Bidding Question

Question

Yet another hand from me for your thoughts and advice. East & South passed. I, as West, opened 1S and that was the end of the auction. Could East have made any sort of response to help out what looked like a dire situation? I was 1S-1 and scored 35%. Results at 11 tables at Bakewell online club were: 3CW+1 1NT+1 1S= (x2) 1S-1 (x5) 1NT-1 1S-2.

Bernard's Answer

I think you are unlucky here. East did the right thing – passing is normal – with just 4 points bidding will generally worsen the situation, although here, clearly clubs would be found. However, the result depends on Souths’ action – 1NT would be a normal action in the pass-out seat and this would finish the auction. However, the defence can take 1NT off because of the lie of the cards. On another day 1NT makes and you get a good score for going down in 1S.