Bidding Quiz                                          14th November, 2007

 

                                   Click here for print-formatted version of the Bidding Quiz

 

                                                    Board 1      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

Partner’s Double showed precisely 3-card support for Hearts, and East’s 3♠ was preemptive.  What next?

 

With two Aces opposite an opening bid we certainly cannot pass.  How about 4♥?  It might make, Partner appears to have Spade shortness, but even so Partner will need either the perfect hand (which she never, ever has) or else some extras.  No, 4♥ is an overbid, and the only realistic choice here is Double.  Actually, our hand has a lot going for it defense-wise:

-         The singleton in Partner’s first suit is good for defense as it increases the chances of Partner scoring Club tricks and/or us scoring ruffs.  Conversely, the Club singleton is a deterrent to bidding 4♥.

-         The A♠ is useful on offense, of course, but especially so on defense where it gives us control of the play.  We can use it to cut down the enemy ruffs, it can provide us with the timing to establish our side-suit tricks, or to get defensive ruffs.

-         We only have 8 trumps in our own suit, another factor which will tend to increase our defensive prospects.

 

On the actual hand, 3♥ is the limit our way, and the double of 3♠ nets +300.  Aided by that invaluable A♠, the defense is able to lead three rounds of trumps, limiting Dummy’s ruffs to just one.

 

 

                                                    Board 2      Dealer East       N-S Vul

 

 

Partner has 4-card support and his high-card strength is usually in the 15-17 range.  In that case why did he not open 1NT?  The chances are that he has a singleton in Clubs or Hearts.  With that in mind here are a couple of system treatments to consider:

-         System Note 1:  Some pairs play 3NT here as asking for Partner’s singleton, if he has one, this is called the Mathe Asking Bid.  The most common responses are 4♣ for Club shortness, 4♥ for Heart shortness, other bids for no shortness.  This convention seems to be rarely used nowadays, perhaps because of the agreement that follows.

-         System Note 2:  How do you play 1♦ 1♠, 3♥?  It’s a jump reverse which is generally used as a splinter raise for Partner’s Spades.  It’s also a good idea to play that this bid is not game-forcing, it just shows extras, and is much like a 3♠ rebid in strength but one with Heart shortness.  Of course, if you use this treatment for your jump reverses, then the Mathe Asking Bid is not particularly useful.

 

OK, back to the actual hand.  Partner has extras, we have a big hand, we want to be in slam, maybe even seven.  But, it’s just conceivable that we have two top Diamond losers, so we’d suggest a cue-bid of 4♣.  Partner cue-bids 4♦, which answers the Diamond concern.

 

What next?  We’d check for Key Cards, and let’s say that Partner answers “two without”.  Now is a good time to start counting our tricks.  5 Spades, plus 2 red Aces and 2 Clubs comes to 9.  Let’s throw in a Club couple of Club ruffs which gets us to 11.  Can we be sure of those ruffs?  Pretty much, we’d say, Partner did not make a jump reverse to 3♥, so the presumption is that he has Club shortness.

 

Where there are 11, perhaps there are 13.  Let’s bid 5NT next, and let’s say that Partner shows the K♦ (playing “specific king” responses).  That’s 12.  So far, Partner has shown us 11 of his 15-17 HCP’s, surely it’s not asking too much for his remaining 4-6 points to give us our 13^th trick.  He’s likely to have the K♥ or the Q♦, or maybe 5 Diamonds, and the worst (and unlikely) case is that we’ll need a finesse to the 13^th trick.  So, 7♠ it is!

 

                                                    Board 5      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

Against the Unusual No Trump, it’s common to play Unusual vs Unusual.  For example, after we open 1♠ and they bid 2NT (showing the minors), we have both 3♣ and 3♦ available as cue-bids.  Common practice is to use one cue-bid to show values with support, the other to show values and the other major.  Follow the link for more on this.

 

In the auction above, they have shown the majors, and, if only for the sake of simplicity, there is something to be said for using the two major suit cue-bids to show minors suit hands with values (one with support, the other with Diamonds).

 

If that is the method in use, then South can bid 2♥ here, showing a good hand with Clubs.  Any alternatives?  Yes, 2NT would also be reasonable, we have both enemy suits stopped.

 

 

                                                    Board 6      Dealer East       E-W Vul

 

 

A Negative Double here does not guarantee both majors, but if we have only one major, we need somewhere to go when Partner bids the major that we don’t have.  Here we have safety (to spare) in Diamonds.

 

The Negative Double may be safe, but it creates a problem when Partner’s next bid is 2♠.  How would you proceed after:

            North   East     South   West

                        Pass    1♦        2♣

            Dbl      Pass    2♠        Pass

            ??

At first it seems that 3NT might have a shot if Partner has a Club stop.  But, the more that you construct possible South hands, the less likely 3NT seems.  How about 3 Aces and the QJx of Clubs?  Well, that’s a 1NT opener.  How about A♥, A♦, and QJxx and QJx in the black suits?  That would do it, but it’s the only hand with 14 points or less that does.  In the circumstances, we’d give up on 3NT and make the feeble-looking bid of 3♦.

 

Making a skinny No Trump game based on a long running suit requires quick tricks and Aces are most important.  To see this thought in action, change the ♥KJ in your hand to the A♥.  Same number of HCP’s, but what a difference!  Now, you can construct quite a few 13- and 14-point South hands where 3NT makes.  Even 3 bare Aces in Opener’s hand would be enough.

 

 

                                                    Board 7      Dealer South       Both Vul

 

 

With our 4-loser hand, we need very little help from Partner in order to make game.  Considering that South has shown 4 Hearts, is it worth trying to find a Heart fit?  Let’s suppose that Partner has 3 Hearts, for example.  It’s easy to visualize a likely line of play, isn’t it?  The defense will lead Clubs, forcing us to ruff.  Then we’ll lose a trump, and they’ll make us ruff another Club.  Now, we’ve lost control, South has more trumps than we do.

 

Another possibility is that Partner has 4 Hearts, and North has none.  Something of a long shot, perhaps, but if that’s the situation we can withstand the forcing defense because Dummy will maintain equal trump length with South.

 

All in all, we’d say that 4♥ is an unlikely contract, and we wouldn’t even bother to mention that suit, doing so is more likely to help them on defense than it is to get us to the right contract.  Our choice here would be 3♠, strongly inviting game.

 

 

Board 14

West                East

♠ AKQJT8      ♠ 54

♥ J8                 ♥ AKQ3

♦ 743               ♦ KQ

♣ AJ                ♣ K632

 

West    North   East     South

                        1♣       Pass

1♠        Pass    2♥        Pass

3♠        Pass    4♦        Pass

4NT     Pass    5♥        Pass

6♠        Pass    6NT     Pass

Pass    Pass

 

Has your partnership discussed the meaning of 3♠ here?  No, neither have we, but it seems that it should at least show a very good suit, though not necessarily as good as the one in the actual deal.  We’d also expect 3♠ to be based on at least a 6-card suit.  East is too good merely to bid 3NT or 4♠, so he cue-bids 4♦, and West eventually bids 6♠.

 

East, despite his substantial extra values, is not entitled to even think about bidding 7, but he is entitled to consider 6NT.  The auction suggests to East that one Key Card is missing, but whether that missing Key Card is the A♦ or a high Spade, it’s easy enough for East to count 12 tricks in No Trump.  If the A♦ is missing, there are 6 Spades, 3 Hearts, a Diamond and 2 Clubs.  If a high Spade is missing, there are 5 Spades, 3 Hearts, 2 Diamonds and 2 Clubs.

 

                                                    Board 15      Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

What’s your range for 1NT opposite an overcall?  Opposite an opening bid of 1♣ or 1♦, it’s common for a 1NT response to show 6-10.  Opposite an overcall, we increase the range by a couple of points, let’s say 8-11, maybe even a bad 12.  We’re also supposed to have a stopper in the enemy suit(s), of course.  With that in mind, this hand clearly qualifies.

 

                                                    Board 16      Dealer West       E-W Vul

 

 

Back on Board 6, Partner opened 1♦ and RHO overcalled 2♣.  In that situation, a Negative Double does not guarantee both majors, one is sufficient.

 

Here, things are different.  After a 1♣ opening, when RHO bids 1♦, a Negative Double does show both majors.  A logical extension of this agreement is that bids of 1♥ or 1♠ here can be made on a 4-card suit.

 

Next question … is the East hand, with it’s meager 4 HCP’s, worth taking a call with?  We think that it is.  We have a fit with Partner’s Clubs, and a singleton, that looks like plenty to us.

 

 

                                                    Board 18      Dealer East       N-S Vul

 

 

Once every couple of weeks we feel constrained to throw in a commercial for lead-directing bids.  Yes, we’d bid 1♥ with this hand, showing a certain disregard for the Law of Total Tricks (Partner will place us with 5 Hearts and may over-compete), preferring to help Partner find the right lead.

 

 

                                                    Board 20      Dealer West       Both Vul

 

 

North’s Double is Responsive, showing the minors.

 

What does 3♦ mean here?  We like to play it as obstructive, similar to the so-called “1-2-3 stop” sequence such as 1♥ 2♥, 3♥, which is used by some pairs in the same obstructive fashion.  If that understanding is part of your methods then it’s surely right here.  Despite the minimum hand, with that extra trump you just know that you’ll want to compete to the 3-level sooner or later.  So why not bid 3♦ right away, and make life harder for the opponents?

 

                                                    Board 22      Dealer East       E-W Vul

 

 

In many bidding systems, this hand would be an easy Pass opposite Partner’s 1NT response.  However, let’s assume that we are playing a 2/1 style of system where 1NT is the so-called “Forcing No Trump”.  In that case, even though it’s quite possible that 1NT is the right contract, we are obliged to find another bid.  Here, we would have to bid 2♣, and what often happens next is that Partner, with a weak hand and two Spades, gives a Spade preference.

 

That scenario is a disadvantage of the Forcing No Trump, and some partnerships overcome that by making their 1NT response “semi-forcing”.  The basic agreement is that 1NT may be passed if Opener is absolute minimum and has 5-3-3-2 distribution.  Minimum is usually a 12-count, but miserable 13-counts might also qualify.  The basic premise is that Opener cannot envisage game opposite a Partner who is not good enough for a 2/1 game-forcing bid.

 

The main downside of the semi-forcing No Trump is that occasionally Partner will have 3-card support for Opener’s major and a hand not suitable for a direct raise, for example a hand with invitational values.  On the actual hand the semi-forcing No Trump works just fine.  Opener’s hand qualifies for a Pass, and 1NT turns out to be the right spot.

 

                                                    Board 25      Dealer North       E-W Vul

 

 

2♦ was “waiting”, 2NT showed 22-23 (or 22-24 for some pairs), then Stayman identified the 4-4 Heart fit.  South obviously has slam interest, but she’s not quite good enough to insist on slam, nor to take charge with a Roman Key Card sequence.  What does 3♠ mean here?  It’s not needed as a natural bid because 3NT would show 4 Spades, and one useful gadget is to play this as a slam try in Hearts (and also the comparable auction of 2♣ 2♦, 2NT 3♣, 3♠ 4♥), asking Partner her opinion about slam.  The bid does not guarantee a Spade control, it’s merely a device for showing slam interest.

 

Puppet Stayman Note

Many pairs play Puppet Stayman opposite a 2NT opener (and also after 2♣ 2♦, 2NT), which requires a completely different method for showing slam interest.  In response to 3♣ Opener will bid 3♦ showing one or two 4-card majors.  With the actual South hand, holding both majors, Responder has two ways of asking Opener to pick a major:

            2♣       2♦                    2♣       2♦

            2NT     3♣                   2NT     3♣

            3♦        4♦                    3♦        4♣

4♦ simply says “bid 4♥ or 4♠, that’s where we’ll play it”.  4♣ shows a stronger hand, one with slam interest.  If Opener bids 4♥ or 4♠ now that is discouraging, other bids show a slam-suitable hand.

 

 

                                                    Board 26      Dealer East       Both Vul

 

 

Here’s a recurring problem.  We have a 6-card minor and a 5-card Heart suit with opening values.  Do we open the minor suit or do we open 1♥?  Here’s one approach to the problem:

-         If the hand is strong, there is no problem, we can open 1♣ and then, if Partner bids 1♠, we can afford a reverse to 2♥, showing a good hand with longer Clubs than Hearts.  The actual 10-count is obviously not strong enough for a reverse, but we wouldn’t need much more to make it so.  Adding the A♥ would be enough, and maybe even just the K♥ would be sufficient, when the shape is 5-6 we can afford to lower our HCP requirements somewhat.

-         If the hand is not good enough for a reverse, and if the long suits are similar in strength or the Hearts are stronger, then we would tend to open 1♥, planning to bid the hand as if we were 5-5. 

-         The most problematic case is the one that we actually have here, where the hand is not good enough for a reverse and where the Clubs are substantially stronger.  Now, it seems odd to open that moderate Heart suit when we have such a splendid and longer Club suit.  On the other hand, if we open 1♣ and Partner bids 1♠, we’ll be obliged to rebid 2♣, losing any potential 5-3 Heart fit, and even (if Partner cannot bid again) the occasional 5-4 Heart fit.  Our own choice would be to open 1♣ with this hand, but it’s only fair to point out that on some hands a 1♥ opening will work better.

 

© BES, Inc

All Rights Reserved