Balancing
COMFORT ZONE
I’m a firm believer in making the game as enjoyable as possible but that doesn’t mean I have to let the opponents have a comfortable time during the auction.
So, here’s an auction that almost never occurs when I’m sitting in the North-South direction at the table:
| W | N | E | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♥ | Pass | ||
| 2♥ | Pass | Pass | Pass |
Let’s see why.
Counting Trumps
In the above auction, we know the opponents have at least an eight-card fit. East has a five-card or longer Heart suit for the 1♥ opening and West has at least three-card support to raise. They are very happy to be in 2 Hearts because nothing bad can happen to them. If they make 2 Hearts, great. If they don’t make 2 Hearts, that’s fine also because some contract should make the other way.
So, our goal is: don’t let them do it! Being -110, the score the opponents receive for making 2 Hearts is not the way to win. It’s unacceptable. We must go out of our way to accomplish the following objective
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