Bidding Quiz                                    19th July, 2006

 

 

                                                    Board 1      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

It it weren't for that opening bid by North, East would have a seriously flawed preempt ... modest suit (but good fillers), an outside Ace and a void, and in second seat also (the worst seat for off-beat preempts).  But, once North opens the bidding, the chances of preempting Partner are significantly reduced, and it often pays to lighten up a bit and jump right in!  We would expect that we'll get in the way of their auction more often than we'll preempt our auction.

 

On the actual hand, 3♠ turns out to be a two-edged sword ... either South will bid 4♥ which is doubled for a great E-W board ... or South will resist that temptation, and E-W will likely miss their cold 3NT game.

 

 

Board 2      Dealer East      N-S Vul

 

 

This hand has 17 HCPs, but we would rate it as too good for a 1NT opening.  The 5-card suit and those two useful looking Tens make the hand well worth upgrading.  So, East opens 1♣, planning to rebid 2NT.

 

 

Board 4      Dealer West      Both Vul

 

 

East might start with 4♥, but, even opposite a passed hand, he’s really too good for that, slam is still a possibility.  So his real choices are 1♥ or 2♣.   Much as we avoid minor suit 2♣ openings, when it comes to the majors, we very much lean in the other direction.  Why?  Simply because major suit 2♣ auctions are quite efficient … what is there not to like about an auction that starts 2♣ 2♦, 2♥?  Plenty of room for slam investigation, if that is what West's hand calls for.

 

 

                                                    Board 5      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

Here is a "What went wrong?" scenario involving East and West.

 

                   West                  East

                  ♠ 642                 ♠ AK95

                  ♥ KQ85             ♥ 62

                  ♦ Q65                ♦ T4

                  ♣ AQ5              ♣ KJ983

                     

                  West     North   East      South

                              Pass     1♣        1♠

                  Dbl      Pass     1NT     Pass

                  3NT     Pass     Pass    Pass

                           

East quite reasonably opened a shapely 11-count, West had 13 HCPs and took things to 3NT, a contract with no play which goes down two.  Clearly E-W overbid this one, who was the culprit?  We've all been taught that "an opening bid opposite an opening bid equals game".  But there's a catch!  They invented that saying before players started opening so light.  We like the Rule of 20 as a general guideline on when to open, and have no problem with East's opening bid ... but, if you are going to open that kind of hand, then Responder needs a little bit extra to insist on game.  Here, Responder did not have anything extra ... a goodly number of points, yes, but square shape, 3 Queens, and no fillers ... in fact, on a Rule of 20 basis, West also had minimum opening values.  So, if your partnership style is to open the East hand, then West should just invite to 2NT with the West hand ... not because it is only 13 HCP's, but because it is a truly awful 13 HCP's.

 

Even 2NT is plenty high, requiring 4-4 Diamonds if it is to make.

 

 

                                                    Board 6     Dealer East       E-W Vul

 

 

With such a splendid suit it may seem automatic to throw in a 2♦ bid here, but West should resolutely resist the temptation!  No good is likely to come from this bid, here are some of the things that we like our overcalls to do, which this 2♦ bid fails to accomplish:

(a) It doesn't preempt the auction ... true it deprives them of their own 2♦ bid, but in return it gives them two extra bids (Pass and Double).

(b) It doesn't compete for the part-score, the opponents are headed for game.

(c) It doesn't suggest a sacrifice, the adverse vulnerability virtually eliminates that possibility.

(d) It probably won't even have any lead-directional benefit, as the 2♣ opener is likely to be Declarer.

 

All in all, 2♦ is a waste of breath, far more likely to help the opponents than to achieve anything positive for its perpetrator.  No doubt N-S will be delighted to receive this gratuitous information, it can only help their efforts to get to the right contract.

 

 

Board 7     Dealer South      Both Vul

 

 

Anyone for that 1♥ opener with the West hand?  We rather like it, if you ever have to lie about your “5-card major” in second seat, this is the hand for it … pathetic 3-card minor suits and a spectacular 4-card Heart suit.  Yes, lead-direction is a big part of the bidding process, and opening a minor suit here will not be very helpful in that regard.  In fact, quite the reverse!

 

 

Board 9      Dealer North      E-W Vul

 

 

We can see four choices here, none of them totally unreasonable:

   Pass:       Our least favorite choice ... we are already a passed hand, we have some playing strength, and we

                   are white versus red, surely action is indicated!  Perhaps we misspoke, Pass does seem somewhat

                   unreasonable, altogether too wimpy!

   1♥:          The trouble with this bid is that it risks losing the Spade suit ... we certainly wouldn't want to bid

                   2♠ on the next round of bidding.  But make our 5-4-3-1 and 1♠ is preferable ... the rationale here

                   is that we may get a chance to introduce Hearts at the two-level.

   Double:  This keeps all our irons in the fire, even Diamonds, and is preferable to 1♥.

   2♣:          There's nothing much wrong with the aforementioned Double, but our real favorite is a Michaels

                   Cue-Bid.  True, it's not the perfect 5-5 shape, but the favorable vulnerability is more than

                   adequate compensation.  The major benefit that we see to using Michaels is it's preemptive

                   value ... we are white versus red, after all, a good time to bid more and bid it quickly.

 

On the actual layout, Michaels works very well indeed ... Partner bids 2♠, and now East, with a good hand is obliged to compete further with a Double ... this gets his side into trouble and -500 (in 3♣ doubled) will likely result.  However, if North decides to double 1♣, Partner bids 1♠, giving West an easier time ... he can rebid 1NT and escape the misery of 3♣ doubled.

 

 

Board 11      Dealer South      None Vul

 

 

After Partner’s 2♠, North must decide what to do with her promising hand.  When Partner preempts, we like hands with Aces and Kings, and that is exactly what North has.  Then again, does she have enough?  We think not.  If North tries for game, she may well get her side too high … if Partner has a really crummy hand, we may go down in 3♠ … and if Partner has a decent (but not ideal) hand, we may go down in 4.

 

So, at matchpoints, we’d just pass 2♠.  Once in a while, we’ll miss a game, but that will be more than outweighed by all the times we avoid going minus on the hand.  And at teams?  Yes, here the scoring rewards more aggressive game bidding, so we would invite to game on this hand (no doubt, via a 2NT sequence of some sort).

 

Board 12      Dealer West      N-S Vul

 

 

What are the choices?  Not Double, of course, we have to bid some number of Hearts.  2♥ is not enough, we need so little from Partner to make game.  4♥ is a possibility, but why guess if Partner has the trick we need?  No, the right call is surely 3♥, which, needless to say, is not a preempt ... the jump to 3♥ shows values … basically, it says “Bid game if you think you have a trick for me”.

 

 

Board 14      Dealer East      None Vul

 

 

We have 4 obvious ways to support Spades here:

   2♠        Clearly not right for this hand, we are way too good for that.

   3♠        Also not appropriate, assuming that you play this bid as preemptive, the hand

                is too good, and that outside Ace is not what we want in a preempt.

   4♠        This will be a common choice, but we don't like it ... again, it is preemptive,

                and we should be bidding constructively.

   3♣        This bid we do like ... a limit raise, inviting Partner to game.

 

On the actual hand, over 3♣, Partner will sign off in 3♠, which happens to be all that E-W can make.

 

 

                                                    Board 15      Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

Yes, we would bid 2♠ here.  That white versus red situation removes all our inhibitions!  Some may think 2♠ is lunatic … but they’ve opened, it’s white versus red, we have 6 Spades, we have to bid!  It’s that simple.  This bold 2♠ bid gets E-W quickly to their 4♠ sacrifice, and a good board.

 

 

Board 17      Dealer North      None Vul

 

 

Do you redouble or bid 2♣?  The Redouble shows 10+ HCPs, so this hand certainly qualifies, at least in that regard.  But it’s the wrong hand type, too much offense, not enough defense … better to get that 6-card Club suit into the auction.  We suggest that you save the Redouble for hands with less distribution ... but when you have a 5-card or 6-card suit, it's usually best to bid it.  By the way, that 2♣ bid is normally played as constructive but not forcing ... give that West hand another King, and we would have to Redouble, because we cannot risk getting passed out in 2♣.

 

 

                                                    Board 19      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

Here's a familiar opening bid problem for North.  What should be her plan?  The presumption is that South will bid Hearts ... if she bids anything else, North's rebid problem disappears.  Here are North's options:

A.   Open 1♣, planning to rebid 2♣:  That Club suit is not worth rebidding in our opinion.

B.   Open 1♣, planning a 2♦ reverse:  No, this hand is not really good enough.

C.   Open 1♣, planning to rebid 1NT:  No, it's altogether too good.

D.   Open 1♦, planning to rebid 2♣:  We're not crazy about this one, either, it's somewhat contrived.

 

Not a particularly appetizing set of choices, is it?  We usually like to stretch these hands into a reverse in these situations, but this one falls too far short in our opinion.  We'd go for A or D, being equally unenthusiastic about both of them.

 

                                                    Board 24      Dealer West       None Vul

 

 

Normally, with a 6-5 hand, we would introduce the 5-card suit before we rebid the 6-card suit.  The general plan is to open 1♠, then bid Diamonds, Spades, and, if space permits and no fit has yet been found, we might bid Diamonds a second time.  But on this hand, those Spades are so magnificent and the Diamonds so pathetic, that we would recommend rebidding 2♠ here, planning to treat the hand as a 6-4 ... if Partner does not raise Spades, we'll bid 3♦ next time around.

 

 

                                                    Board 24      Dealer West       None Vul

 

 

The choice here is between 3♠ and 3NT.  It's quite a difficult choice, we think.  But, first, what does North's 3♦ signify?  The obvious interpretation is that either Partner has a highly distributional hand, or she has slam aspirations.  Either way, perhaps we should show our (so-called) Spade support here ... we've delayed this support a couple of times already, so Partner should not expect too much in the Spade department.

 

Anything wrong with bidding 3NT here?  Not really, it could well be the winner ... but we would be nervous about the Heart suit ... Partner has 10 or 11 cards in Spades and Diamonds, give her shortness in Hearts and that suit may be a weakness in No Trump.

 

And the winner is ... 3♠!  Or, 3NT!  Yes, it's a kind of dead heat.  On the actual hand, 4♠ will go down on the unlikely Diamond opening lead (into the Diamond bidder), but otherwise makes +420.  And 3NT, while an atrocious contract, always makes 9 tricks for +400 thanks to the KQ♥ both being in front of the Ace-Jack.

 

 

                                                    Board 27      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

With this 6-4 distribution, South has three obvious ways to bid this hand:

  - Rebid 2♠ ... this shows a 6-card suit and not much extra, so we can eliminate that one right away, the hand

     is too good ... take away an Ace or a King and then rebidding 2♠ would be fine.

  - Rebid 3♠ ... this non-forcing bid typically shows a 6-card suit and 5-loser hand (which South has), and that

    would be our choice here ... we'd say that we are about minimum for this bid.

  - Rebid 2♦ ... with 6 Spades and 4 Diamonds, we'd normally rebid the 6-card suit, unless we are planning to

    take one more call ... so, for example, if the auction started 1♠ 1NT, 2♦ 2♠, now a bid of 3♠ shows a hand

    that is somewhere in between a 2♠ rebid and a 3♠ rebid ... perhaps the hand above, but without the J♠, or

    with the A♦ changed to the K♦

So there we have it, three ways to bid those 6-card major suit openings after Partner responds 1NT.

 

 

Board 29      Dealer North       Both Vul

 

 

A simple hand evaluation problem.  North has only 13 HCPs, but surely it is worth an invitational jump to 3♠.  Aces, fillers, shortness, source of tricks ... it's all good!

 

 

Board 30      Dealer East      None Vul

 

 

Back on Board 2, East had a very similar hand ... 2-2-4-5, 17 HCP's.  The one on Board 2 had better fillers and we deemed it way too good to open 1NT.  This 17-count is slightly less spectacular than the previous one, but we would still consider it too good for a 1NT opening ... that worthless Spade doubleton is another defect.  So, the plan here is to open 1♣, and rebid 2♦, showing reverse values.

 

 

                                                    Board 32      Dealer West       E-W Vul

 

 

Just as East did back on Board 4, West has a big hand in Hearts ... again we'd open this one 2♣, even though it also is a tad below game-forcing strength.  Partner needs just the Q♣ or Q♥ for 4♥ to have a play ... even zero HCP's, a doubleton Club and 2 or 3 Hearts might be enough.

 

Now, let's change the hand to:

          ♠ 93

          ♥ A

          ♦ AKJ742

          ♣ AK84

 

It's the same hand with the red suits switched around.  Would we open this one with a 2♣ bid?  Absolutely not!  Why not, you might ask, the hand has identical playing strength.  True, but here are 4 good reasons why we should hold your minor suit 2♣ openings to a higher standard than the major suit ones:

(a) We only need 10 tricks for a major suit game.  Obvious, but relevant.

(b) When we open a big hand with one of a suit, there is always the danger of being passed out.  That danger is reduced over a 1♣ or 1♦ opening, it's somewhat easier for somebody (friend or foe) to find a bid than it is when the opening bid is 1♥ or 1♠.

(c) Minor suit 2♣ openings are notoriously awkward.  It typically starts, say, 2♣ 2♦, 3♦ ... so much space consumed, and only one suit bid naturally.  How much better it would be if things started 1♦ 1♠, 3♣, for example ... this auction has already mentioned three suits.

(d) Major suit 2♣ openings work quite well ... after 2♣ 2♦, 2♥ there is plenty of room for investigation.

 

 

                                                    Board 32      Dealer West       E-W Vul

 

 

Notwithstanding a serious deficit in the HCP department, this hand has good playing strength.  The singleton Club, and another potential ruffing value in Diamonds, make this hand altogether too good for a discouraging leap to 4♥.  We much prefer 3♥ here, the Principal of Fast Arrival at work.  But the bid we really like is 4♣, a Splinter in support of Hearts.  Yes, that's the ticket!

 

System Note:  If your partnership plays Kokish, that 2♥ bid showed Hearts, or a very big balanced hand.  So, the suggested splinter is not an option.

 

 

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