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LHO bot bid 2S, Cappelletti showing spades and a minor. Partner bot bid 3S, Lebensohl, Stayman but denying a spade stopper. RHO bot doubled to show spade support. I had no spade stopper and did not hold 4+ hearts and was forced to scramble, so bid my 4 card diamond suit at the four level, raised to game by partner.
LHO bot led the spade king, ruffed in dummy, I pulled trumps and played clubs for one loser and 12 tricks, +620. 3NT would not have fared well. It is interesting to note that EW are cold for 11 tricks with spades trump, even on a trump lead. Equally interesting is I could have been down 3 tricks on a club lead, as the defense has a cross ruff in the round suits.
You can see the play here, and see all the alerts during the auction.
Takeaways: perhaps EW should have bid more aggressively. West’s 6-5 shape argues for not defending, especially after East “raises” spades. I am a big fan of Mel Colchamiro’s Rule of 8, and West with 11 cards in the blacks and a LTC (losing trick count) of 4 has a whopping score of 7 for the “Two Longest minus LTC” criterion.
I was lucky to get a spade lead and not a club. When you play Lebensohl and neither of you have a stopper, sometimes you have to scramble in the minors. More often than not you will find a fit.
If you want to be a serious bridge player, you must learn to play Lebensohl when your partner opens 1NT and the next opponent interferes. It is a difficult convention to learn, but absolutely essential. I teach both Lebensohl and a simplified version (“Simple Sohl”) to my students so they can compete effectively after interference. If you play “stolen bid doubles”, or nothing at all, you owe it to yourself and your partners to learn an effective defense to interference.
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