Bidding Quiz                                              25th April, 2007

 

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                                                    Board 1      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

First, let’s back up to North’s choice of opening bid.  We’ve encountered this situation a number of times before on the Wednesday Game.  The question is: “Do you open 1♦, planning to rebid 2♣?  Or do you open 1♣, in which case what is your rebid when Partner responds 1♠?”.  Our own preference is to open 1♣, planning to rebid 1NT, notwithstanding our singleton, but there are other points of view.

 

On to the problem at hand.  Do you pass or bid 4♣?  We’d say that this is a clear 4♣ bid, even though we are minimum in terms of HCP’s.  They have at least 9 trumps, as do we, so if they can make 9 tricks, 4♣ down one (even if doubled) is a better result.  And the singleton in their suit is reassuring, too.

 

 

                                                    Board 1      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

Some players would leap to 4♠ on the basis of the combined 10-card fit, but we think this is a bit much with such a featureless hand.  Our own choice would be 3♠, we’d like a singleton before we go to 4♠, and we are delighted to report that 4♠ doubled will cost E-W -300 and a bottom board.  It’s less delightful to also point out that 4♠ is unlikely to get doubled, and the resulting -100 will be a top board (4♣ makes 10 tricks).  Oh, well!

 

                                                    Board 3      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

It’s usually not good when we let the opponents play at the two-level in a 9-card fit when we have half the HCP’s, and it’s even less auspicious when we have a 9-card fit of our own.  But, that’s what happened to N-S on this board, non-vulnerable no less.  Did N-S blunder?  Not as far as we can see, at least not playing “standard” methods.  North was not quite good enough for a 2♥ bid over 1♠ and had to make do with a Negative Double.  As for South, she had a rock-bottom minimum opening bid and could hardly bid 3♥ for fear that Partner would assume better values and push on to game.

 

However, there is a useful gadget for this situation.  It’s come up a few times in recent Wednesday Games, and here it is again.  Yes, we are talking about the Good-Bad 2NT, which is just another flavor of the Lebensohl convention.  Looking at the South hand, after 2♠, playing the Good-Bad 2NT, a bid of 2NT is artificial, and gives Opener two ways to compete:

-         She can go to the 3-level directly (3♣ or 3♥) to show a decent hand (though the bid is non-forcing)

-         She can bid 2NT, relaying Partner to 3♣, whenever she has a hand which merely wants to compete.

 

This convention is perfect for the hand in question!  With such a horrible hand, the last thing South wants to do is to offer encouragement to Partner.  But, she’s non-vulnerable, it would be pusillanimous to sell out to 2♠.  So, a weak 3♥ is the answer, achieved via the 2NT relay.

 

 

                                                    Board 4      Dealer West       Both Vul

 

 

 This one is really a two-part question:

-         Do you bid at all?

-         If you do decide to bid, then what?

 

If we pass (smoothly, one hopes) the auction is not over, Partner can always back in with another Double.  But perhaps that is putting too much strain on Partner.  We have a singleton in the opponents’ suit and a smattering of values, and we think that the West hand is worth a bid.  But it’s not 100%, we would not argue with a smooth Pass.

 

OK, we’ve decided to take the plunge and do something.  What?  Nobody would argue too much with 4♥, but our own choice, if we are playing Responsive Doubles this high, would be to double, showing both majors.  There’s no guarantee that Partner has 4 Hearts, and we would prefer to play in the 4-4 Spade fit rather than the 5-3 Heart fit.  True, if Partner is 4-4 with better Spades, we might end up in the 4-4 Spades rather than the 5-4 Hearts, but that is not necessarily a bad thing, and may even work out better.

 

 

                                                    Board 9      Dealer North       E-W Vul

 

 

Do you think that the East hand is worth a 2♥ overcall?  We don’t, here are some defects to consider:

-         Not quite good enough in our opinion, in terms of both HCP’s and playing strength.

-         Only a 5-card suit (if we are going to stretch matters a 6^th trump would be nice), and not a great suit at that.

-         True, there is some lead-directional value, but that is substantially reduced by the likelihood that East will be on lead himself against a Spade contract.

-         We are vulnerable, and, to make matters worse, the opponents are not vulnerable, so they might be inclined to take a shot at our part-score, needing just down two to beat their own game.

 

 

                                                    Board 12      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

East’s 2♣ created a game force, and West’s sequence has shown at least 5-5 in the majors.  What next?

-         Clubs?             We would give up on Clubs at this point, we’ve already shown 6 of them, unless Partner can make a slam move it seems unlikely that Clubs will be the right matchpoint spot.  Better to consider the higher-scoring No Trump or major games.

-         No Trump?:    There are clearly a lot of Diamonds out and no guarantee that the Clubs will run without losing one first.  Partner needs the A♦ (but not singleton) or the K♣ and with one of those cards he might have tried 3♦ over 3♣.

-         Spades?:          We cannot be sure that the 5-2 Spade fit is the place to be, but we would be remiss if we failed to suggest the possibility.  Our Spades are both honors and should go a long way towards bolstering Partner’s holding.  After 3♠, if Partner bids 3NT, we’ll pass, no doubt he will have the A♦ for that call.

 

On the actual deal, 3♠ is indeed the winning call, getting E-W to the best contract of 4♠.  Well, best in theory, at least, but in practice it is derailed by a horrendous 6-0 trump break.

 

 

                                                    Board 12      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

Let us not double here!  Clearly the opponents have bid delicately to their 5-2 fit, no doubt on a hand where many pairs will get to 3NT.  In other words we already have a good board, no reason to risk it all on a greedy Double.  What’s the down-side of doubling?  Simply that the opponents might be able to make 4NT.  And considering that we have the Kx of Clubs under the Club bidder it’s easy enough to see how that might happen.

 

On the actual board the greedy doublers will pay the price if East bids 4NT making 10 tricks!

 

 

                                                    Board 14      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

South’s 2♣ was DONT, showing Clubs and another suit.  But, let’s back up here.  What would be your bid if South had passed?  No doubt you would have passed also, you have just 7 HCP’s, although you might fleetingly consider 2♣, planning to pass whatever Partner bids.  That would be a reasonable plan if our hand were really weak, as it would be our best chance to find a playable contract.  However, with a balanced 7 HCP’s we are afraid of 1NT not one bit.

 

OK, back to the actual problem.  How do you play your Doubles after they interefere over Partner’s 1NT?  You could play the Double as purely for penalty, but a more flexible approach is to play the Double as showing at least invitational values.  Having said that, it is also common to make an exception in the case of a 2♣ overcall, using the Double as a surrogate for Stayman (and for the rest of the No Trump system to be “on”)..

 

So, if Double is Stayman, what is your call?  Actually, we would Double!  As we said, we wouldn’t use Stayman after a pass by South, but her 2♣ has taken away the 1NT option.  Now, Stayman looks like our best chance to compete for the part-score.  We’ll pass Partner’s response, and if they compete to 3♣, we’ll Double to show some values. 

 

                                                    Board 21      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

To balance or not?  That K♥ looks like a highly dubious asset, which leaves us with just 6 working points.  Nonetheless, we would Double.  Partner must have some values, hopefully he has 4 Spades or 4 Diamonds or 5 Clubs.  There’s no guarantee that the Double will work, but more often that not it will either push them one higher or buy the contract.

 

Suppose that Partner’s distribution is 2-3-4-4.  We make our balancing Double, what next?  He could just guess to bid one of those 4-card minors, but there is a better way, and it is called the Scrambling 2NT.  Using this device, opposite that balancing Double, a bid of 2NT says “pick a suit”, in this case obviously one of the minors.  That way, the balancing team has no problem finding the 4-4 fit.

 

 

                                                    Board 25      Dealer North       E-W Vul

 

 

 Most pairs have a method of investigating for a 5-3 major fit in this situation, typically via New Minor Forcing, or, in this case, 3♣.  So, the question is whether East should try for a Spade contract or bid 3NT directly.

 

Our own choice would be 3NT here, for these reasons:

-         Our Spade suit is devoid of fillers and it’s easy to visualize hands where Partner goes to 4♠ with Jxx or Qxx, and 4♠ fares badly while 3NT does fine.

-         We have substantial extra values, such hands often make the same number of tricks in No Trump, the abundance of high-card strength just makes the ruff in the short hand unnecessary.

-         We have Kings in both the unbid suits, so their do not appear to be any danger suits.

 

 

                                                    Board 26      Dealer East       Both Vul

 

 

The two obvious choices with the South hand, after that 2♦ preempt, are 2♠ and Double.  Either could work, we prefer 2♠, but not by very much.  Actually, there is a third choice that we prefer, but that depends on the partnership methods.  How do you play 3♦ here?  Most pairs play this bid as asking Partner for a Diamond stop, and that is also our preferred treatment whenever the Weak Two is in a major.  But over 2♦, we prefer to use 3♦ as a Michaels bid, nominally showing 5-5, but, as here, once in a while shaded to a 5-4 hand.

 

Playing that method, how good should the Michaels bidder be?  It’s over a preempt, so it should not be a preemptive bid of its own.  We’d say opening values or a tad better, and would rate the actual hand as minimum.

 

                                                    Board 27      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

Is this a Michaels situation?  Absolutely!  We bid 2♠, showing Hearts and a minor.

 

 

                                                    Board 27      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

East’s 2♠ was Michaels, showing Hearts and a minor.  Now what?

 

We have a four-loser hand, game is not a certainty but quite likely.  The most likely spot is 4♠, but it’s quite possible that we belong in 5♦ or 6♦, so to bid 4♠ directly would be somewhat arbitrary.  A jump to 4♦ is presumably natural and forcing, but that would crowd our auction, and not do justice to our Spade suit.  Our own choice is the underbid of 3♦, praying that it does not get passed out.  We are willing to bid Spades later, at the 4-level if necessary.  As it happens, the auction will proceed as follows:

 

            South   West    North   East 

            1♠        Pass    1NT     2♠

            3♦        3♥        4♦        4♥

            ??

 

The auction went as we hoped, and now we would bid 4♠, offering Partner a choice between 4♠ and 5♦.  It seems to us that this sequence should show 6-5 distribution, or, conceivably, 5-5 with excellent Spades.

 

 

                                                    Board 29      Dealer North       Both Vul

 

 

Do you open the North hand 1♥ or 2♥?  This is very much a matter of personal preference, and ours is for 1♥.  True, we are a tad light for an opening bid of one of a suit, but we would hate to bid 2♥ with such a rotten suit and with an outside Ace and King.  If we do open 2♥, Partner will never figure us for so much defense and may go wrong if things get competitive.

 

                                                    Board 30       Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

Drury is one of our favorite conventions, and the question here is whether it applies in competition.  Without North’s Takeout Double, a 2♣ bid by East, at least in the E-W methods, would have been artificial, showing Spade support and some values.  The question is “Does Drury still apply when they Double?”  We say “Yes”, that’s our preferred choice, are you and your Partner on the same page, one way or the other?

 

 

                                                    Board 31      Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

 Just as on Board 29, there is a choice to be made, whether to preempt or bid more constructively.  We are always tempted to put on our preempting shoes at favorable vulnerability, but we don’t think that this is the right hand for it.  We have a pretty decent hand, with 3 potential defensive tricks, and we are in second seat, there’s no reason to assume that this is their hand.  Our choice would be 1♥.

 

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