven tricks to win. Thus, why bid more than you have to. What if the nil goes set and attacks? Furthermore, if you only take six tricks and the nil makes, the score becomes tied and you are still in the game. The 4 bid provides a winning strategy along with the largest possible safety net, therefore it is the best bid for South to make.

   South's hand may look a little weak for a four bid, but considering the nil on the table it's two against one. North/South should be able to secure at least six tricks. Even if they fail South had no better option and should be satisfied with making the correct endgame bid.