Bidding Quiz                                                 30th May, 2007

 

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                                                    Board 1      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

This is something of a predicament for North.  Here are the options:

-         3NT?  Well, this might work, there are various ways that North’s Txxx could become a stopper.  Any honor from Partner, even the singleton Jack, would be enough.  Alternatively, maybe East has a singleton honor and the suit is blocked.  But, even if North’s Heart holding stands up, it’s still a long road to 9 tricks, we’d have to say that 3NT is something of a long shot.

-         3♠?      That’s a robust 3-card suit, hopefully Partner has 4 of them.  However, this 4-3 fit rates to play badly.  East will surely lead a Heart, and with 4 Heart losers in her hand, North will be obliged to take ruffs in the long hand, losing trump control in all likelihood.  No, let’s forget about the 4-3 Spade fit.

-         Pass?  That seems like the only reasonable option.  There is no guarantee that 3♥ can be beaten and Pass could well lead to an unseemly -530 on the scorecard.  But, it seems like the best chance to us.

 

In real life, Pass is the winner, it’s the only way for N-S to go plus.  It will be down one for sure, maybe two.

 

 

Board 2 & 19

West    North   East     South                           South   West    North   East 

Pass    Pass    1NT     2♠                                Pass    Pass    1NT     Pass

Pass    Pass    ??                                             Pass    2♣       ??

 

                        East                                                                 North

                        ♠ J5                                                                 ♠ AK5

                        ♥ A65                                                              ♥ KQ2

                        ♦ AJ97                                                             ♦ 854

                        ♣ AK82                                                           ♣ AJ94

 

In both cases, the featured hand opened 1NT and was then confronted with enemy action.  Is Opener supposed to pass meekly, safe in the knowledge that he or she has already described his hand?  Absolutely not!  The recommended action in both cases is a Double, though the bid has completely different meanings on the two hands.

 

Let’s look first at the left hand.  East has an unusually good hand and only two of the opponents' suit.  He is sitting under the Spade bidder so his Double is for take-out.  There is an excellent chance that Partner has a minor suit fit, and, if Partner has a smattering of points and a Spade trick or two, we’ll be delighted to hear him make a Penalty Pass with our 4 quick tricks.

 

Next we look at the right hand.  Here the 1NT opener is sitting over the Club bidder, so the Double is penalty-oriented.  Defending a Club contract, North can reasonably expect two or three Club tricks and two or three major suit tricks.  With just a little help from Partner, 2♣ is going down.  Of course, Partner is not compelled to leave in the Double, with a broke hand she will no doubt try an escape maneuver.  But if she has a couple of Clubs and a trick somewhere she’ll leave it in.

 

 

Board 2

West    North   East     South

Pass    Pass    1NT     2♠

Pass    Pass    Dbl      Pass

??

 

West               

♠ 93

♥ KQ87

♦ T862

♣ Q96

 

Partner’s Double of 2♠, sitting under the Spade bidder, was for take-out.  He probably has two Spades and a good hand, and wants to compete.  He’s not guaranteeing 4 Hearts for his Double, he might well be 2-3-4-4, for example.  We have the option of passing, of course, but that’s not an option when we hold only two Spades ourselves.  No, our objective here is to make sure that we find a 4-4 fit, and the way to do that is to use the Scrambling 2NT.  Playing this device, 2NT here is not natural, instead it initiates a scrambling auction to uncover a fit.  Here are both hands and the complete auction:

 

West    North   East     South

Pass    Pass    1NT     2♠

Pass    Pass    Dbl      Pass

2NT     Pass    3♣       Pass

3♦        Pass    Pass    Pass

 

West                 East                

♠ 93                 ♠ J5

♥ KQ87           ♥ A65

♦ T862             ♦ AJ97

♣ Q96              ♣ AK82

 

As we said, 2NT initiates a scramble.  Now, East’s 3♣ says “I have 4 Clubs”.  West’s 3♦ says “No Club fit, but I do have 4 Diamonds.  And you can also be sure that I have 4 Hearts, because with only one 4-card suit I would not have initiated this scrambling sequence”.  Thus, the safety of the 4-4 Diamond fit is reached.

 

 

                                                    Board 3      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

It’s pretty clear that North should be preempting here, and a jump to 3♥ seems pretty normal.  Of course, with a better hand (invitational or better) and Heart support, North would cue-bid 2♠.  Pretty simple, eh?  Yes, but we have to admit that we would be tempted to try 4♥ here, because of the favorable vulnerability.  Not everybody’s choice, perhaps, but we like it.

 

 

                                                    Board 3      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

If North had bid just 2♥, East would invite to game with his square 12-count, but after that preempt the only options are to compete with 3♠ or take a chance on game with 4♠.  3♠ is just not enough, that might be bid on a King less, so clearly 4♠ is called for.  Actually, East’s hand is substantially improved by the 3♥ bid, he has an excellent Heart holding opposite Partner’s likely shortness, so a 4♠ bid is now not even a stretch.

 

 

                                                    Board 5      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

Here are our choices:

-         4♠?      Absolutely not!  We suggest that you reserve that bid for weak preemptive hands, typically 5 Spades, shortness somewhere, and not much in the way of HCP’s.  This hand is way too good.

-         2♦?      If the Diamond suit were much better this might be a descriptive option, but we hardly think this anemic suit is worth introducing when we have such strong Spade support.

-         4♥?      This would probably be the popular choice but we don’t like it.  We think that the hand is just too good for a Splinter.  True, it’s only 10 HCP’s, but there’s that 5^th trump, the fact that the shortness is a void, and a 5-card side-suit (albeit anemic).

-         2NT?   Yes, that would be our choice, the Jacoby 2NT … we announce our Spade support, create a force, and see what Partner has to say.

 

 

                                                    Board 14      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

Generally speaking, when Partner opens with a Weak Two and we have 4-card support, we go to the 4-level.  Either it’s being bid to make, or else it’s likely to prove a good sacrifice.  But this hand looks to us to be an exception.  West does not have enough for game to make, he has a smattering of defense, and he has a square shape which gives his hand less offense than he would like (no ruffing values).  So, we’d bid just 3♠ here, and that turns out to be the winning call.  Both sides can make 9 tricks in their major suit fit, and bidding 4♠ just gets an avoidable minus score.

 

                                                    Board 18      Dealer East       N-S Vul

 

 

Pass is not an option here, that could easily result in a missed game.  No, the choices are between 3♣ and 2♠ and 2NT.  3♣ could land us in a 4-3 fit, so 2♠ has to be preferable, but we would bid 2NT here, we think it’s the most descriptive bid, and only a slight stretch.  It’s the second Ten that made us do it.

 

                                         Board 19 (North)

                                                   Please see Board 2.

 

                                                    Board 19      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

First, let’s suppose that North had not made that (penalty-oriented) Double.  Partner’s 2♣ showed Clubs and another suit and with a silent North we would bid 2♦, saying “I don’t like your Club suit, let’s play it in your second suit, whatever it is”.  And, if East were to bid 2♥ or 2♠ opposite Partner’s 2♣?  That would say “I don’t care about your second suit, I want to play it in my suit”.

 

Moving on to the actual auction, East has an extra option available, namely the Redouble.  The recommended treatment in this situation is:

-         Redouble is “SOS”, saying “Let’s get out of Clubs and play in your second suit”

-         2♦ or 2♥ or 2♠ all say “I want to play in my suit”.

 

 

                                                    Board 19      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

West’s 2♣ was DONT, showing Clubs and another suit.  North’s Double was penalty-oriented, and East’s Redouble, saying “Let’s play in the other suit, whatever it is”.

 

What now?  We have no desire to penalize the opponents if they end up in 2♥ or 2♠, so we might as well introduce our Diamond suit while we can, in case Partner has a fit and wants to compete to 3♦.  Yes, we bid 2♦ here.

 

                                                    Board 19      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

Yes, our balancing 2♣ DONT bid was borderline psychotic considering the vulnerability.  North’s Double was penalty-oriented, and Partner’s Redouble was of the SOS persuasion, looking for another place to play.  Now, South’s 2♦ has relieved us of the obligation to bid.  Should we continue to compete with 2♥?  Or should we pass?

 

Yes, of course, we should pass here!  When we make these hair-raising DONT bids we are fortified by the knowledge that we have two potential places to play, that gives us something of a security blanket.  But one of those places (Clubs) is no longer viable and the security blanket is gone.  Bidding 2♥ here would be quite nutty.

 

                                                    Board 21      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

In this situation, it’s customary for South to go to the 5-2 major fit, rather than stay in the potentially 4-3 Club fit.  Of course, Partner may well have 4 Clubs, but in that case perhaps 8 tricks in Spades will end up scoring the same as 9 tricks in Clubs.

 

Bidding 2♠ has one other benefit, it will make it harder for the opponents to back into the auction.  We’d bet that most opponents nowadays will not pass out 2♣, and once they have got a red suit into the auction they may well be able to compete to the 3-level.  Not so easy if we bid 2♠ here.

 

 

                                                    Board 23      Dealer South       Both Vul

 

 

Let’s assume that you are playing DONT, an excellent mechanism for getting two-suited hands into the bidding after the opponents open 1NT.  That’s wonderful, but here you have a three-suiter.  If you accept that you cannot show all three suits, which two-suiter should you show?  Surely not Clubs and Diamonds, there’s no point in hiding your 5-card major.  So, do you show Spades and Clubs?  Or Spades and Diamonds?

 

There’s an equal chance that Clubs or Diamonds will be the better fit.  Does that mean that it’s a toss-up?  Actually, no!  Bidding 2♦ gives Partner more information and makes it more likely that you will find the best fit.  To see this thought in action, imagine that our Partner has 4-4-2-3 distribution and we decide to bid 2♣.  Now Partner will surely Pass, he’ll not want to bid 2♦ and here us pass.  Next, suppose that Partner is 4-4-3-2.  This time we decide to bid 2♦, again hitting his 3-card suit.  Sure we could pass, we have a fit of sorts, but it’s obviously better to bid 2♥ and play in Partner’s major.

 

So, to summarize, with a three-suiter, using DONT, it’s better to show the higher two suits, it’ll improve the chances of finding the best suit.

 

                                                    Board 24      Dealer West       None Vul

 

 

Walsh-style players, holding a 4-card major, don’t waste their time bidding 1♦ opposite Partner’s 1♣ opening unless they have a good hand, they’ll go straight for the major.  But, even if you are an up-the-line bidder, we strongly recommend that you skip the feeble Diamonds and go straight to the Heart suit.  If we end up defending that’s the lead we want, and with such a moderate hand we should get that suit into the auction while we still can.

 

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