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Bidding Quiz 16th August, 2006
Board 1 Dealer North None Vul
Yes, it’s your classic Responsive Double, showing the two unbid suits. As West is forcing Partner to bid at the 3-level he needs some values for this bid, let’s say 9+ HCPs.
Board 3 Dealer South E-W Vul
A direct 1NT overcall usually shows 15-18 HCPs, with something good in RHO’s suit. In the balancing seat, things are different. Typically, the range drops to 10-14 or thereabouts, the logic being that this makes it easier for the balancer to get into the auction when he does not have a hand suitable for a take-out Double.
So, on the actual hand, we would balance with 1NT. How about Double? The hand does have support for the unbid suits, so Double would not be terrible ... but it looks so No Trumpish, don't you think?
Board 4 Dealer West Both Vul
On the previous board we discussed how the range for a 1NT overcall is lowered when in the balancing seat. Here, opposite an overcaller, the reverse applies, we need more to bid 1NT. If Partner opens 1♣ or 1♦ we typically need 6-10 to respond 1NT … but when Partner has merely overcalled, our bid of 1NT should be somewhat stronger, let’s say 8-11 or thereabouts. The reason for this higher range, of course, is to compensate for the fact that an Overcaller requires fewer values than an Opener.
Board 5 Dealer North N-S Vul
In part-score battles, when we are in the direct seat, as East is here, it’s usually extra distribution or an extra trump which justifies taking one more call. Here, we have minimum HCPs for our opening bid, and only 5 Spades, but we do have Diamond shortness … so, full value for a competitive 3♠ bid. Needless to say, that 3♠ bid is not inviting game … if we had wanted to do that we would have tried 3♥, which says nothing about Hearts, it merely seeks Partner’s opinion about game.
Board 8 Dealer West None Vul
South has three possibilities here: Dbl: Not ideal with only 3 Spades, of course. 2♦: Making a "two-over-one" in competition requires fewer HCPs than without the competition, but it still requires a bit more than we have here ... let's say 10 HCPs, perhaps shaded by a point if we have a 6-card suit. This one is just not good enough. Pass: Yes, a smooth Pass is called for here!
Nothing bad will happen to a 2♦ overcall, that contract won't get doubled and will probably make in relative comfort ... no, the bad things happen later in the auction when good old Partner expects us to have the values for our bid and starts doubling the opponents or bidding too many No Trump.
Board 8 Dealer West None Vul
First, let's back up to the opening bid of 1♣. Anyone for a 1NT opening? We wouldn't object too violently to that, though some might say it's a bit too strong ... 17 HCPs and a 5-card suit and those 3 Aces may add up to too much for some people, even though the hand is fillerless.
Anyway, we chose to open 1♣, and now we must choose our rebid. It's a simple choice between Double and 1♠, and we much prefer 1♠. This bid does not do justice to the strength of our hand, but then again neither would Double, that could be made on a minimum opening hand with, say, 4-1-3-5 distribution. As neither bid conveys our extras, surely it's better to make the bid that conveys our hand-type.
On the actual hand, after 1♠, North would be faced with another balancing situation on the next round of bidding: North East South West Pass 1♣ 1♥ Pass Pass 1♠ 2♥ Pass Pass ?? Now it is clear for North to Double. This sequence by North is quite informative ... the failure to Double earlier denies as many as 3 Diamonds, we would think, and then the belated Double showed tolerance for Diamonds ... this sounds very much like a 4-2-2-5 distribution (or perhaps 4-1-2-6 with a poor Club suit) to us!
Board 9 Dealer North E-W Vul
Here, N-S sold out to 3♦ (which may well make) when they have 9 tricks in Hearts and 10 in Clubs. The obvious question is "Were N-S just unlucky, or did one of them fumble the ball?"
North South ♠ KQT32 ♠ 65 ♥ K4 ♥ JT6532 ♦ 74 ♦ 9 ♣ AJ86 ♣ KQT3
West North East South 1♠ 2♦ Dbl 2♠ Pass 3♦ Pass Pass Pass
As we saw on Board 8, South does not have the values for a 2♥ bid over 2♦, so Double is clearly the right course of action.
How about North's first Pass? There does not seem to be much point in bidding 3♣ with this somewhat minimum hand when the opponents are in a constructive auction that is forced to at least 3♦. Bidding 3♣ here just gives the opponents a potential extra way of getting a good board ... for example, 3♣ doubled might be quite messy if Partner's shape is 2-5-3-3, why take the chance when the opponents are already on their way to 3♦?
And North's second Pass? In competitive auctions, where one side fails to bid enough, the guilty party is often the player who makes the final Pass. But not here! Other than Pass, North's only option would be to Double, but that would be an overbid on a minimum hand where the most likely fit (clubs) will need to be played at the 4-level. Also, Partner might reasonably expect a third Heart for this bid.
That just leaves South's Pass. Yes, there's the culprit! South should bid 3♥ here. South has denied the values for an earlier 2♥ bid, so Partner will know to expect less than 10 HCPs. And, despite only having 6 HCPs, South's hand has pretty good playing strength with that singleton in their suit and that 6-4 shape. Of course, 3♥ is not guaranteed to succeed, and once in a while Partner will show up with the wrong hand for us, such as 5-1-3-4 shape, but it's even possible that N-S could survive that.
Board 10 Dealer East Both Vul
Our personal preference, opposite Partner’s overcall, is to play that new suits are constructive but not forcing. Playing that style, North cannot bid 2♣, her hand is just too good. So, what are you supposed to do when you have a really good hand opposite an overcall? You could cue-bid, of course, but wherever possible, we like to have support for Partner when we make that bid. So, our own choice here would be 3♣ … forcing, with Clubs … but make sure that Partner is on the same wave-length in these auctions, and that a jump in a new suit is indeed forcing, not preemptive (also a viable treatment, but then you would have to use the cue-bid to show a good hand, and not necessarily a hand with support for Partner).
Board 10 Dealer East Both Vul
As we just saw, North’s 3♣ bid was natural and forcing. South’s obvious bid is 3NT, no need to look for anything fancy here. True, South’s Spades are so good that a 5-2 Spade fit might provide the best game contract, but our methods have somewhat crowded the auction and 3NT seems like the best guess. It doesn’t help to cue-bid 3♦ here, that will only postpone the decision.
Board 11 Dealer South None Vul
What a difficult bidding problem East has here! Decent values, but no convenient bid. The choices seem to be Pass (too feeble), 3♣ (too bold), a Responsive Double (not recommended with only 3 Hearts), or 3♦ (right on values, but a Diamond short). We’d opt for 3♦ ourselves, it looks like the best of a bad bunch.
Board 12 Dealer West N-S Vul
For the third time in five boards, South must decide whether or not her hand is worth a response at the 2-level. As we saw before, the requirements for 2♥ here are 5+ Hearts and something in the region of 10 HCPs or above. Nonetheless we would dredge up a 2♥ bid ... only 8 HCPs, but we do have a 6th Heart, and it looks as if our K♠ is well-placed. Better to stretch a little now, rather than guessing to bid 3♥ on the next round of bidding.
Board 13 Dealer North Both Vul
It’s not 100% obvious that North is worth a game-try here, that singleton K♠ would surely be better employed in a long suit. At matchpoints, we would not make a game-try, but playing teams we would make a try for that vulnerable game.
As it happens, our conservative Pass is not a great success as Partner has a most suitable hand for us and 10 tricks is possible. Oh, well!
Board 14 Dealer East None Vul
After a Jacoby Transfer, do you play Super-Accepts? Using this method, the 1NT bidder is allowed to go beyond 2 of Partner’s major when she has 4 cards in the suit. It’s a worthwhile treatment, and can help you get to games which otherwise might be missed. Furthermore, there is the preemptive value of getting to the 3-level quickly when you have a 9-card fit. But, let’s not overdo it! Yes, that South hand has 4 trumps, but it’s not worth a super-accept … square distribution, minimum values, no Tens. Our recommendation is to super-accept only when your hand has some character, and this one certainly does not.
Board 14 Dealer East None Vul
Should East balance here? Only 5 HCPs, and all in Queens and Jacks, but you do have that lovely singleton in their suit, and you further have the safety of being non-vulnerable. Yes, we would double here, but the bid is not without its risks. For example, Partner could have 2-5-4-2 distribution, in which case one of two bad things might happen: (a) He passes, hoping that you have a bit of defense for your Double, and 2♥ doubled comes home in a canter; (b) He tries 3♦, and that goes for a large number when North doubles.
Well, we did say that taking action here was not without risk, but we’d do it anyway.
Board 15 Dealer South N-S Vul
There’s no need to feel obligated to open light in 3rd seat just for the sake of it, and, let’s face it, opening 1♣ here is not exactly going to preempt the opponents. But we would open 1♣ anyway, it has such good lead-directional value.
Board 15 Dealer South N-S Vul
East passed initially, but then doubled the second time around. Does that suggest a weaker hand than doubling immediately? Not necessarily. It seems likely that East is short in Spades, and that may well be the reason for his earlier Pass. Be that as it may, we can reasonably assume that Partner is at least 4-4 in the red suits, and our decision now is whether or not to bid 3♦.
It looks as if the opponents may have a 9-card fit and we have an 8-card fit. Total Trick analysis tells us that if they can make 9 tricks, we can probably make 8 tricks, a good save even if we are doubled. Not so good will be if they can make 10, we can make only 7, and we go for -300. It's also possible that their fit is only 8 cards, and that 3♣ and 3♦ are both going down. One more minus ... our trumps are very weak.
That's enough of the minuses, let's look at the plusses ... there are quite a few of them: - shortness in their suit; - Spade strength over their Spade strength; - Partner's likely Spade shortness is over their Spade shortness (we get to do the over-ruffing); - favorable vulnerability.
The ayes outvote the nays and our choice is to bid 3♦.
Board 19 Dealer South E-W Vul
Over West’s 3♠ preempt, North has 18 HCPs, but no convenient bid. She might wonder what Partner has for her Pass of East’s 1♠ overcall … South appears to have just one Spade, and yet was unable to make a Negative Double, and unable to raise Clubs … all the signs are that South has a really crummy hand, and the smart bid by North is Pass … tough to do with such a good hand, but likely to be the winner in our view. We would expect some dissenting opinions on this one, and it's certainly true that 3NT will be the winning call ... however, Double is not an option with only 2 Hearts, the only realistic choices are 3NT and Pass.
Board 22 Dealer East E-W Vul
Yet another N-S decision involving methods opposite Partner's overcall. Here are the two obvious possibilities: (a) If N-S play that a new suit opposite an overcall is "non-forcing but constructive", then they probably also play that 2♠ here would be forcing ... it seems a shame to let that little detail shut out our Spade suit, so if we cannot bid 2♠ we would bid 3♠. (b) If N-S play that a jump in a new suit opposite an overcall is preemptive, then that would be a reasonable choice.
But, to be honest, notwithstanding the absence of a 7th Spade, we would be tempted to bid 3♠ anyway, even if we had a preemptive 2♠ at our disposal. The hand is so perfect for preempting: - no defense - good trump fillers - shortness in their suit - a fit with Partner's suit - favorable vulnerability Who could ask for more?
Board 23 Dealer South Both Vul
In this low-level auction it would be pretty feeble of West, with his 9-count, to pass out 2♦ in the balancing seat. He has to squeak out something and our own guess would be 2♠. It’s hard to see how Double would help, and 2NT seems something of an overbid.
Board 24 Dealer West None Vul
Would you trot out a Michaels Cue-Bid with your 5-5 6-count? Yes, of course you would, especially as you are non-vulnerable. Bidding 2♥ here has all sorts of ways to win, and North would be remiss to pass.
Board 24 Dealer West None Vul
North’s 2♥ bid showed Spades and a minor, so, with only one of their suits known, a cue-bid in that suit shows a limit raise or better in Partner’s suit. So, the bid here is 2♠, showing around 10+ and a Heart fit.
Board 27 Dealer South None Vul
South may have only 12 HCPs, but a very nice hand nonetheless. Is it worth a game-try? Not quite, in our estimation … that Q♦ is not pulling full weight … but, put that Queen in with the Heart suit instead, and we would certainly be making a game try.
Board 28 Dealer West N-S Vul
Over 1NT, as East you have some choices: (a) Pass and see what happens … we don’t like this one at all, altogether too feeble. (b) A penalty Double (if one is available in the partnership methods) … not a great idea, East has no obvious lead, and it’s easy to see how Declarer might have a couple of Club stops, 4 or 5 Diamond tricks, and who knows what else. (c) Show a two-suiter in Clubs and Spades (if possible) … again, not a good idea, there is too great a disparity between the two suits. (d) Bid Clubs … yes, of course!
Yes, the simple and obvious is best here … East bids the Club suit, and, if he gets a second chance later in the auction, he can throw in a 2♠ bid to complete the description of his hand.
Of course, if E-W are playing Cappelletti over 1NT, it won't be possible to get Clubs in the auction below the 3-level, a defect of the method. In those circumstances, it would be tempting to try 2♠, showing Spades and a minor ... yes, a bit weird with a 4-6 hand, but those Spades are quite beefy.
Board 29 Dealer North Both Vul
A Negative Double here shows both majors, so that is not an option. The only choice is a 1♥ bid, showing 4+ in the suit … no, you do not need a 5-card suit for this bid. Well, perhaps we should not be too dogmatic, there are some partnerships who prefer that 1♥ and 1♠ here show a 5-card suit ... not our favorite, but a method which still has its adherents.
Board 29 Dealer North Both Vul
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