Bidding Quiz                                          21st November, 2007

 

                                   Click here for print-formatted version of the Bidding Quiz

 

                                                    Board 2      Dealer East       N-S Vul

 

 

As a passed hand, with invitational values and support for Partner’s major, East has a perfect hand for Drury.  However, North’s 2♣ gets in the way of that idea, and East has to bid 3♣ to show his good support.  This is not ideal, of course, West might have opened who-knows-what third-hand horror, and there is also the possibility of a 4-card suit to be reckoned with.

 

The next question is “Do you play Drury in competition?”  For example:

            East     South   West    North

            Pass    Pass    1♥        1♠

            ??

Yes, we’d suggest that Drury is still on here (also if North had doubled).

 

Of course, in the actual auction, North’s 2♣ has taken away our Drury bid.  However, some pairs use Two-Way Drury, whereby 2♣ shows 3-card support and 2♦ shows 4-card support.  With Two-Way Drury in mind consider these situations:

            East     South   West    North

            Pass    Pass    1♥        1♠

            2♣                                           Shows 3-card support

 

            East     South   West    North

            Pass    Pass    1♥        1♠

            2♦                                            Shows 4-card support

 

            East     South   West    North

            Pass    Pass    1♥        2♣

            2♦                                            As there is only one of the two Drury bids available,

                                                            2♦ does double duty, could be 3 or 4.

 

 

                                                    Board 5      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

We don’t usually open 5-3-3-2 11-counts, but we make an exception when the suit as good as this one, the lead-directional benefit outweighs the slight shortage in high-card and playing strength.

 

 

                                                    Board 5      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

Most of the time this hand will belong in 3NT, but it would be a wild guess to boot out 3NT hoping that Partner has the Clubs under control.  It’s quite possible that 5♦ is the place to be, but we cannot bid 3♦ here, that bid is merely invitational.  So, our plan is to bid 2♣ (New Minor Forcing), and then to bid 3♦, which is forcing.  Now, let’s fast forward the auction:

            South   West    North   East

                                    1♦        Pass

            1♥        Pass    1NT     Pass

            2♣       Pass    2♥        Pass

            3♦        Pass    3♠        Pass

            ??

Partner has shown 3-card Heart support, we’ve shown game-forcing values with Diamond support, and Partner has shown something in Spades with 3♠.  What next?  3NT is out of the question with our Club holding.  We don’t want to play in a 4-3 Heart fit (where we’ll have to use the long hand to ruff the Club attack), so the best bet appears to be 5♦, and that is what we would bid.

 

 

                                                    Board 7      Dealer South       Both Vul

 

 

If your Weak Two upper range is 10 HCP’s, then this hand fits the bill.  And the hand further fails the Rule of Twenty, suggesting that 1♥ is not appropriate.  But, we really don’t think that a Weak Two is such a good idea with this hand.  We are not so bothered by the moderate Heart suit (though some might be, especially vulnerable), the real objection is the abundance of values outside the trump suit.  An outside Ace and King is altogether too much, and even the ♦JTx has some defensive potential.  So our preferred choice is a 1♥ opening, a tad light, but that seems to be a theme for this week.

 

 

                                                    Board 11      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

Partner has bid Michaels, showing the major suits, a bid that covers a wide range of possible strengths.  But even opposite the most humble of Michaels bids we would want to be in at least game.  That’s no reason to bid the game directly, though, we’d like to tell Partner, along the way, that we have a real 4♠ bid, not some preemptive weak hand with a big fit.  So, our choice would be to bid 4♦ here.  Partner won’t know whether we have Hearts or Spades (or both) in mind, but, knowing that we have a good hand, he will be able to act accordingly.

 

                                                    Board 11      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

We showed the majors with our 2♦, and Partner showed a good hand with his 4♦, he clearly has a fit for at least one of our majors.  South’s Double of 4♦ has given us additional options, how can we use them?

-         4♥?  It seems to us that this should be a discouraging bid.  Partner has forced our side to game, so going to that game directly is just another example of the Principle of Fast Arrival.

-         Redouble?  Shows a better hand than 4♥, no doubt a Diamond control, and is at least mildly encouraging to Partner if he has slam aspirations.

-         Pass?  We’d suggest that this shows an in-between hand, and that seems to be what West actually has.  He has that useful Diamond singleton, and some extra distribution, but otherwise his hand is only moderate.

 

                                                    Board 11      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

Our 3♦ was purely a competitive effort, if we’d had an invitational-strength (or better) hand we would have cue-bid one of their major suits.  Partner presumably did not double 4♦ just for the fun of it, we’d say that she is giving us permission to bid again if we think it is appropriate.  And, we’d say that bidding again is most appropriate, wouldn’t you?  Our hand is loaded with offense opposite a Partner with long Diamonds, and, furthermore, our hand appears to have zero defense.  Surely 5♦ is either making or else is a good save against 4♥ or 4♠.

 

So, is it agreed that we should bid 5♦ here?  No, there’s a better choice, namely 5♣!  5♣ is not being bid to offer an alternative contract, rather it is descriptive of our length and strength, in case Partner wants to take things further.

 

                                                    Board 11      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

An interesting auction so far!  2♦ was for the majors, 3♦ was purely competitive (less than invitational), and when East bid 4♦ he would have us believe that he has a good hand (and maybe he really does!).  Our Double showed good Diamonds and suggested a save.

 

What does that 5♣ mean?  It’s a 5♦ bid with Clubs, and that should be enough for us to think about bidding 6♦ here.  It’s no sure thing, however, here are some possible outcomes:

-         6♦ might go for 500 (one too many) when Partner cannot cover any of our four major suit losers (we don’t expect any minor suit losers, of course).

-         6♦ might go for -300, our best hope being that Partner has shortness in one of the majors, presumably Spades.

-         Bidding 6♦ might push the opponents into a making slam that they would otherwise have missed.

 

The winner on the actual deal is to bid 6♦, Partner does have the necessary Spade singleton, and the opponents cannot make slam.  A close decision!

 

 

                                                    Board 13      Dealer North       Both Vul

 

 

Some players don’t bother using Stayman when they have square distribution, arguing that, with nothing to ruff, there is no reason to play in a suit contract.  That’s not good logic in our view, more often than not the No Trump opener will have a ruffing value.

 

Having said that, we agree that it is most aggravating, after using Stayman with this hand, to find the 4-4 Spade fit and then discover that Partner has the identical square distribution.  Here’s a solution to the problem, but it involves giving up your current use for 1NT 3♦.  If you haven’t used that sequence lately, you may want to try Square Stayman.  It’s used only when holding a square, game-going hand with a 4-card major.  After 1NT 3♦, Opener bids his 4-card major only if his hand is not also square, otherwise he conceals his major and bids 3NT.  Pretty simple, eh?  It won’t come up very often, but then again neither do most other treatments of 1NT 3♦.

 

                                                    Board 14      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

We’ve been proposing some featherweight openings this week, but here’s a hand where we would actually pass.  It’s not good enough to open 1♣, that would be taking light openings too far, we think.  And opening 3♣ has altogether too many negatives … too much defense, only a 6-card suit, and 3-card support for both majors.  As we said, Pass is called for here.

 

 

Boards 14, 19 and 20

Most of us are familiar with the basic conventional Doubles, such as Take-Out, Negative, Responsive, and Support.  But, later in the auction, do we always know when Partner’s Double is Penalty or merely value-showing?  From this week’s set, we give you 4 auctions, and in each case we ask “What would a Double mean?”

 

            Board 19, West                                              Board 19, North

            South   West    North   East                             South   West    North   East 

            1♠        Pass    1NT     2♦                                1♠        Pass    1NT     2♦

            2♥        Dbl                                                      2♥        3♦        Dbl

 

            Board 14, North                                             Board 20, North

            West    North   East     South                           West    North   East     South

                                    Pass    1♦                                Pass    1♦        Dbl      1♠

            1♥        1♠        2♦        Pass                            2♣       Dbl      Pass    2♠

            2♥        Dbl                                                      3♣       Dbl

 

The guiding principle in these low-level situations is that, when the opponents have bid and raised a suit, Double tends to be value-showing, and when the opponents have no fit the Double tends to be for penalties.

 

With that in mind, West on Board 19 is making a Penalty Double.  The opponents have not discovered a fit, and South no doubt has some Heart strength and length.

 

On Board 19, the opponents have bid and raised Diamonds, so the Double is not for penalties.  Instead it is value-showing, usually a hand with no clear direction, so typically with less than 3 of Partner’s Spades.  The Double may well be converted into a (hoped-for) penalty, of course.

 

On Board 14, East’s 2♦ showed Heart support, so North’s Double of 2♥ is value-showing, and hoping that Partner will do something intelligent.

 

On Board 20, East made a Take-Out Double, showing the unbid suits of course, and then West bid Clubs twice.  This is not exactly the same as “bidding and raising”, but we would say that this sequence agrees a suit and shows a fit, so again the Double is value-showing.

 

 

                                                    Board 15      Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

We had no real choice but to overcall 1NT, though the hand is not ideal and Double is at least a little tempting.  Then Partner bid Stayman, we showed Hearts, and Partner’s 2♠ said “Invitational hand with 4 Spades”  What next?

 

The first question is whether E-W belong in game.  Probably not, looking at the East hand.  True, we have 16 HCP’s, but it’s a miserable 16 indeed, with that square shape, and only one Ace.  We also have only one Diamond stop, and it’s unlikely that Partner will have much help for us there, even Qx will not provide a second stop.  With 6 Diamonds and most of the enemy strength in the same hand, it seems unlikely that we’ll be able to score 9 tricks before they have set up 5 or 6 tricks.

 

If not game, then which part-score?  With only 3 Spades it might seem routine to bid 2NT here, but not so fast.  Isn’t the 4-3 fit more promising?  Now, North won’t score 5 Diamond tricks.  If Partner has a doubleton Diamond, he may have to refrain from ruffing the third round of the suit in order to retain trump control, but having done that the 2♠ contract should play rather well.  On the actual deal, the defense takes 6 tricks against a No Trump contract, whereas 2♠ makes with ease, perhaps with an overtrick.

 

 

                                                    Board 21      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

We cannot see any point in introducing that crummy Diamond suit into the auction when we have a perfectly good 1NT bid available.  Here’s why we like 1NT here:

-         Bidding 1NT limits our hand immediately, which is always helpful for Partner.

-         1NT has preemptive value, all the more so against vulnerable opponents.  If they want to bid Hearts or Spades they must do so at the two-level, and that may be sufficient deterrent to keep them out of the auction.

-         A No Trump contract may well be better played from our side (for example, picture Partner with ♠Qxx or ♥Kx.

-         If the above is not sufficiently persuasive, then look at the hand, isn’t it just plain No Trumpish?

 

 

                                                    Board 22      Dealer East       E-W Vul

 

 

After transferring, North’s 3♣ was natural and game-forcing.  Now what are South’s options?  Here is the most commonly used method:

-         With Spade support, Opener usually bids 3♠ or 4♠.  As the auction is already game-forcing, the Principle of Fast Arrival tells us that 3♠ is more slam-encouraging than 4♠.

-         Without Spade support, and (hopefully) with the unbid suits stopped, and with a hand that does not want to encourage a Club slam, the obvious bid is 3NT.

-         With Club support, and either a hand that cannot bid 3NT, or else a hand that has at least passing interest in a Club slam, Opener bids 3♦ or 3♥.

 

Here, we have a choice between showing Spade support, and interest in a Club slam.  Our own choice would be the latter, and then, if the Club slam hunt fizzles out we can always convert 3NT to 4♠.  We’d make the cheaper of the two cue-bids, namely 3♦.

 

 

                                                    Board 24      Dealer West       None Vul

 

 

Partner is typically in the 15-18 range for that 2NT bid.  We think that this hand is too good merely to make a quantitative leap to 4NT.  Even though Partner’s Heart strength is likely to be wasted in a suit slam, our controls are so good that we’d be more inclined to insist on slam, somewhere or other.

 

The Spades are not good enough to insist on a Spade slam, and there’s a strong possibility that 6♣ or 6♦ or even 6NT is the place to be.  Our recommended plan is to bid 3♥ (transfer to Spades), then to bid 4♦.  4♦ might be somewhat ambiguous (suit or cue-bid?) but we don’t mind, our next bid will be 6♣.  What else can South have but 5-0-4-4 distribution for this sequence?  Partner will now be in a position to place the contract.

 

 

                                                    Board 25      Dealer North       E-W Vul

 

 

This might look like an obvious Pass, but consider bidding 1♠ here, notwithstanding the 4-card suit.  That raises the question, “When is it OK to overcall on a 4-card suit?”  The Law of Total Tricksters will say that it’s almost never right, but we like to be a little more flexible.  Here are the two most common cases:

-         We have a stellar holding such as AKQx, and desperately want the suit led.  In the long run, the consequences of not getting that suit into the auction are likely to be more dire than the risks of lying about the length of the suit.

-         The second case is the “Mike Lawrence hand”.  In his classic from yesteryear, entitled “The Complete Book of Overcalls” he extolled the virtues of 4-card overcalls when holding length in RHO’s suit.  This hand meets that criterion, and additionally we have decent values and a reasonably strong suit, so our choice would be 1♠ here.

 

OK, you ask, where’s the logic, why does length in their suit make the 4-card overcall more appealing?  The main reason is that we can usually withstand a 3-card raise from Partner, because if (in this case) Diamond ruffs are required, they will be made in the short hand, and, furthermore, if our LHO is also short in Dimonds, we will be in the overruffing position.

 

It’s also important to get into the auction when we can, and, on the actual deal, if we don’t bid 1♠ now, our side will be shut out completely.  After we pass, LHO will bid 1NT, Partner with 8 HCP’s and 4-3-1-5 will pass, and when North also passes, we’ll have no sensible entry into the auction.  Bidding 1♠ earlier would avoid that problem!

 

                                                    Board 27      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

In this situation, holding 3-card support for Partner’s Weak Two suit, but without enough for game, it’s usually a good idea to go directly to our “total trick level” with a bid of 3♥, a little bump in the auction to make the opponents’ life more difficult.  That’s all very well, but do we really want a Heart lead against East’s Spade contract?  No, of course not, and the solution is to play something called McCabe which allows us to bid 3♦ here, saying “I have a 3♥ bid, but I actually want a Diamond lead”

 

A nice gadget, but suppose that you hold:

            ♠ 765

            ♥ --

            ♦ QJ97654

            ♣ 542

Feeling a sense of impending doom, after 2♥ by Partner, doubled on your right, you would love to escape into 3♦.  But if 3♦ is merely lead-directing, you’ll be in an even bigger hole when Partner corrects to 3♥.  The McCabe solution is to bid 2NT, telling Partner to bid 3♣, as you are short in Hearts and are trying to get out at the 3-level in another suit.

 

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