Major suit games are overrated

[AL78]

3NT is the in thing at my bridge clubs, don't believe everything the theorists tell you. Four MP hands from my two recent sessions playing North:

 

Hand 1:

[hv=pc=n&s=st8haqj72dkq63cj8&w=sj76h9da82ct65432&n=sakq9432h8djtckq9&e=s5hkt6543d9754ca7&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1s3h3nppp]399|300[/hv]

 

I thought the spades would make a ton of tricks in NT as well as in spades so left partner in it. Making +2 for a top as the othe two pairs played in 4♠.

 

Hand2:

[hv=pc=n&s=sa54hjt43dk2cj874&w=s8ha5dt98654ca632&n=st62h9872dq73ct95&e=skqj973hkq6dajckq&d=w&v=e&b=16&a=pp2c(8PT%20or%2021-22%20bal)p2dp2np3nppp]399|300[/hv]

 

A bottom for us, as one EW couldn't be bothered to bid beyond 2♠ and the other was in 4♠+1 which 3NT+2 beats. Three table movements are near meaningless as far as the scores go in a highly variable field.

 

Hand 3:

[hv=pc=n&s=s983h6dt64ckt9642&w=sakj2hq98daj85cqj&n=st74hk74dk9732ca8&e=sq65hajt532dqc753&d=w&v=b&b=4&a=1dp1hp1n(15-18)p2c(Enquiry%20strength%20%26%20hearts)p2n(Max%20strength)p3hp3nppp]399|300[/hv]

 

My bridge brilliance does not extend to finding ace and another from a doubleton against a NT contract with a silent partner, so after I try a low spade lead declarer wraps up 11 tricks for 2/22 MPs to us. Bizarrely one declarer managed to go three off in the same contract on a diamond lead. The only EW pair who did better was someone who managed to make 12 tricks in 4♠.

 

Hand 4:

[hv=pc=n&s=sk53hj4d654ck7653&w=sq7haqt973dt93caj&n=s842h862dk87cqt42&e=sajt96hk5daqj2c98&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=p1hp1sp2hp3dp3nppp]399|300[/hv]

 

I found the best lead of my fourth best club but it didn't do us any good. Declarer wrapped up 12 tricks. 3/22 MPs to us.

 

Whilst I can hold my hands up and admit several bottoms in any session can be attributed to me, these examples demonstrate why I get a sinking feeling when the hands start going the other way and we have a run of defending nearly all the time.

[pescetom]

I appreciate I may be in a minority, but I continue to ask you and others to post one hand per thread rather than multiple hands in the same thread, which makes following the thread unnecessarily tiresome especially if one hand takes your interest.

 

Having said that, I appreciate that there is a common theme here and some truth too :) I have one friend who recently retired from bridge because she felt it had nothing more to give her, after a lifetime of bidding a rather nebulous clubs system and then concluding in 3NT more often that most, which combined with attentive card play was often enough to win local MP pairs tournaments. I think she could have experimented more and should have won less, but it's not her fault if many are so ferociously attached to this variant of bridge.

 

#1 you took a walk on the wild side yourself, but if you can trust opps and partner, fair enough.

 

#2 Two sexy hands but in misfit and with stops, I don't see a pressing reason to be in any other contract than 3NT.

 

#3 I think they misbid and should be in hearts. If your partner passed 2♣ in tempo then kudos to her (if not then to you for not being brilliant).

 

#4 Looks like NT to me: points and stops, probable hearts fit (with usual style at least) but no obvious ruffing values.

[helene_t]

I remember an article in the Bridge World where someone made simulations (not quite DD as the opening lead was informed by the auction IIRC), reaching the conclusion that a 5332, 4333 and 6322 usually plays better in notrumps.

[LBengtsson]

There is a sort of theme with all these hands, except no. 1 where the ♠ suit will take seven tricks over 90% of the time: either partner turns up with a key card in the long major, or a finesse is right, or a split is favorable.

 

Just on pure odds that is unlikely to happen most of the time. It makes life easier in a 3NT contract when it does happen, but would you want to be in a 3NT contract when you have to rely on it?