It is better not to mislead partner

Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, a British statesman and diplomat, wrote in a letter to his son, “Whatever you do, do it to the purpose; do it thoroughly, not superficially . ... Go to the bottom of things. Any thing half done, or half known, is in my mind, neither done nor known at all. Nay, worse, for it often misleads.” Everything you do during a bridge deal should be on purpose and, hopefully, not mislead partner. Look at the North hand in today’s diagram. East passes, South passes, and West opens one club. What would you do now, if anything? This deal was played 15 times at Bridge Base Online. Three Norths passed, which would have been much more popular 20 or 30 years ago. At 11 tables, North overcalled one heart, which promised at least a five-card suit. Then, after East made a pre-emptive jump to three clubs, one South passed(!), nine bid three hearts, and only one jumped to four hearts. The most unusual auction went one club - one heart - two clubs - two hearts - pass - pass - double - pass - two spades - all pass, reaching an unbeatable contract. But what was South thinking with five-card heart support? One North made a takeout double. He disliked the 4-3-3-3 distribution, but thought it preferable to a pass with 14 points or one heart with only four. The double worked fine because East responded three clubs, South competed with three hearts, and everyone passed. South lost one club and three spades to score plus 140, which would have been a top if it had been a pairs event.