Ekren Follow up hand – as promised
As I mentioned in response to Sudhir’s post about Ekren opening, defending accurately against this bid can be a really hazardous exercise – here’s an example:
Winter Nationals Jaipur, Round # 8 of swiss league. Hand rotated for convenience.
Sitting North VUL vs Fresh you pick up
N
North
♠
AK2
♥
5
♦
KQ865
♣
AJ92
and hear the your LHO open 2♦ ostensibly showing 44+ in majors and 3-8 hcp. You make a take out double and pd responds 3♣ . What now? Are you worth another move?
West
N
North
E
East
S
South
—
—
2♦1
Pass
2♥
Dbl
Pass
3♣
Pass
?
(1) 4+ H 4+ S 3-8 hcp
Kamal Mukherjee sitting North thought so, with his 17 hcp, 4 clubs and a singleton heart. He forced with 3♥ and his pd Manas Mukherjee bid 3♠ . He now took the bull by horns and raised to 5♣ and having sat silently so far, I finally found a double.
Remarkable, that 2!H bid!
The bigger problem was that 2N may not have been agreed as lebensohl though they may be playing that over a weak 2 dbl. Still Ekren would have produced a swing since NS might have been in 1N, either making or going -1 vis a vis 3C down 2
Yes, you are right about 2N perhaps not being discussed. Manas probably shd’ve bid it anyway – whether pd takes it as lebensohl or scrambling – both work for him. Did he think it might be taken as natural? We’ll have to ask him.