Be a tough opponent - get in quickly

Who said: “Come quickly, I am tasting stars!”?

In bridge, it is often best to do something quickly; in particular, pre-empting. Look at the South hand in today’s diagram. He should have opened three (or four!) hearts. He shouldn’t have worried about the four cards in the unbid major. It wouldn’t always work best, but it often would. Taking things slowly made it much easier for the opponents.

Here, if South had opened three hearts, what would West have done? He would have probably doubled. Then North would have passed, and East would have advanced with four diamonds. This would have been one too high. And if South had opened four hearts, he might have done even better.

After South passed, West opened one spade, North overcalled two clubs, East passed, South finally mentioned his hearts, West doubled to show a strong hand, East ran to his long diamond suit, and South competed with three hearts. He was lucky that West didn’t double again.

West led the spade ace and continued with the spade king, East playing highlow to show his doubleton. West continued with the spade four, picking the middle card because he had the ace in each minor. East, though, after ruffing, had no trouble in shifting to the club 10. He knew South had a void in diamonds given West’s takeout double. East ruffed the fourth spade for down two.

South had turned a plus score into a minus by not coming into the auction quickly.

The opening quote was said by Dom Perignon, at the moment of his discovery of champagne.