Bidding Quiz                                            18th October, 2006

 

                                                    Board 1      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

For once we show both hands and the whole auction, with comments where appropriate:

 

            West    East

 

                        1NT

 

            2♥        2♠                    Starting a Jacoby Transfer sequence.

 

            4♦                                Splinter bid

 

                        4♥                    East has a super-maximum with great controls … true, he

                                                only has two small trumps, but West has shown a good

                                                enough trump suit to cope with this.  So, West is happy

                                                to cooperate with the slam hunt, and shows a Heart

                                                control with his 4♥ bid.

 

            4NT                             Roman Key Card Blackwood.  We are always advised

                                                against using Blackwood when we have two losers in an

                                                unbid suit, but here it looks quite safe.  Surely, East has

                                                something in Clubs, because he has nothing in Spades,

                                                and was not turned off by the Diamond splinter.

 

                        5♦                    0 or 3 Key Cards, obviously the latter.

 

            5NT                             After 5♦, a bid by West of 5♥ would be the Queen Ask,

                                                so bidding 5NT (the King Ask) instead implies that E-W

                                                hold all the Key Cards and the Q♠.  It also implies that

                                                East’s hand is good enough to at least contemplate a

                                                Grand Slam.

 

                        6♣                   We recommend that you use the “Specific King” method,

                                                rather than “Number of Kings”.

 

            6♠                                This is a bid which must be made quickly!  It just won’t do

                                                to ponder a while and then bid 6♠, that will put Partner in

                                                jeopardy.  The time to think about what to do after the 6♣

                                                bid was back before we bid 4NT.  West can count only 12

                                                tricks, but at least has demonstrated a passing interest in the

                                                Grand Slam.

 

                        6NT                 We like this bid!  East can hardly have a better hand and

                                                must be tempted to bid 7♠.  However, he has a safer way of

                                                getting a good board, and that is to bid 6NT … no

                                                guarantees, but it looks to East that this contract will

                                                probably make the same number of tricks as Spades.

            Pass

          

                                                    Board 7      Dealer South       Both Vul

 

 

It’s a sensible agreement for 3♦ in the above auction to deny a 4-card Spade suit.  With that in mind, what would you bid as North here?  We’d say that there are three possibilities, only one of which is utterly unspeakable:

-         3NT:   Yes, this is the unspeakable option, thanks to the Club weakness, let’s move on.

-         Pass:   This could well be right, but the hand does have good potential for a 3NT contract … two fast Spade tricks and enough Hearts to protect that suit.  If Partner has running Diamonds and something good in Clubs, 3NT should be a breeze.

-         3♠:       We’ve already established that Partner should not have 4 Spades for this auction, but we still like 3♠ here.  Two reasons … firstly, it might allow Partner to bid 3NT… secondly, the Spades are so good that the 4-3 fit might play quite well (especially if the short hand can look after the second or third round of Clubs).

 

                          

                          Board 8      Dealer West       None Vul

 

 

When we pick up this collection, our original plan would be to describe it as a strong balanced hand, on the grounds that opening 2♣ and then rebidding 3♦ is to be avoided where possible, it’s a most inefficient start to the auction.  And, although we have 21 HCP’s we’d upgrade it into the 22-24 category, based on the Diamond length.  So we open 2♣ and Partner disrupts our planning by responding 3♣.  Now there is no reason to be bidding 3NT, we can bid the Diamonds after all, it’s descriptive and the cheapest bid available, what could be wrong with that?  Partner persists with Clubs, cue-bids are exchanged, now what?

 

As often happens in minor suit auctions after a 2♣ opening, the auction has got rather crowded.  We would just bid 5NT here, the so-called Grand Slam Force, asking Partner to bid 7♣ if he has two of the top 3 honors.  Obviously we have plenty of tricks, and if we can rely on Partner having the A♠, then all that remains is the trump suit.  Assuming that Partner does have the missing trump honors, the worst case would be three small Diamonds in Partner’s hand, but even that is not necessarily fatal.

 

 

                                                    Board 10      Dealer East       Both Vul

 

 

We wouldn’t fault 2♠ here, but perhaps it’s a little cowardly.  We should be thinking seriously about passing, especially as the opponents are vulnerable.  That T♣ is a big card, it’s probably worth a trick, and we’d be so, so tempted to pass and try for +200.  We won’t award any brickbats for those that bid 2♠ here, unless they also confess that it never even crossed their minds to pass.

 

 

                                                    Board 11      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

East’s hand raises the question: “Opposite a 1♠ opening bid, what does 3NT mean?”  The simple answer is “Whatever you would like it to mean”, because there are numerous possibilities.  The following is far from a complete list:

-         13-15 HCP’s and a specific hand type, such as “only 2 Spades” or “square distribution with 3 Spades”

-         15-17 HCP's with 2 Spades … this is the SAYC treatment, and we really don’t like it very much, seems like we are preempting our own auction when our hand is that good.

-         Our own favorite is a bit more obscure … 3NT shows 5-card support and a defensive trick outside the trump suit, something like:  ♠ QJ764 ♥ A75 ♦ 85 ♣ 874.  The benefit of this treatment is that it allows Responder to preempt the auction, while also clueing Opener in that he is not entirely bereft of defense.  Without the A♥, he would be inclined to bid 4♠ if the conditions were right.

 

Anyway, back to the job at hand.  Even if we were playing a variety of the first option, where 3NT is 13-15 and square, that would not be our choice.  We have too much high-card strength in Partner’s suit, and precarious holdings in Hearts and Clubs.  Our choice would be 2♦, not very pretty, we’ll grant that, Partner will certainly expect more in the suit than we actually have, usually a 5-card suit for starters.  But nobody seems to take the minors seriously any more, so why should E-W be any different?

 

 

                                                    Board 12      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

There are some perfect 7-counts for East where slam is virtually cold, for example a hand as innocuous-looking as: ♠ A72 ♥ 82 ♦ 984 ♣ KT732.  Nonetheless, we wouldn’t mess around here, no need to give the defense a road map for the 95% (at least!) of the occasions when there is no slam.  We’d just bash out 4♥, very much the practical bid, in our opinion, at least in a matchpoint event where overtricks are so vital.  In the pairs game, concealment can bring rich rewards.

 

 

                                                    Board 14      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

West has been offered the choice between 3NT and 4♠.  Which do you choose?  Notwithstanding the 8-card major fit, we’d try 3NT.  After all, we don’t have a ruffing value, and we do have all the other suits stopped.  Having said that, 3NT will not always be a success, especially if Partner has Heart weakness and/or shortness.  The bottom line is that 2NT auctions using standard methods do not handle particularly well, and we’ll be the first to admit that deciding whether to pass here, or to bid 4♠ is something of a guess.  Our own guess, for better or worse, is to play it in 3NT.

 

                                                    Board 16      Dealer West       E-W Vul

 

 

Opening 1NT with a 5-card major has become quite popular nowadays and for good reason.  Opening 1♥ or 1♠ with one of those 5-3-3-2 hands and with 15-17 HCP’s can cause serious rebid problems.  Imagine that we were to open 1♥ with this hand.  Partner now bids 1♠ … what next?  There are no good options.  And it’s not much better if Responder bids a Forcing No Trump … Opener can bid 2♣ but will have a problem when Partner rebids 2♥ … should he try for game or not?  No, even though we have such a stellar 5-card major, we would still open 1NT.

 

                                                    Board 17      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

After West’s balancing Double, it behooves East to be somewhat circumspect.  As the old advice says “Don’t punish Partner for balancing”.  As West is apt to bid with less in the balancing seat, East is obliged to have more than usual when he responds.  In these situations, it’s helpful to use the “King Rule” … East assumes that his balancing partner has “borrowed a King” for his bid, so he must bid as if he has a King less in order to compensate.  On that basis, East with his nice 12-count has only just enough to bid 2♥.

 

 

                                                    Board 20      Dealer West       Both Vul

 

 

South has a pretty good hand here, and there are three plans which might come to mind:

-         Double and later introduce Diamonds … this sequence shows a really good hand, we’d say this hand does not qualify, just not enough HCP’s and altogether too many losers.

-         Double, and then when it gets back to us (assuming Partner inactivity), double again … this is about right on values, we have a take-out shape (well, sort of!), and we have sufficient extras to take another call.  But it hardly does justice to our Diamond suit, does it?

-         Overcall 1♦ and then double next time around … yes, that’s the ticket, get our lovely suit into the auction and then show some extra values and tolerance for the unbid suits later

 

 

                                                    Board 21      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

With these 4-4 minor hands, do you open 1♣ or 1♦?  When you are discussing bidding agreements, there are some concepts which are absolutely vital to efficient bidding and partnership harmony, but this is not one of them.  We would suggest that it’s supremely unimportant which minor you open, and that you direct your attention to other issues!  But we would also suggest that you open the stronger minor if there is a serious disparity in the suits, if only for lead-directing purposes.

 

 

                                                    Board 21      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

Let’s put ourselves in the direct seat for a moment, let’s assume that we are balanced, and that we have a stop in their suit and let’s consider our No Trump options:

-         12-14:  No immediate No Trump bid available, we’ll just have to Double (if the hand is suitable) or overcall or else bide our time.

-         15-18:  A 1NT overcall.

-         19-20:  Now we double and bid No Trump next time around

-         More: Double and figure out what to do next time around (usually a No Trump jump will be called for)

-         Needless to say, a 2NT bid in direct seat says nothing at all about No Trump, instead it shows the two lower unbid suits and is usually a preemptive maneuver.

 

Now, we move to the balancing chair.  What are the options now?  Everything is toned down somewhat, because we relax the requirements in order to give the last-chance last-gasp balancer an easy route into the auction.  Very approximately, the balancer bids as if he has about a King more than he does, and the No Trump options now look something like this:

-         11-15:  A 1NT bid … the ranges vary from partnership to partnership, but the important point is that a balancing 1NT is somewhat weaker than the direct 1NT overcall.

-         16-18:  Double and then bid No Trump

-         19-20:  Bid 2NT

-         Note that there is no Unusual No Trump in this scenario, nor should there be.  Why preempt in balancing seat?

 

So, going back to the problem, we have an obvious 2NT bid here.  Well, maybe not completely obvious!  With our Club length, it’s awfully tempting to pass here, hoping to collect a couple of vulnerable undertricks on a part-score hand.  Something of a gamble whichever we bid, it’s a hand where it pays to have one’s guessing shoes on.

 

                                                    Board 22      Dealer East       E-W Vul

 

 

Bidding a Forcing No Trump does nothing to describe our hand … our strength, Hearts, and Spade support would all remain a complete mystery.  We prefer a little overbid here, we’d try a (game-forcing) bid of 2♥, planning to jump to 4♠ next (unless Partner supports Hearts), showing minimum values.

 

 

                                                    Board 23      Dealer South       Both Vul

 

 

2♠ or 3♠?  We say 3♠, notwithstanding the pathetic trumps and the modest 13 HCPs.  The North hand has only 5 losers, but even if North is not into the Losing Trick Count, she perhaps recalls that old advice of “Six-four, bid more!”.

 

                                                    Board 24      Dealer West       None Vul

 

 

This is not much of a problem at all.  We are in the balancing seat, the opponents have limited their hands, we are not vulnerable, and we have tolerance for the unbid suits.  Yes, of course, we double!

 

 

                                                    Board 25      Dealer North       E-W Vul

 

 

If you were N-S this week, you may feel somewhat disgruntled, it seems to us that E-W had more fun than you did.  Blame the computer, not us, but at least give us credit for striving to find some N-S inclusions in the Bidding Quiz.  It was hard work, let us tell you, and this one will not make it to the Bidding Quiz Hall of Fame, either.  We merely include it as reinforcement of the idea that North should not even think about raising Clubs until she has made a Negative Double announcing the 4-card Spade suit.

 

 

                                                    Board 26      Dealer East       Both Vul

 

 

This one is about methods.  Assuming that we are playing Leaping Michaels, we could just bid 4♦, showing both majors, but that would be a huge overbid, of course.  Another possibility is to bid 2♠, hoping to get the chance to bid Hearts later, but that would also be something of an overbid.  The ideal solution is to have 3♦ here available as Michaels, showing both majors but not necessarily a big hand.  If that were available, that would be our choice, and if it were not available we’d bid 2♠ and cross our fingers.

 

Some partnerships play that 3♦ here would be a probe for 3NT, typically, it’s a hand with Club tricks in search of a Diamond stopper.  Well, if you decide to change to a Michaels 3♦ in this situation, then with the Club hand you’ll just have to Double or bid 3♣, whichever seems more appropriate.

 

 

                                                    Board 28      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

We’ve had a couple of auctions earlier where just bashing into the likely best contract was the order of the day.  Now, for once, we suggest a little delicacy.  Yes, we could bid 3NT here, that’s probably where we belong.  But it would surely be better played from Partner’s side, maybe Partner has a red King that needs protecting (actually, he has two of them!).  So we would bid 3♦ here, letting Partner play 3NT (assuming he has a Heart stop).

 

                                                    Board 30      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

Here’s another auction where snoozing with a nondescript hand is not the winning strategy.  We pass originally (but 2♣ is kind of tempting, don’t you think?), but when 2♠ gets back to us, it is time for us to arouse from our slumber.  The point of this Problem is that we have shortness in their suit, so the onus is on us to get into the auction because it is most unlikely that Partner will be able to.  We would double, we have the perfect hand for it.  And, as luck would have it, Partner happens to have the perfect hand for a Penalty Pass.

 

 

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