By Neil Bonnell, Warwick Bridge Club
Four hundred years ago Shakespeare’s three witches in Macbeth could have been giving modern bridge players a terse warning when they chanted, “Double, double, toil and trouble.” In bridge a bid of “double” has more than one meaning. One is a penalty double when your opponents’ bidding reaches higher levels. Then “double” means we think that we can defeat you. If you win, you receive a bonus; if you fail to fulfil your contract, your losses are doubled. In the first round of the Friday red point event, my partner and I doubled three times with mixed success.
On Board 9 (above) we doubled Angus Macdonald’s contract of 4S, which required ten tricks to be made. As North had bid hearts, South led the Queen of hearts, which was trumped in dummy (West). Angus saw that playing trumps immediately would leave three losing hearts in hand. He therefore trumped clubs in hand and hearts in dummy before taking out our trumps. The only trick he lost was the Ace of trumps. By making not only the ten tricks required, but adding two more Angus scored 1190, which was nearly double the 620 which ten tricks undoubled would have earned.
On Board 27 we doubled our opponent’s contract of 5D, which failed by two tricks. Sadly for us, this earned us only 300, whereas if we had bid on to 5H we would have scored 510. At this stage it was two losses out of two, although there was some compensation on Board 13. We had reached the modest target of two clubs, which required us to make only eight tricks. West then made what is called a “take-out double” which is used at a low level. It shows a shortage in the opponents’ suit and asks partner to bid partner’s best suit. More in hope than expectation, South re-doubled. This meant that each trick above eight could be worth as much as 400 points. The bidding stopped there. When declarer made twelve tricks the score for us was 2360. The leaders in the two-session red point event are David Moran and Noela Collins, who played solid bridge without once using a double.
Results; Friday, 06/05/33 (5-table Mitchell): N/S N. Collins D. Moran (61.2) 1; H. Richardson (54.6) 2; E/W J. Mobbs T. Hinde (60.4) 1; S. Goddard N. McGinness (57.5) 2. Monday, 09/05/22 N/S T. Hinde N. Bonnell (67.1); N. Collins D. Moran (51.2) 2. E/W P. Kelly M. Simpson (59.2) 1; R. Hart N. McGinness (55.8) 2.
