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Bidding Quiz 4th July, 2007
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Board 2 Dealer North None Vul
How do you play Fourth Suit Forcing? Forcing to game, or merely forcing for one round? If it’s the latter, then you are in luck on this hand, you have an easy 2♦ bid. However, most players use the game-forcing treatment, and they will be presented with an awkward problem here. North wants to make to make an invitational bid with her 11-count, but nothing is suitable. Here are the invitational bids that are available: - 3♠, but this shows 4-card support - 3♥, but this shows a 6-card suit - 2NT, but this shows a Diamond stopper
None of these bids fits our hand, we’d say that 2NT is the least of evils … maybe Partner has a stop or a half-stop, or maybe neither opponent has five cards in the suit. We don’t like 3♠ because, if Diamonds is our weakness and we end up in a Spade contract, we’ll be ruffing in the long hand. And, as for 3♥, it’s a gross overstatement of the suit.
Board 5 Dealer North N-S Vul
This one is clear-cut, it’s a 2NT rebid, no need to be concerned about that singleton Spade. It would be a mistake to rebid 2♥, this reverse would show a longer holding in the first-bid suit. Even worse would be 3♣, the hand is not quite good enough to force to game, and this sequence would show at least 5 cards in the first-bid suit.
Board 6 Dealer East E-W Vul
Anyone for a Double here? The problem is not the number of HCP’s, 13 is certainly enough in this situation. No, it’s those two other flaws … only 3 Spades, and that somewhat dubious value in the Heart suit. Those flaws, combined with the minimum point count tell us to pass.
Board 6 Dealer East E-W Vul
We are in the balancing seat with 15 HCP’s, surely we need to do something. Double might work, but our hand is square and we have only 3 Spades. Apart from the small detail of that lack of a Heart stopper, we’d say that the North hand is a perfect 2NT bid, and that would be our choice. It won’t always work, of course, but 2NT has a numer of ways to win: - Partner might have a Heart stop, or a half-stop such as Q or Qx - The suit might be blocked (for example, a singleton honor with West) - If we bid 2NT confidently enough, East might be deterred from leading a Heart … for example, with AQxxxx he might instead lead another suit, hoping to get Partner in for a Heart lead through North.
Yes, various good things might happen, but down two (in 3NT) might also happen when the defense cashes the first 6 Hearts. So, if you are not prepared to take that chance, or if your Partner does not have a legendary sense of humor, then you might want to consider doubling.
Board 8 Dealer West None Vul
North’s 3♣ was invitational, so clearly we belong in at least game. It seems that the most likely final contracts are 3NT (if Partner has a Diamond stop), or 5♣ or 6♣. We need some help from Partner in finding our way to the par spot, and the best way to solicit that help is to bid 3♦. Partner won’t know for sure where we are headed, we could be asking for a Diamond stopper and angling for 3NT, or we could be trying for a Club slam. She’ll assume the former to start with, working on the principle of “game before slam”, and will surely bid 3NT if she has a stopper in Diamonds.
OK, so we bid 3♦ and now Partner bids 3♠. Now what? We have shown 4 Spades (no more), and Partner presumably has no Diamond stopper and 3 Spades (probably Qxx). Is 4♠ a possibility? Absolutely, N-S hands have the perfect ingredients for a Moysian (4-3) adventure: - Good trump suit - Our weak suit is Diamonds, and (unless Partner has 3 small Diamonds) the shortness in that suit is in the hand with the 3 trumps, protecting against a forcing defense - A source of tricks in a side-suit
Yes, we’d give up on 6♣ and settle for 4♠, outscoring all those pairs in 3NT or 5♣. As it happens, 4♠ is just where we want to be, we have two Diamond losers and 11 tricks are possible in Spade and Clubs.
Board 10 Dealer East Both Vul
North’s 2♦ was a transfer, and normally we would simply bid 2♥. But here we have 4 cards in Partner’s suit, and many partnerships use a “super-accept” in this situation. There are numerous methods in vogue, our own preference is: - 2NT is bid on all maximum hands with 4 Hearts - 3♥ is bid with middling hands and 4 Hearts - 2♥ is bid with rotten hands and 4 Hearts
The benefit of this method is that it does not give the opponents helpful information. By contrast consider the method whereby Opener bids (in this case) 3♣ showing a Club doubleton along with those 4 Hearts. This is altogether “too much information”, far more likely to help the defense to a Heart contract than it is to propel N-S into a better contract. End of commercial, please see the link for more on this subject.
Board 11 Dealer South None Vul
What do you think of a 9-point 1♥ opening bid by South here? We rather like it ourselves, it’s too good to preempt, is close on the Rule of Twenty scale, and has also sorts of extras in terms of shape and fillers. So, 1♥ it is!
Board 12 Dealer West N-S Vul
After West’s 1♥, North had a choice between: - a feeble Pass - a skewed Double - a shaded 1NT
There’s something to be said for and against all of these choices. We rather like the shaded 1NT, but it’s not perfect by any means, we’d be a lot more comfortable with the bid if we had a couple more fillers. Double is our second choice, it would be unlucky if we ended up in 2♦, on a 4-2 fit. Pass we don’t like at all, it’s feeble indeed.
Board 13 Dealer North Both Vul
If you are in a Walsh-style partnership, you have an advantage on this board, you can bid 3♦ here, secure in the knowledge that this is forcing (2♠ was game-forcing). Clearly, if 3♦ is forcing, that is our bid.
OK, suppose we are not playing Walsh. Now what? Is 3♦ forcing here? We would like to think that it is, but will Partner be on the same wavelength? No, unless we’ve discussed this sequence with Partner, we’d avoid 3♦ for fear of getting passed. So, we’d try 3♥ here, it doesn’t do justice to our fine Diamond suit, but at least it won’t get passed. What does 3♥ mean here? Pretty much the same as that 3♦ bid back on Board 8. In other words, it’s keeping the auction alive and investigating the best spot … it does not show Hearts, it could be slammish or just looking for the right game, Partner assumes the latter to start with.
OK, now let’s look at the next round of bidding: South West North East 1♣ Pass 1♦ Pass 2♣ Pass 2♠ Pass 3♣ Pass 3♥ Pass 3♠ Pass ?? Now what? This auction is not going well! We should be prepared to commit the hand to slam, it should have a play. But which slam? 6♦ might well be better than 6♣, we have no way of knowing and no way of consulting with Partner, she’ll never expect such a stellar Diamond suit on this auction. In the circumstances, we’d take a stab at 6♣.
Now, let’s change the auction such that South is sure enough in her partnership methods to bid 3♦ over 3♣. Here is how the auction would develop: South West North East 1♣ Pass 1♦ Pass 2♣ Pass 2♠ Pass 3♣ Pass 3♦ Pass 3♠ Pass ?? In this auction, nothing much has changed, except that Partner now expects a good Diamond suit from us. Again, we want to be in 6♣ or 6♦, and having showed good Diamonds now we can offer partner a choice. But it requires an expert agreement. 5NT here looks like a “pick-a-slam” bid to us. Could it be a Grand Slam Force in Spades? Hardly, that suit has been given only secondary support, Partner should interpret this as “Choose between 6♣ and 6♦”.
Board 16 Dealer West E-W Vul
How do you like your bidding so far? We think it’s just fine: - We like the Pass over North’s Double … not quite good enough for a 1NT or 2♣ bid. - Then, when balancing against 1NT, 2♣ was obvious enough, a 6-card suit is a 6-card suit, however pathetic it might be.
So far, so good. But Partner obviously does not like Clubs and has pulled to 2♦. What is his distribution? The Spades and Diamonds are simple enough to deduce: 5 Spades: With 6 he would probably bid 2♠ over 1NT 4 Diamonds: With 5 he would surely bid 2♦ over 1NT How about Hearts? The opponents chose 1NT in preference to 2♥, so we can be sure that South has a maximum of 3 Hearts. Yes, it looks as if Partner is precisely 5-4-4-0, though 5-3-4-1 is also possible, North might have made a Takeout Double with 5 Hearts in this situation, especially if her Heart suit is weak.
Anyway, the question is simple enough, do we choose the 5-2 Spade fit or the 4-3 Diamond fit? Yes, the 5-2 fit is usually preferable, all the more when it is in the higher-scoring major suit. And so it is on the actual deal … 2♠ makes 8 or 9 tricks while 2♦ makes but 7.
Board 18 Dealer East N-S Vul
Here we look at the E-W auction with both hands on view. Let’s start with the West hand, and let us assume that we are playing DONT.
West East ♠ AKQT5 ♠ 98632 ♥ QT43 ♥ A ♦ Q ♦ KJ975 ♣ T54 ♣ 93
West North East South Pass 1NT ?? Is this a major two-suiter? Or a Spade one suiter? Surely the latter! There’s nothing wrong with DONTing on 5-4 hands, but the discrepancy in strength is so great, that Spade suit almost looks like a 6-bagger. OK, this is a Spade one-suiter. DONT gives us two ways to show a Spade one-suiter: Either, bid 2♠ directly, this is the weaker way to reach 2♠ Or, Double to show a one-suiter and then bid 2♠ (the stronger way to get there) We’d say that this is the weak version, though it’s not that far removed from stronger action. So, we bid 2♠ directly, and the spotlight shifts to East.
West North East South Pass 1NT 2♠ Pass ?? Partner has showed a Spade one-suiter, and he had a stronger way of doing that (via the aforementioned DONT Double). Are we worth a game-try? Yes, we do believe that we are! What game tries are available? The recommended treatment is: - 3♠ here is purely preemptive - 2NT is a game-try So, 2NT it is! Now, back to West.
West North East South Pass 1NT 2♠ Pass 2NT Pass ??
Partner has invited, do we accept? We say “Yes!” Previously we decided not to show a good Spade one-suiter, now, as bad one-suiters go, we would say that this one is pretty good!
Board 20 Dealer West Both Vul
This one is a simple question. Do you pass in expectation of a juicy penalty when North reopens with a balancing Double? Or do you make the value bid of 1NT, describing your hand rather well and leaving future decisions in Partner’s capable hands?
If it’s a part-score hand, we’d be well-advised to try for a 200 penalty. If it’s a game hand, then our chances of getting the necessary +800 are less clear-cut. We’d like our hand more on defense if our Heart spots were better. So, if game is in our future, we’d guess that 1NT is the winning call, the chances of 9 tricks on defense seem somewhat remote.
So what are we saying? We lean towards a Pass, the chances of game are surely less than 50% opposite a passed Partner, and if it’s a part-score hand, we’d love to defend 1♥ doubled and collect 200 or 500. But that may be dreaming, in real life, if we pass, Partner will indeed come back in with a Double. We’ll make our salivating Pass, but on the actual hand West will bail out to 2♦, now we’ll have another problem to deal with! Our choice would be just 2NT, giving Partner some leeway. Gosh, this is getting complicated, perhaps we should just have overcalled 1NT originally!
Board 21 Dealer North N-S Vul
Yes, this an easy one! We bid 2♦ here, it’s a flavor of New Minor Forcing. But call it what you will, we would love to hear about 3-card Heart support from Partner, and the best way to do that is with 2♦, it seems like the right bid even if the partnership does not have an explicit agreement.
Moving right along to this situation: West North East South Pass 1♣ Pass 1♥ Pass 2♣ Pass 2♦ Pass 2♥ Pass ??
OK, we did our New Minor thing, and Partner showed 3-card support. What now? We have a double fit, and slam is surely not out of the question. What is our best slam try? Yes! We bid 3♠, shortness in Spades! That will allow Partner to evaluate his hand for slam purposes.
Board 23 Dealer South Both Vul
If you have already seen Board 16, then this one is no problem. You convert to 2♠, the 5-2 fit rates to be better than the 4-3 fit, all the more so when the 5-2 fit is a major and the 4-3 fit is a minor.
Board 30 Dealer East None Vul
Yes, of course, we have enough for game, but we don’t know which game, so we bid 3♠, hoping that Partner can throw some much-needed light on the matter.
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