NEA BRIDGE Who should declare;who should defend?

Last month, at Bridge Base Online, there were two deals that had the same decision for one of the players: to pass a takeout double at the threelevel, turning it into a penalty double, or to bid higher with a balanced hand.

Here is the first. Look only at the East hand and the start to the auction. What should East do?

South opened with a weak two-bid. West’s first double was for takeout, his second the same and promising extra strength.

Here, if East bids three no-trump (which looks better than four hearts), he would have gone plus at least 600 for the vulnerable game. But if he had passed and defended against three spades doubled, he would have been a happy camper -how happy?

At a few tables, East corrected to four hearts. When the dummy appeared, life looked all right -- until declarer learned about the 5-0 trump split! But I think the key guideline is: With a balanced hand, defend; with an unbalanced hand, declare.

West would start off with three top clubs, East playing high-low to show his doubleton, then discarding the diamond six. West will continue with the high club nine, and East will overruff the dummy. After the diamond ace and another diamond to West’s king, a third diamond will give East has second trump trick. With the spade ace still to come, that is down four, plus 800 nonvulnerable.

So, although occasionally you will leave in partner’s takeout double with a balanced hand and the contract will make, in the long run you will be well ahead of the game.