Tenerife hands

Tenerife hands (22) - 3-3 strikes again!

We had the other day a game attempted at 3-3 fit, and this morning there was a repeat performance on Vugraph, when France met Belgium.

The full deal was:

Board 9, North dealer, Love all

                          J 10 7 2
                          Q 10 8 2
                          A 5 2
                          8 6

A K Q                                8 5 4
A 3                                    7 6 5
10 9 7 6                             Q J 4 3
A Q J 9                              5 3 2

                          9 6 4
                          K J 9 4
                          K 8
                          K 10 7 4

Labaere      Abecassis        Carcassonne     Soulet
                  pass                pass                 1H
dbl              3H                   pass                 pass
dbl              pass                3S                    pass
4S               all pass

A well-timed sub-minimum and shorter than usual 1H by Soulet scored a success when Valerie Carcassonne opted for her 3-card major.

What would you bid in her place? As it happens, 4D (my choice) would go down one. Passing the double is a big position unless you suspect South having opened with a 4-carder (but these French are so reliable usually!) As it turns out, it would have scored very well, for 3H has to go down two.

In any case, 4S was not destined to succeed and it went a peaceful down three. In the other table, Quantin opened 2NT as West and played there, making an overtrick after the opponents led spades and kept on leading them. France gained 7 IMPs and won by 20 to 10.

Nikos Sarantakos

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