Bidding Quiz                                              7th February, 2007

 

 

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                                                    Board 1      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

It looks as if the N-S auction is about to come to an abrupt halt.  Is this the time to come in with a 2♠ bid?  We think so.  It’s true that the opponents may well be in a 5-2 fit, so their lack of a big fit reduces are own chances of one.  But, on the other hand, South has denied 4 Spades, North is unlikely to have 4 Spades, so it would be somewhat unlucky if Partner did not hold at least 3 of them.  2♠ is likely to be our best place, and although Partner no doubt has some values and will be in the balancing seat, he won’t be able to bid 2♠.  So we must.

 

 

                                                    Board 1       Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

Here we are, probably with the best hand at the table, bidding is going on all around us and we have yet to take a call.  Should we bid on over 2♠?  Absolutely not!  First of all, Partner is a passed hand, so game is unlikely.  Nor did he take action the second time around, he merely came into the auction when it looked as if the enemy auction was petering out.  We have no reason to bid here, we should just be happy that for once we can actually put down a good Dummy.

 

                                                    Board 2      Dealer East       N-S Vul

 

 

At any other vulnerability we would open 4♥, the hand has so much playing strength and so little defense.  Yes, 4♥ normally shows 8 trumps but when we have 7 good ones (the 9♥ is potentially a most useful card) and some extra offense (here, the K♦ and a void) then 7 is enough, at least for us.  However, Red against White, we prefer 3♥, we think that 4♥ is a bit too much in these circumstances.

 

 

                                                    Board 6      Dealer East       E-W Vul

 

 

Partner has overcalled in Spades and presumably has at least 5 of them.  We have 4 ourselves and a weak hand, so, with a known 9-card fit, surely we can go straight to 3♠ (preemptive).  Well, let us not get carried away here!  We have a square hand and are Red against White, jumping to 3♠ would be altogether too extreme.  2♠ is plenty here.  Beware of those square hands!

 

 

                                                    Board 7      Dealer South       Both Vul

 

 

We’d like to get our second 5-card suit into the auction, but, if we do, how is Partner supposed to know whether we have a minimum hand like this one, or something substantially stronger?  Using standard methods, Partner won’t know, and so South might equally well bid 3♣ or Pass here, either could work.

 

There’s a useful gadget for this situation, it’s called the Good-Bad No Trump and is a type of Lebensohl bid.  We don’t recommend it for the casual partnership, but if you would like to learn more please follow the link.  At this point we’ll just say:

-         Bidding 3♣ directly is natural and shows extra values.

-         2NT is artificial and the starting point for purely competitive actions (in this case 2NT could be used with a minor two-suiter or a Diamond one-suiter)

 

 

                                                    Board 9      Dealer North       E-W Vul

 

 

If E-W are playing Texas Transfers as well as Jacoby, they can make a distinction between going to 4♥ directly (via Texas), or going there more slowly (via Jacoby).  The more common treatment is for the Texas auction to show the game-only hand, and for Jacoby and then 4♥ to show slam interest.  If these two options are available, then on the actual hand we’d suggest a 1NT 2♦, 2♥ 4♥ auction, showing slam interest.  And if our methods do not provide that “slam interest” option?  We suppose that we would just bid the slam unilaterally.

 

                                                    Board 11      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

For some players it is anathema to preempt with a 4-card major on the side, and their choice will be a simple 1♦ overcall.  Nothing wrong with that, but our own style is to be less fastidious about our preempts, and so it would be a decision between 2♦ and 3♦.  Usually, a 6-card suit would indicate a two-level preempt, but we generally like to preempt one more when we have 6-4 shape, that extra shape gives us additional offensive potential.  We especially like 3♦ here because of our good suit and the fact that Partner is a passed hand … the hand belongs to the opponents, let’s make their life as difficult as possible!

 

 

                                                    Board 12      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

Nowadays, almost everybody opens these 5-4 11-counts, and 1♦ seems like the obvious choice.  But we admit to a secret hankering for 1♥ here, the suit is so much better.  It won’t always work, of course, but bidding strong suits instead of weak suits does have obvious lead-direction benefits, especially with weak or minimum hands where there is an increased expectation that our side will be on defense.  Anyway, we are not going so far as to advocate a 1♥ bid here, we are merely mentioning it as a thought-provoking alternative!

 

 

                                                    Board 14      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

West is non-vulnerable and in the pass-out seat, should he take the push to 3♠?  We certainly wouldn’t, our hand has no redeeming features whatsoever, and in particular we do not have an extra trump, nor do we have shortness anywhere.  Partner’s pass of 3♣ says that he also does not have an extra trump or any distribution, so he’s quite likely to have 5-3-3-2 shape.  No reason whatsoever to risk a 3-level contract on an 8-card fit with two such featureless hands.  Well, perhaps there is one reason, the opponents might forget to double us!

 

 

                                                    Board 17      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

Here’s a bid that newer players often overlook.  It’s the passed-hand Double.  North has an obvious initial Pass, but, after the opponents have bid Clubs and Hearts, what could be more descriptive than a Double, saying “As passed hands go, mine is quite good, and I have support for the two unbid suits”.  Partner will expect us to have 4 Spades (with 5 we would overcall, of course) and at least 4 Diamonds, and will be in a good position to judge well how high to compete.

 

In this situation, there are other ways to get both unbid suits into the auction.  How about 1NT?  Not natural by a passed hand, so clearly it would be a Sandwich-style of bid (even if you don’t play them by an unpassed hand), showing both suits, but a weaker and more distributional hand.

 

 

                                                    Board 18      Dealer East       N-S Vul

 

 

We are in a game-forcing auction alright, but which game?  Or slam?  At this point we simply don’t know, so what is the bid which will best help Partner?  We can think of 3 possibilities:

-         4♣?     We haven’t yet done justice to our fine Club suit, should we show our 5^th card in the suit?  We don’t think so, this bid has the disadvantage of taking us past 3NT.  Having said that, it will certainly be the winner if Partner has a bit extra and we belong in a 5-3 Club slam.  But we prefer to give priority to finding the right game before hunting for slam.

-         3♥?      Partner will assume that we are looking for a Heart stop and will no doubt trot out 3NT if he has one but has no significant extra values.  3♥ also gives Partner the chance to give belated support for Spades.

-         3♠?      This would be our choice.  Partner can still bid 3NT if her hand is appropriate, but 3♠ does more justice to the strong Spade suit.  There’s a good chance that the right spot will be 4♠ on a 5-2 fit, and we should tell Partner that our Spade suit is good enough to rebid, either 5 good ones or 6 of them.

 

On the actual deal, 4♠ turns out to be the only making game, so let’s pat ourselves on the back for bidding 3♠ and giving our side the best chance to reach it.

 

 

                                                    Board 19      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

If we are playing a SAYC type of system, then we have an easy 2♣ bid here, showing some values but not forcing to game.  Let’s make our life more difficult and assume that 2♣ is indeed forcing to game.  Now our options are as follows:

-         2NT?   Right on values, but not at all descriptive, and likely to leave us playing No Trump from the wrong side

-         1♠?      We had a hand last week where Responder was obliged to “manufacture” a bid of 1♥ with just a 3-card suit.  Is this another instance of that?  Maybe, at least 1♠ is a far better choice that 2NT!

-         2♦?      This was Professor Oddbid’s choice.  He intended it to be “Inverted”, meaning that it shows invitational values, no 4-card major, and at least 4-card support in Diamonds.  Well, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad, and if Partner is minimum the auction can fizzle out in 2NT or 3♦.  Actually, 3♦ might play rather well with those Heart ruffs in the short hand.

-         2♣?     Yes, we could just bid 2♣ anyway, a slight overbid, but otherwise just fine.

We like either of the last two bids (though neither is perfect), so take your pick.  On the actual deal, the winner turns out to be Oddbid’s 2♦, allowing E-W to stop in 2NT.

 

 

                                                    Board 21      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

We have 18 HCP’s opposite a preempting Partner.  But, hard as it is to do so, we should just Pass.  3NT is most unlikely to make, Partner will need an entry if the Clubs and that is something of a long shot.  He won’t have the A♦ and good Clubs, that would be a 2♣ overcall … he might have the Q♠ … or perhaps the J♦ with the Ace on-side.  We wouldn’t bet on one of these possibilities, it’s a well-known fact of life that Partner rarely has the perfect hand.

 

Is it worth trying for 4♥?  Too dangerous, we think … if we bid 3♥, Partner will expect a much better suit and will likely raise us with a holding such as Jx.

 

 

                                                    Board 22      Dealer East       E-W Vul

 

 

We would force to game with this hand, notwithstanding the singleton King.  Of course we’d like our hand better if that King were in one of our majors but opposite an opening hand there’s no reason to assume that it is a wasted card (in fact, on the actual deal, Partner had the A♦ and the Diamonds provided a useful Club discard).

 

OK, we are forcing to game, should we show our Heart suit along the way?  We wouldn’t bother, it’s a rotten suit, we see no reason to muddy the waters when we have a 9-card Spade fit available.

 

So, it’s a game-forcing Spade raise, but which one?  We have two choices, let’s start with the one we dislike, namely a Splinter bid of 4♣, showing shortness in the bid suit.  If we changed the hand around, so that the K♦ was in a major suit and the Diamond singleton was a spot card then we would say that a Splinter would be just fine.  But splintering with a singleton Ace or King is most misleading to Partner.  The purpose of a Splinter is to say to Partner “How do you like your hand opposite Diamond shortness?”.  If Partner has, for example, three small in the Splinter suit, he will be highly encouraged by the Splinter (no wastage, all high cards working in other suits), whereas, if the Splinter is a singleton King, three small is actually a poor holding.  So, let us not splinter with a singleton Ace or King!

 

So, we’d bid the Jacoby 2NT, showing game values and support.  Some partnerships might bid 4♠ directly, but our own style is for that to be a purely preemptive bid (5 Spades, not much in the way of HCP’s).

 

 

                                                    Board 28      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

We’re clearly bidding here, the only question to ask ourselves is whether the South hand is a Spade one-suiter or a major two-suiter.  When we plunge into the opponents’ No Trump auction it reduces our risk substantially when we can offer Partner two places to play, and that is the thinking behind the invention of DONT and Cappelletti and the like.  Having said that, we seem to have more luck when we treat 6-4 hands as one-suiters … true, we’ll miss the occasional 4-4 (or even 4-5), but more often we’ll be in 6-2 and 6-3 fits when showing a two-suiter would land us in a 4-2 or 4-3 fit.

 

 

                                                    Board 31      Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

Everybody bids 2♥ with this had, so perhaps we should do the same.  But we rather like 2♣, it’s cheaper and seems to offer the best chance of finding the best slam.  Let’s face it, if you respond 2♥ you can just about kiss goodbye to any 5-3 Club slam.  It’s just a personal view, if you like 2♥ then stick with it.

 

 

                                                    Board 32      Dealer West       E-W Vul

 

 

Just because the opponents have redoubled is not a reason to bid scared.  Partner has doubled, we have 5 Hearts and at least an 8-card fit, so we try a preemptive 2♥ here (without the Redouble this jump would be invitational, of course).  Bidding just 1♥ makes their life altogether too easy.

 

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