The   Rule   of   20

OKB.    MP's.     Board 251.     Week 41




Every now and then, you are dealt a distributional hand, and you are not sure as to whether it qualifies as an opening bid or not, since there are less than 13 high card points. A rule you may like to adopt is:

Add to your points the lengths of your two longest suits, and if this adds up to 20, you may open the bidding at the 1-level.

This proved fruitful on the following hand,
where South applied the rule.


Dlr: SOUTH
Vul: None



WEST
Q J 5
J 8 6 5
6 4
A Q 8 5
 NORTH
6 4
A 10 4 3 2
A K 5
10 7 3



SOUTH
A 10 9 7 3
K 7
Q 10 8 7 3 2
  - - -




EAST
K 8 2
Q 9
J 9
K J 9 6 4 2
 Bidding:

WEST

Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

  * = FSF

NORTH

1
2 *
4
6


EAST

Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass



SOUTH
1
1
2
5
Pass

You reach this slam on a combined 20 count, and you receive the lead of the 5.

You play small from dummy, and you win the queen with the king. You draw two rounds of trumps ending in your hand and you hook the heart ten, and it holds. You ruff a heart, give up a spade, and claim. "Pitching 2 spades on hearts, ruffing last" you say to the opps.

Should East have played the heart nine at trick 1, you can set up the spades with a ruff, after conceding a spade. They were 3-3.

If you use the "Rule of Twenty," and you are man enough to cue   5   on the way, then you will notch up 97.37%, no less.



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