Don't Freeze

Dealer:  South Vul: E-W	Charlie ♠T42 ♥A8743 ♦AQ32 ♣4
Michael ♠J73 ♥J95 ♦J765 ♣Q63		William ♠8 ♥KQT6 ♦K984 ♣AKT2
	Freddie ♠AKQ965 ♥2 ♦T ♣J9875

South	West	North	East
Freddie	Michael	Charlie	William
2♠	Pass	Pass	Double
Redouble	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♠ 3

William and I were playing at the 2015 Charlottesville Regional when we came to Free-Wheeling Freddie and Cautious Charlie’s table and I was dealt this uninspiring hand:

♠J73 ♥J95 ♦J765 ♣Q63

Freddie dealt and opened 2 spades. I passed, Charlie passed, and then William made the bid I dreaded: double. But before I had to bid Freddie made an unexpected redouble! William and I have never discussed how to handle this situation. What should I do?

What would you do?

What I did do was make the same mistake that I’ve seen lots of bridge players make over the years when faced with an unusual situation - I passed without considering the consequences. Charlie passed again, so what do you think William did? His takeout double already told me that he wants me to bid a suit other than spades and I chose not to. Therefore he concluded that I must want to defend against 2 spades, so he passed. The opponents proceeded to make 4 spades for a score of 1040 and a bottom result for us.

When Freddie made the unusual bid of redouble, I needed to do more than just focus on how awful my hand was. I needed to think about what partner was going to do. Had I done that I would’ve bid us to 3 diamonds. This would’ve gotten set, but would’ve been a good result since at most of the other tables north-south bid their making game of 4 spades.