Bidding Quiz                                      17th May , 2006

 

                                                  Board 1       Dealer North         None Vul

 

 

Let’s start by eliminating 2♣ as a possibility, there’s no reason to introduce such a moderate suit into the auction when we have two more descriptive possibilities, namely 1NT and Double.  Not that those two bids are perfect, either.  In the case of 1NT, the major flaw is the doubleton Diamond … and for the Double we’d prefer more in the majors. 

 

Our own preference is for Double, but 1NT is not that far behind.  Of course, if you do double, Partner may well end up playing in a 4-3 major fit, but there’s nothing so terrible about that.

 

 

                                                    Board 2       Dealer East       N-S Vul

 

 

You have been forced by your Wednesday Game analysts to play 2NT as asking for a feature (Ace or King), and your 2NT gets you a 3♣ response, obviously showing the A♣.  How nice!  West can count 6 trumps and 3 minor suit winners … provided that Partner has 3 or more Spades (quite likely in the circumstances), 6♥ will be cold.  And if Partner is thoughtless enough to have been dealt just 2 Spades?  Well, then the 12^th trick will just have to come from some help or some luck in the minors.  All in all, a reasonable proposition, and if you got to slam you got a great board.

 

What if E-W are not playing 2NT as asking for a feature?  Getting to slam will be highly unlikely in that case, and E-W will no doubt languish in 4♥.  Different methods excel in different situations, and on this particular deal it turns out that the Feature method works best.

 

 

                                                    Board 3       Dealer South        E-W Vul

 

 

North’s 2♥ was DONT, showing both majors, and putting East in an interesting situation.  6NT looks like the most likely spot, at least it would be if Partner were kind enough to hold the A♥ or K♥.  We are not especially big fans of the Gerber convention, the opportunities to use it seem so rare.  But, perhaps this is such an opportunity.  Actually, it’s the perfect opportunity, if you are prepared to chance that your side is not missing AK♥.

 

What are your responses to Gerber?  One simple style, used in the featured auction, is simply 4♦ for 0 (or 4), 4♥ for 1, and so on.  Suppose next that North responds 4NT showing 3 Aces, pretty much assuring that 6NT is worth a shot.  But why stop there?  If Partner also has the K♠, then we can almost count to 13 … 5 Spades (yes, we may need to finesse the 9), a Heart, 6 top minor tricks, surely with a 13^th minor suit trick available one way or the other.  Gerber comes up so rarely that you may not have good agreements on the responses to the King-asking 5♣ … we’d suggest that you show a specific King (with 5NT saying “no Kings”) rather than the number of Kings.

 

On a theoretical note, those responses that we outlined above are generally considered to be old hat in the world of tournament bridge … if your partnership would prefer not to be considered unfashionable, you may want to try these responses to that 4♣ Gerber bid:

            4♦:       1 or 4 Aces

            4♥:      0 or 3 Aces (yes, 1430 responses, just for the sake of consistency)

            4♠:       2 Aces and a minimum

            4NT:   2 Aces and a maximum.

 

 

                                                    Board 4       Dealer West        Both Vul

 

 

Here, should South bid 1NT?  No, the hand is not good enough, we’d suggest a range of 7-10 for this bid.  Should she pass for penalties?  No, again the hand is not good enough, and nor are the Club spots (you might well say “What Club spots?”).  That leaves 1♦ or 1♥, and we’d choose 1♦, if only because it’s less likely to get Partner as excited as a major fit might … this is not a hand where we want an excited Partner!

 

 

                                                    Board 5       Dealer North        N-S Vul

 

 

After Opener rebids 2♣, that 2♦ bid is best played as artificial, analogous to New Minor Forcing auctions, and often looking for a 5-3 major fit.  If you were playing IMPs, after that 2NT bid, you’d probably bid 6♣, it’s a contract which may have some additional chances compared to 6NT.  But this is matchpoints, and most red-blooded pairs players will take a shot at the higher-scoring 6NT.

 

 

                                                    Board 7       Dealer South        Both Vul

 

 

Here, of course, 4NT is invitational to 6NT, it’s not Ace-asking (for that use Gerber, see Board 3).  Should South accept the invitation to 6NT?  We’d say that it was marginal at best … that J♠ may well be worthless, the hand has no Tens.  Looking at the South hand, bidding 6NT seems a bit of a stretch.

 

But, there is an alternative!  Partner is unlikely to have a 4-card major on this auction, otherwise he would probably have used Stayman.  This gives him 7 cards (or more) in the minors.  If Partner did not see fit to seek a major fit, perhaps we, with our marginal hand, should try for a minor fit.  There is a gadget in these 1NT-4NT auctions that would work well on this particular deal.  After 1NT-4NT, if Opener has an accepting hand (especially if it’s marginal, as here), the players bid 4-card suits at the 5-level, and 5-card suits at the 6-level, in an attempt to seek out an 8-card fit.  With that agreement, on the actual deal, the auction would be:

            Opener     Responder

            1NT         4NT

            5♣            6♦

            Pass

 

Opener’s 5♣ bid says “I accept and I have a 4-card Club suit”.  Responder’s 6♦ says “I have 5 Diamonds”.  A nice auction to what turns out to be the right spot.

 

 

                                                    Board 8       Dealer West         None Vul

 

 

Those 6-5 hands, where the 5 is in Hearts and the 6 is in a minor, and where the hand is below reverse strength, are the subject of some debate.  Here are the schools of thought:

(a)    Open 1♥, pretending that the hand is 5-5;

(b)   Open 1♣, and take the chance that the 5-3 Heart fit may be lost;

(c)    Open 1♥ if the Clubs are relatively weak, and 1♣ otherwise.

 

We favor the last option, but even within that option there are degrees … just how much better than the 6-card suit must the 5-card suit be?  Quite a bit better, we would say, without attempting to quantify it further.

 

 

                                                    Board 10       Dealer East        Both Vul

 

 

2NT showed the minors, after which many partnerships play some flavor of “Unusual vs Unusual” … in other words, they have precise meanings for the cue-bids in the opponent’s 2 minor suits.  Our own favorite, mainly because of its simplicity, is “lower for lower” … we bid Clubs for a good hand with Hearts (lower ranking minor for lower ranking major), and Diamonds for a good hand with Spades … this applies, regardless of which major Opener has originally bid.

 

So, assuming that method is being employed, West will bid 3♦, showing at least limit raise values in Spades.  Of course, West is somewhat better than merely a limit raise, but he must first set trump before zooming onward and upward.

 

                                                    Board 11      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

When you are playing a 2/1 style of system, part of which is the Forcing NT, of course, Opener is sometimes obliged to rebid a 3-card minor … on this particular occasion, Opener is obliged to rebid a 2-card minor!  West’s hand is just not good enough to reverse into 2♠, so an improvisation of 2♣ is required.

 

 

                                                    Board 12      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

Game is assured, and East’s hand is so good that a slam try is warranted. 

 

What would you think of a 4♣ bid here?  Could it be construed as an attempt to play in Partner’s first suit?  Absolutely not!  Once you’ve agreed a major, you can forget about playing in a minor, at least unless you get to the six-level.  Yes, 4♣ is a Splinter, showing a Spade fit, game-going values, and shortness in Clubs.  Does this mean that we advocate 4♣ here?  No, the hand is just too good for that.  To illustrate this point, suppose that Opener holds:

                        ♠ 9765

                        ♥ Q3

                        ♦ AK6

                        ♣ KQT5

 

We ask you, with those useless points in Clubs, would you be turned on by a Club splinter here?  Of course not, and yet slam is where you would want to be on the combined hands.  No, save those splinters for weaker hands.

 

If not a splinter, then what?  We would try that 3344 gadget described in Board 23, at least that will tell us if Partner likes his hand … if he does like his hand, we’ll make a cue-bid of 4♥, after which we will have done full justice to our own hand.

 

                                                    Board 14      Dealer East        None Vul

 

 

West’s 3♥ is forcing, and probably shows a 6-card suit.  Not five?  No, with 5 he would have gone through a New Minor or Checkback sequence (3♦ or 3♣, depending on the partnership methods).  With that in mind, East surely should opt for a Heart contract, those Diamonds look dangerously weak for No Trump.

 

So, a simple 4♥ bid is called for?  We’d say yes, but consider also that, if East thinks that his hand is good slam material, he is allowed to say so along the way to 4♥ … 3♠ or 4♣ would say “I have a slam-oriented hand in Hearts with something in the bid suit”.  We actually don’t think that the East hand is quite up to snuff for a cue-bid (a 3^rd Heart and a ruffing value would make all the difference), but we thought we should mention the possibility.

 

                                                    Board 15      Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

If West had not bid 2♠, you would rebid 2♥, there would be no second choice.  But, with that 2♠, you are placed in a common dilemma … you want to let Partner in on the Heart fit, but you don’t have the values to go to the 3-level.  Yes, we’ve discussed this one previously, the solution is the “Good-Bad 2NT”, a convention that we keep promising to add to the System Library, and no doubt shall one day soon.

 

Using the Good-Bad 2NT, North has two ways to get to 3♥ … she can bid it directly, which says that she has a “real” 3♥ bid, as in some extras … or she can go via the Good-Bad Lebensohl-style relay of 2NT, then, after Partner’s 3♣, she can bid 3♥ saying “Yes, I have 4 Hearts but not a hand with extras”.

 

On the actual board, we predict that the Good-Bad players will stop in 3♥, making +140, and that the rest of the field will stumble into 4♥, down one (South has an 11-count and will raise 3♥ to game).  So, a good commercial for the convention!

 

                                                    Board 16      Dealer West       E-W Vul

 

 

Any thoughts on that 2♥ bid?  It seems about right to us, a tad heavy perhaps, but that Q♣ does not look that useful.  The vulnerable Mr West steps back into the auction with 3♣ and we surely know what to do next … yes, we Double!  We’ve limited our hand with that 2♥ bid, so when Partner debates to herself whether to pass the Double or pull it, she’ll be in a good position to make the right choice.  As it happens, North’s choice is quite clear … with only 3 Hearts, white versus red, and with 4 Clubs, she’ll pass and hope for the best (which turns out to be +500).

 

                                                    Board 19      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

West may be vulnerable, and may have a mere 11 HCPs, but we’d double 3♣ anyway, with that almost perfect shape … as always when the opponents preempt, the partner with the shortness in their suit should stretch to get into the auction, even when in the direct seat.

 

 

                                                    Board 19      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

After the Double, East has visions of slam in one of the majors … but which one?  Spades is surely a playable suit, but if Partner has 3 Spades and 4 Hearts then we’d usually prefer the 4-4 to the 5-3.  The way to find out is to bid 4♣ here, telling Partner to pick a major.  Once the major has been set, East can make his slam move.

 

 

                                                    Board 20      Dealer West       Both Vul

 

 

South has one of those in-between hands where we recommend that Michaels not be used.  With this strength of hand we prefer to bid our suits separately, reserving our use of Michaels for when we are either weak or strong.  The problem with using Michaels when we are in-between is that neither North nor South will know whether they should be competing over 3 of a minor.

 

 

                                                    Board 20      Dealer West       Both Vul

 

 

East has a nice 18-count here (well, yes, 18-counts are always nice), but has no suitable bid when 1♠ gets passed back to him.  What are the options?

            Double?   Not a good idea with only 2 cards in the unbid major.

            1NT?       This shows 18-19 HCPs, so is right on values.  There is that small

                            matter of the absence of a Spade stop, but, North did not raise Spades,

                            so perhaps our own Partner can oblige.

            2♣?         This doesn’t do full justice to the value of our hand, but it does get our

                            second suit into the auction.

 

Pretty close choice between 1NT and 2♣, we’ll let you decide.

 

 

                                                    Board 22      Dealer East       E-W Vul

 

 

Perhaps this one is altogether too obvious … with that void in their suit, East must reopen with a Double.  Newer players may be surprised that East can commit his side to the 4-level like that, vulnerable no less, with a mere 14 HCPs opposite a silent partner. 

 

Very occasionally the Double will get his side into trouble, but more often than not it won’t, there are too many ways that the bid can win … Partner may be salivating to exact a penalty … or maybe has a few values and a major suit … or a Diamond fit.  Yes, when the opponents are preempting and we are short in their suit, it generally pays to bid … see also West’s bid on Board 19.

 

 

                                                    Board 23      Dealer South       Both Vul

 

 

North can hear the slam sirens going off, but the first priority is to establish the trump suit.  If Partner has raised Hearts on a 4-card suit, as is usually but not always the case, then the higher-scoring Hearts is where she’ll want to play it.  There’s a little gadget to help you out here, which is 2NT as an artificial bid, asking Opener to describe her hand further … we call it 3344 because the responses are:

            3♣:      3-card raise, bad hand;

            3♦:       3-card raise, good hand;

            3♥:      4-card raise, bad hand;

            3♠:       4-card raise, good hand.

 

 

                                                    Board 24      Dealer West       None Vul

 

 

We’ve talked about Super-Accepts before, and the benefits of not revealing information unnecessarily.  If you are going to Super-Accept, then we recommend that you do it only with a decent hand, and that the method used does not offer gratuitous information to the opponents.  One such method is to bid 2NT here, showing 4-card Spade support and any maximum hand.

 

 

                                                    Board 28      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

Yes, we certainly approve of a 1NT opening here with just 14 HCP’s … it’s worth upgrading, with that 5-card Diamond suit and all those lovely fillers.

 

 

                                                    Board 31      Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

East’s 2♥ bid does not show (nor deny) extras, and some would play that it tends to deny a fifth Diamond.  After Partner’s 3♦ bid, East can be pretty much assured that the hand belongs in 6, and has aspirations to a grand slam.  We like to use Minorwood in situations like this, it’s more economical that using 4NT to ask for Key Cards.  All the ingredients for a Minorwood adventure are in place:

(a)    the auction is game-forcing;

(b)   Diamonds have been bid and raised;

(c)    No other suit has been agreed.

 

So, if you play Minorwood, here is your chance … bid 4♦, Roman Key Card Blackwood.

 

 

                                                    Board 31      Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

Before we get to our next bid, let’s review the auction so far:

 

2♣:     Played as game-forcing here.

2♥:     Natural, of course … nowadays, this bid does not show (nor deny) extras, and some would play that it tends to deny a fifth Diamond.

3♦:      East has the luxury of supporting Diamonds in a forcing auction.

4♦:      This partnership uses Minorwood, so 4♦ is Roman Key Card Blackwood.

4♠:      This shows 2 Key Cards without the Q♦.  However, East does have 5 Diamonds, and sometimes we use extra length in the trump suit as a surrogate for the trump Queen … here East expects no more than a 9-card fit, so probably not a good idea to show that trump Queen (but tempting, it’ll certainly be useful information for Partner if he has the Q♦).

5♣:     The King Ask, confirming that there are no missing Key Cards (4NT here would be to play).

 

Clearly there are no losers in the majors, nor in Diamonds, so 7♦ looks like a reasonable shot.  Worst case scenario would be that West has 3 small Clubs, but that seems unlikely, and not even necessarily fatal.  So, we won’t waste time showing our K♥ or K♣, we’ll just bid 7♦ directly.

 

 

                                                    Board 32      Dealer West       E-W Vul

 

 

In third seat, some players habitually open on any old trash.  But, there should always be a reason for a light 3^rd hand opening bid.  Here, for example, there is absolutely no reason for East to open 1♦ with such a bad hand and bad suit.  Now, opening 1♥ is a different story, there’s a bid with a purpose!  True, 1♥ is supposed to show a 5-card suit, but the lead-directing benefit of the bid outweighs that deficiency.

 

 

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