Answers to “Shooting”

Okay — at matchpoints, your running estimate leads you to believe that you need a top on the very last board. You pick up:

KJxxxxx
xx
xx
Qx

Partner opens 1N (15-17 HCP).

  1. What do think everyone else is going to bid with this hand?  (In other words, what’s the “field” bid?”)
  2. What are some ways to shoot with this hand?  (I can think of at least three.)
  3. What’s the best bid?

Answer to Question 1:

If you’re playing in a non-LM game, the field contract may be 2S or 3S.  After the partnership makes 11 tricks, dummy will be heard to lament:  “But I only had six high card points!”

On the other hand, if the non-LM partnership ends up in 4S, down 1 on some bad luck, declarer will be heard to snarl:  “How dare you bid 4S with only six high card points!”

If you’re playing in a reasonably strong field, my guess is that just about everybody is going to be in 4S.

Answer to Question 2:

From the Answer to Question 1, it follows that if you are playing in a weak field, 4S might produce an unusual result, and if you are playing in a strong field, 2S might be the way to go.

That’s not the end of the story.

There are some daredevils out there who might go looking for slam.  But that’s wildly anti-percentage — for you to have a chance at 12 tricks, partner would have to have the perfect hand, something like:

Axx
Axx
Ax
AJ10

And even with this four-ace super maximum, you still need the club finesse to work.  If you get to 6S, making, then you should go right out and buy some lottery tickets.

But there’s one more option to consider…

Answer to Question 3:

If I held responder’s hand, I would bid 3N, and hope that the spades come in before the opponents can take 5+ tricks.  (Hilarity may ensue — after the auction goes 1N-3N, LHO may lead a spade, hoping to catch partner’s suit.)

This is the kind of hand where, if there are 10 tricks available in spades, the same 10 tricks may very well also be there in notrump.  The extra ten points will move you from a middle to a top.  Who knows?  Maybe there are only 9 tricks available at both spades and notrump — what a triumph that would be!

Of course, if you’re wrong, you may be looking at a major train wreck.  You might not have the stoppers to keep the opponents from running a side suit while you’re working on spades.   Or you could suffer the pain and humiliation of getting locked out of dummy.  But that’s why it’s called “shooting” (as in “shooting yourself in the foot”).

In my view, 3N is a reasonable way to try for a top (but only if you have an understanding partner).

(BTW, for some reason, a lot of bridge players have a blind spot when it comes to the majors — if you switched the black suits in the above hand, I think most players would at least consider bidding 3N.)

Good luck!