Bridge in the Tri-Cities: Passing Out

Playing party bridge, this hand would be passed out and forgotten. Playing matchpoint duplicate, the hand should be passed out at every table. Not so! I held the east cards and watched the hand be passed out for an absolute bottom board. North had the best hand with twelve points, but it is not an opener. The field did not agree with my evaluation and every table in the room except ours opened the bidding. All scores went to E/W. I would have opened the east hand with my ten points in third or fourth seat.

The Lesson: I am afraid that there is no lesson here. My record on passing out is not good, but I really don’t know what to do about it. My partner had a chance to open in fourth seat, but his is no opener! Hats off to North.

This story was originally published July 9, 2016 at 7:43 PM with the headline "Bridge in the Tri-Cities: Passing Out."