Bidding Quiz                                           11th October, 2006

 

                                                    Board 2      Dealer East       N-S Vul

 

 

It’s “standard” in this situation for a Double to be for penalty (presumably with a trump trick or two) and for Pass to be nebulous (no biddable suit, no desire to penalize, almost any hand strength).  However, in tournament play at least, a more popular approach is for the Double to show a bad hand … one reasonable definition of a bad hand is “less than a King” and/or “less than 2 Queens”.  An extension of the treatment occurs when 2♣ is doubled by the opponents … now a Redouble shows a bad hand.

 

This treatment works well on the actual hand.  After East’s weakness-showing Double, West, who is balanced without game in his own hand, simply passes to collect the penalty.  It was no doubt was disappointing when E-W collected only 200, but that was plenty considering that they did not have a game.

 

 

                                                    Board 4       Dealer West       Both Vul

 

 

The “Super-Accept” is a gadget we’ve already covered extensively on The Wednesday Game.  There are a number of flavors available, and our own favorites are any methods which do not give gratuitous information to the opponents.  For example, one method that we do not like is to bid 3♣ here, showing 4 Hearts and a doubleton in the bid suit.  That’s way too scientific in our opinion, far more likely to help the defending opponents than to help the partnership get to the right contract.

 

A simple method which does not give away free information to the opponents is as follows:

- With 4 trumps (Hearts here) and a good hand bid 2NT

- With 4 trumps and a half-decent hand bid 3♥

- With 4 trumps and a really bad hand (quacks and/or square shape) bid 2♥

 

The hand in question is certainly half-decent (at least) with those lovely controls, so we’d bid 3♥.

 

 

                                                    Board 6      Dealer East       E-W Vul

 

 

Once again, an enemy preempt makes our life difficult.  If we were playing a penalty Double here, that would no doubt be our choice.  Not that we would be happy about it (especially at this vulnerability), but what else is there to do?  Given the unfavorable vulnerability, this would not be a great success, as South is able to make 6 trump tricks for -500 and a good save against the vulnerable game.

 

It’s becoming popular nowadays for a Double in this situation to be Negative (take-out, in other words), and this hand is a good commercial for that treatment.  The requirements for the Double are game values and (in this case) 4 Hearts.  The 1NT bidder can always convert the Double to a penalty if his hand so indicates.  On the actual deal, he has 4 Hearts and will gladly try for game in 4♥, making 12 tricks with the help of a Heart finesse.

 

How about Doubles at the 2-level?  For example, suppose that South had just bid 2♠.  Now, we suggest using the Double as value-showing, typically a hand with invitational values … with more we’d get into some kind of Lebensohl sequence … with less we’d usually pass (unless we compete with a long suit, again via Lebensohl).

 

 

                                                    Board 7      Dealer South       Both Vul

 

 

What are the choices here?  We can think of only two:

-         2♦:       One plan might be to bid the Diamonds, and then compete on to 3♦ if necessary.  The problem with that plan is that it is unilateral, it takes Partner out of the auction.

-     Dbl:     We prefer the Double … it shows extra values and invites Partner into the auction, notwithstanding his modest values.  Of course, if Partner bids 2♣ we’ll bid 2♦.

 

 

                                                    Board 7      Dealer South       Both Vul

 

 

What does Pass mean here?  It means that we want to defend 1♠ redoubled.  It’s a tempting prospect, particularly against vulnerable opponents, the Holy Grail of +200 is most alluring, oops, make that +400 thanks to the Redouble.  It looks like we have 3 trump tricks, and Partner has shown extra values with that Double, so we consider ourselves highly tempted here!

 

However, it’s highly dangerous going for a low-level penalty when we have a fit with Partner, and that would be the deciding factor for us.  The 8-card Heart would dissuade us from passing … firstly, it provides us with a safe haven … secondly, that fit reduces the chances of beating 1♠.

 

 

                                                    Board 9      Dealer North       E-W Vul

 

 

A bid of 2NT here would express our invitational values rather well, but although we do have a stopper our Spade holding is not ideal.  We prefer 3♦ here, even though this bid could be made with a somewhat weaker hand.  The odds are that we belong in a Diamond partial, but, of course, if Partner makes one more squeak we’ll bid 3NT.

 

                                                    Board 10      Dealer East       Both Vul

 

 

With Partner a passed hand, with this exciting distribution, we should feel that we have a green light to be quite enterprising!  Too bad that we are vulnerable, otherwise we could really go crazy!  Here are the options:

-         Pass:   No, no, no, way too feeble!

-         3♣:      Call us nuts, but we rather like this bid!  But only because Partner is a passed hand.  It’s probably a bit much when vulnerable, but if we were white we’d be awfully tempted to start with 3♣ and then break all the rules by bidding Spades later, with the intention of creating the maximum mayhem (after all, this is certainly their hand, so a little bit of mayhem is much to be desired)

-         1♣:      Well, this bid is hardly going to preempt the opponents, is it?  Not much mayhem here.

-         1♠:       This would be our choice.  Not as dramatic as we might like, but at least it’s more of an irritant to the opponents than that 1♣ opening.

 

 

                                                    Board 10      Dealer East       Both Vul

 

 

Do you play Lebensohl when the opponents overcall Partner’s 1NT opening bid?  It’s a useful treatment.  Do you play “systems on” when Partner overcalls 1NT?  Not a bad idea.  If you answered “Yes” to both those questions, then 3♥ was forcing.  Typically, the suit would be better, and there would be more HCP’s, but South should feel compelled to bid aggressively with her 6-5, and 3♥ looks like the best guess to us.  Even though we have longer Diamonds, it looks like 4♥ might be the better scoring game … and, if Opener does not have Heart support, hopefully the Diamonds will provide some No Trump tricks.

 

 

                                                    Board 11      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

Whenever the auction is at a low level, and we are in the balancing seat, and we are not sure what to do, but we really think that we should be doing something, the answer is invariably to double.  Call it an “action Double” or a balancing Double or whatever you like, it simply says to Partner “I don’t want to sell out, but I don’t know what to do, hopefully you can help me out here”.

 

And so it is here.  North has the values to compete, but no direction.  Doubling here says just that.

 

 

                                                    Board 13      Dealer North       Both Vul

 

 

Just because East has 6 Diamonds and 8 HCP’s does not mean that he is obliged to make a Weak Two bid.  Here, vulnerable and in second seat, with no Aces, Kings, or shortness, bidding 2♦ is asking for trouble.  We strongly recommend that you do not open 2♦ here.  Even thinking about it is an overbid!

 

 

                                                    Board 13      Dealer North       Both Vul

 

 

Normally, an overcall shows at least a 5-card suit, of course, but there are times when an exception can be made.  The two obvious excuses for a 4-card overcall are:

-         An exceptional suit where we would really like to steer Partner in the right direction for his opening lead

-         When we are long in RHO’s suit … part of the logic here is that LHO and Partner are likely to be short in the suit, in which case Partner is in the over-ruffing position … in other words, the hand is likely to play quite well.

 

Here we have both of these excuses, and would not hesitate to overcall 1♠.

 

 

                                                    Board 14      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

Anyone for New Minor Forcing with the North hand?  Using that gadget, North can bid 2♦ after Partner’s 1NT, checking back for a 3-card Spade fit.  It’s certainly an option here, but we much prefer North’s actual 3NT bid, giving up on the 5-3 Spade fit.

 

One point to remember here is that Partner was quite at liberty to raise with 3-card support on the previous round of bidding.  So, if she has 3 Spades and bid 1NT anyway, she’s no doubt saying that her hand is No Trumpish.  Our hand is also No Trumpish (look at those tripleton Queens!) so we’d take our chances in 3NT.

 

 

                                                    Board 17      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

The choice here is between a 1NT rebid and a 2♣ rebid.  Both bids would certainly be descriptive, 1NT has an extra benefit.  It’s a limited bid, showing 12-14 HCP’s, whereas 2♣ is quite wide-ranging, something in the 11-17 range, or thereabouts.  Making a limited bid is so much easier on Partner than an unlimited bid, it establishes the horizon of the hand right away.

 

If you bid 1NT with that singleton in Partner’s suit, are you afraid that she might go back to Spades on a 5-card suit?  The simple answer is that she shouldn’t.

 

 

                                                    Board 18      Dealer East       N-S Vul

 

 

Here’s a simple enough question … is this an opening bid?

 

It’s not completely terrible to open 1♦ here, but it’s minimum in terms of HCP’s, and it’s minimum on the Rule of Twenty scale.  Furthermore it has some flaws which might cause us to downgrade the hand.  Yes, we are talking about those two dangling Queens which are just not just pulling their full weight.  Let’s see how much better the hand would be if it were:

            ♠ KQ86

            ♥ 753

            ♦ AQJ9

            ♣ 43

Same shape and high cards, but look at how much better is the high card structure.  Now, the high cards are all working well together and this hand has more potential than the problem hand.  This second hand is well worth opening, but in our opinion the Problem hand is not.

 

 

                                                    Board 18      Dealer East       N-S Vul

 

 

In this situation, we normally have about 10+ HCP’s for a 2♣ bid, though sometimes we might choose to upgrade a hand just a little if it has a 6-card suit.  But, if we are going to upgrade this 9-count on account of the 6-card suit, we should also take off something for the dangling Spade Queen, the poor holding in Partner’s suit, the absence of shortness, and the astonishing lack of Club fillers.  Yes, 2♣ is a serious overbid here.

 

 

                                                    Board 20      Dealer West       Both Vul

 

 

Clearly we are going to balance here, but Double is not an option holding just two cards in the unbid major.  That leaves 1NT and 2♦.

 

In the direct seat, a 1NT overcall is normally played as showing 15-18 and that is the bid we would make if it were RHO who had opened the bidding.  However, in the balancing seat it’s customary to play a lower range, the logic being that this increases the chances of (in this case) South being able to keep the bidding alive.

 

A typical balancing No Trump range is 11-14 HCP’s or thereabouts, and, if we were playing that range, this hand is a bit too good, so we’d (reluctantly) bid 2♦, though, to be honest, it’s awfully tempting to bid 1NT anyway.

 

Some players (ourselves included) like to expand the balancing 1NT range to something like 11-16.  Isn’t that a bit wide?  Yes, but there’s a useful gadget to help us cope and it’s called “Meckwell”.  Assuming that you play Stayman opposite a balancing 1NT, then the Meckwell modification works like this:

 

South    West   North   East

             1♠       Pass    Pass

1NT      Pass   2♣       Pass

??

 

Here, South makes her normal Stayman response if she is at the low end of the 11-16 range … and bids 2NT if she is at the high end of that range, regardless of her major suit holdings.  After the 2NT response, 3♣ is used as a “re-Stayman” on the way to game.

 

Armed with that treatment, with the Problem hand, we would bid 1NT in a heart-beat … we surely want to be the No Trump bidder, putting the strong hand on lead, and let’s not forget that Partner might have Qxx or Jxxx in Spades, in which case we really want to bid the No Trump first.

 

 

                                                    Board 21      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

To open 2♣ with this hand is somewhat marginal, in our view.  We’re not saying that it is necessarily wrong, but having opened 2♣ with this 4-loser hand, we should be somewhat  circumspect in the ensuing auction.

 

After our 2♥ rebid, Partner’s 3♥ was more encouraging that a jump bid of 4♥ (the so-called Principle of Fast Arrival), but even so we think that North should bid 4♥, making it quite clear that this is a minimum 2♣ opening.  We can hardly have a worse hand (though the controls are admittedly quite nice), and we should not encourage Partner with a cue-bid.

 

Let’s swap those red suits around, and give Opener this hand:

            ♠ J

            ♥ AK75

            ♦ AKJ96

            ♣ AQ7

The actual hand was a marginal 2♣ opening, but, in our view, this one is most definitely not a 2♣ opening.  After the bidding starts with 2♣, those minor suit auctions are most awkward indeed, we’d open 1♦ and rebid 2♥ (over 1♠), showing reverse values and giving us the best chance for an uncrowded auction.

 

 

                                                    Board 25      Dealer North       E-W Vul

 

 

Well, this is a pretty easy one!  Clearly, we should redouble, a bid which shows a good hand rather than good Spades.  If we had good Spades (and at least 6) and a moderate hand, we’d just preempt the auction with a 2♠ bid.  Perhaps the real problem is on the next bid:

 

North   East     South   West   

1♠        Pass    Pass     Dbl

Rdbl    1NT    Pass     Pass

??  

 

We’ve opened, and we’ve redoubled to show extras.  Have we done enough?  No, we don’t think so.  The Redouble promised perhaps 16 HCP’s or more, we actually have 18, and a pretty good 18 at that.  We’d take one more call on the hand, we’d double showing even more values.  But after opening and redoubling and doubling we’ll have done plenty, from now on in it’s up to Partner to pick up the ball.

 

 

                                                    Board 25      Dealer North       E-W Vul

 

 

Once, as South, we have passed Partner’s opening 1♠, we are entitled to like our hand a lot, for the bidding so far we are quite maximum.  Partner’s Redouble may not be perfectly defined, but it certainly shows extras, we’d assume about 16+ or something pretty close.  Therefore, when East bids 1NT we should be tempted to double with our “maximum”.  But, we don’t think the hand has quite enough stuff, so let’s assume that we are tempted in tempo and then we pass.  Next time it gets back to us, we see:

 

South     West   North   East

                         1♠        Pass

Pass      Dbl     Rdbl    1NT   

Pass      Pass   Dbl       Pass

??

 

Now, Partner has shown even more values, and it seems clear that our side has the balance of power.  We can also see that they are vulnerable, and we just love those +200 results on part-score hands.  So, yes, of course, we pass here, trying to keep the drooling to an absolute minimum.  But, it’s still not over:

 

South     West   North   East

                         1♠        Pass

Pass      Dbl     Rdbl    1NT   

Pass      Pass   Dbl       Pass

Pass      2♦       Pass     Pass

??

 

Yes, we must double, though we certainly shouldn’t be drooling, it’s not as if we have a very exciting trump holding.  Once in a while, this contract will make, but far more often it won’t and a top board will result.

 

 

                                                    Board 27      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

The answer to this Problem is written on the assumption that you are playing this sequence as game-forcing.  If so, we suggest these rebid methods:

-         2♦:       The rebid that is made most of the time when we have 5+ Diamonds

-         2♥/2♠: Natural, tends to deny more than 4 Diamonds.  These bids do not show extras. 

-         2NT:   Natural, 12-14, no 4-card major

-         3NT:   Natural, 15-17 … as there was no opening 1NT opening bid, it’s fair to assume that West is short in Clubs, probably a 3-3-6-1 type of hand.

 

Using these simple methods, we have an obvious 2♥ rebid.

 

 

                                                    Board 28      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

Yes, we are in 3^rd seat, Partner has passed, we are White vs Red, we’ve got a 6-card major, we’ve got distribution and fillers, of course we are going to preempt.  2♠ is the least we can do, and even 3♠ is rather tempting.

 

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