Dark Bridge 004: Takeout Doubles

The Hand In Question

Dealer: S Vul: Nil J7 10965 52 Q10943 Q9652 AK42 Q A62 A843 8 A1096 KJ85 K10 QJ73 KJ8743 7

South	West	North	East
1	Double	Pass	2
Pass	2	Pass	2
Pass	4	All Pass

The Auction

South starts out with 1 Diamond bid. West doubles for takeout. North has a whole lot of nothing and passes. East cuebids as a game force. South passes. West indicates 4 hearts; East prefers spades. With a nice 5 spades, West merely bids game.

The Play

East is declarer; south leads the 7 of clubs. North drops the Q of clubs, but East takes it with the K, looking to pull trump and set up a cross. Leading the A, and then the 3. South plays the K, and North the J, clearing all trump from the defenders. Staring at AK of hearts in the dummy, South tries the K of diamonds. East takes with the A. Then it's cross-ruff time. Diamond to the dummy. AK of hearts from the dummy, and then another heart ruffed by East. Diamond back to the dummy. Heart back to East. Diamond back to the dummy, and then the AJ of clubs. EW take 6.

Discussion

South make a weak 2 bid?

No, for two reasons. First, their hand is too strong. Depending upon you counting style, they have 12 or so high card points. Secondly, they have a side 4 card major. You cannot make a weak two bid with a 4 card major. Responder expects you to not have a 4 card major, so if you have one it could go poorly. Given both factors, it's better to just open at the one level.

By the way, I got this wrong in the previous post's coming attractions bit. As a personal lesson, I need to be careful with weak two bids.

Takeout Doubles

The classic use for a takeout double is to indicate that you have at least an opening hand, a shortage in the suit bid, and strong majors. With 5-4 in the majors, only one diamond, and a nice 16 (maybe -1 for the Q singleton) count, this hand is textbook. West could make a 1 spade overcall here, but the takeout double is more economical and lets East help set the contract.

Cuebidding

Cuebidding is bidding a suit that it makes absolutely no sense for you to bid, either because it's the opponent's suit, or because you have already found a trump suit. In this case, bidding the suit opened by South, diamonds, is a cuebid. There are a number of uses for cuebids, but over a takeout double they say: I have at least 13 points, we MUST reach game. West can then bid a low level, and no one has to jump or otherwise waste bidding room. West can try hearts, East prefers spades, and then they reach game. With very strong values, West could start Blackwood.

Why Did We Not Bid the Slam?

This is resulting. East and West actually have very nice singletons that both allow them to set up the cross ruff, but I just don't see how they can bid it based upon available information. I welcome ideas in the comments.

Conclusion

• Takeout Doubles are nice economical bids in competition.
• Responses to Takeout Doubles are somewhat complicated, including cuebidding. It's worth it, but this can be challenging with a new partner.
• Cross-ruffing is awesome.

Next time, another slam. Seriously with I could be actually PLAYING these hands...