These hands were played during the Friday midnight Swiss of the Trail summer sectional. July 5th to 7th in the Trail curling rink.
The bidding: East opens one diamond with his 14 points. South with a hand that is too valuable to pre-empt at a level below game, overcalls one heart. West then overcalls one spade showing a five-card suit. With only four spades, he would have made a negative double.
North is quiet and passes. His five spades and less than three hearts does not appear to be useful to his partner. East raises to two spades. South, vulnerable, bids his suit at the three-level. Now North has to raise to four. His partner who has bid on his own, vulnerable, to the three level must have a strong hand. North has the king of trump which is very useful and a side king which, opposite a strong hand, could also be very useful.
East competes, not vulnerable, to four spades. South has a hand with which he never wants to defend. South raises to five hearts. East is not afraid of North South making six, pushes them to six hearts and doubles. North, thinking six will make, redoubles.
The Lead: The Jack of spades. The top of the sequence is one's bid suit is a natural lead.
The play: South ruffs the opening lead, draws trump, loses a club then claims.
Result: Six hearts redoubled making 6 for (180*4 + 100 for insult + 500 for a vulnerable game and +750 for a vulnerable small slam) +2070
Note: All the bridge columns may be viewed at http://watsongallery.ca.
-A special thanks to my father, Thorpe Watson, who edits all my columns making sure they are understandable.