Goren on Bridge

It is sometimes surprising how simple little choices can have a huge effect on what happens later in a bridge hand. For example, what would you bid over a one club opening with the East hand? Today’s deal is from a tournament in Aqaba, Jordan, late last year. At one table in a team competition, the East player chose to overcall one spade, as shown. West led the four of spades to East’s ace and South couldn’t be prevented from taking six club tricks, two diamonds, and a spade for nine tricks. This seems like a routine result, as most players, we believe, would also choose the one spade overcall.

At the other table, however, the East player chose to make a takeout double. The South player bid spades before driving to three no-trump, and the West player never considered leading a spade. The actual lead was the three of hearts. East won with his king and continued with the ace of hearts, felling the queen and jack from South. A low heart was led to West’s 10 and West had no trouble finding the spade shift to East’s ace. East cashed the nine of hearts for the setting trick.

Despite this result, we still like the one spade overcall. We are just not as confident about it as we used to be.