Bidding Quiz                                              2nd January, 2008

 

Boards 1 and 4

 

On Boards 1 and 4, North held somewhat similar hands … 17 HCP’s, balanced, with a 5-card major.  Here they are:

            Board 1                       Board 4

            ♠ A9643                      ♠ Q8

            ♥ AQ4                         ♥ KT753

            ♦ 43                             ♦ KQ7

            ♣ AK7                         ♣ AK2

 

The question is “Which of these should be opened 1NT?”  First of all, do you have any inhibitions about opening 1NT with a 5-card major?  We suggest that you don’t, it’s a practice which can solve an awkward rebid problem.  So far so good, do you think that the hands above are just too good for a 15-17 1NT?  17 points and a 5-card suit should certainly give us pause for thought, but the hands are rather fillerless and the 5-card suits are weak, so we’d say that they are both within range.

 

The final question is “Are the hands suitable for a 1NT opening?”  There’s something to be said for a simple approach, and opening 1NT with all of these 15-17 hands that have 5-3-3-2 shape.  Simplicity is a good thing (especially at bridge) so you could do worse than to bail out of this paragraph and proceed to the next question.  Still there?  OK, we’d say that the second hand is most certainly a 1NT opening, with all those tenaces any contract is likely to play better from the North side, and the best way to achieve that is to open 1NT.  However, the first hand is not one which needs to play the contract, and furthermore it is more suit-oriented.  Our suggestion would be to open 1♠, then, assuming Partner responds 1NT, we’ll rebid 2♣, and then 2NT if Partner gives a preference to 2♠.  This sequence shows a top-end 1NT bid, it’s not an option that would be available when holding, say, the same hand without the Q♥.  In that case, it would be necessary to open 1NT or else be prepared to pass after 1♠ 1NT, 2♣ 2♠.

       

 

                                                    Board 5      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

There are varying theories on what to open when holding 4-4 in the minors, you’ll find plenty of advocates for 1♣ or 1♦ or “better minor”.  In most cases it’s not particularly important, really not worth worrying about too much, but on this particular South hand it’s essential to open 1♦.  It’s easy enough to see why.  If South opens this 1♣ and North inconveniently responds 1♠, South will be without a rebid.

 

So, generally speaking, open those 4-4 hands 1♣ or 1♦, whichever you prefer, but when you are 15-17 with specifically 1=4=4=4 distribution, it’s necessary to open 1♦ to avoid an impossible rebid problem.  With 1=4=4=4 and 12-14 we have no qualms about rebidding 1NT after the 1♠ response, but if you find that distasteful, then you had better open these hands 1♦ also.

 

 

                                                    Board 5      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

What are the choices here?  Certainly not 2♠ with just a 5-card suit.  How about Pass?  That might work, especially if Partner is 5-5 in the minors, but the recommended bid is to give a “false preference” to 2♦.  Here are three reasons why we might want to give false preference in this situation:

-         Partner’s sequence could be made on quite a strong hand.  Missing game is unlikely in this particular case, though, our hand is so weak.

-         Partner is likely to be 5-4 on this auction, and 5-2 generally plays better than 4-3.

-         Partner may have 3 Spades and a good hand, perhaps something like ♠ K84, ♥ 2, ♦ KQT54, ♣ AKJT.  This hand does make game.

So, giving false preference to Opener’s first suit may put us in a better contract, but, more to the point, it keeps the auction alive in case Opener has a good hand.

 

 

                                                    Board 7      Dealer South       Both Vul

 

 

West can hardly pass with such a good hand, but has no appetizing choices:

-         2♠?  West has the right values for this bid, but only 3-card Club support.

-         2♦?  The suit is good, but it’s supposed to be a 5-card suit for this bid

-         2NT?  The stopperless No Trump sometimes works well, but it’s less likely to when RHO has shown a 5-card suit and we have three small.

-         Dbl?  The defect here is obvious enough, we only have 3 Hearts.

Other than 2NT, which we don’t like at all, we could live with all of the above, your guess is as good as ours, and our guess is Double.

 

                                                    Board 9      Dealer North       E-W Vul

 

 

Yes, we’d bid 3NT here.  Sometimes it will make, other times it will be doubled and go for 800.  Despite the risks, passing here would be quite feeble, and doubling with only 3 Hearts would be misguided, at least when there is a reasonable alternative.

 

System Note

Suppose that East does bid 3NT.  Now, what are West’s options?  We suggest Stayman and transfers.

 

 

                                                    Board 11      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

Opposite a mere overcall, this hand is not good enough to bid 3NT, the ranges generally used are something like this:

            1NT:   8-11, perhaps a rotten 12.

            2NT:   12-14, or thereabouts.

On that basis, 2NT seems about right, but consider also cue-bidding 2♠, showing a limit raise or better in Spades.  Yes, it’s only two-card support, but they are both honors and will provide the trump suit with some useful stuffing.  The danger with bidding 2NT is that our overcalling and non-vulnerable Partner might well be light, perhaps with AK♠ and not very much else, in which case we’d surely rather play in 2♠.  Bidding 2♥ gives Partner an out, and if Partner tries for game our next bid will be 3NT.

 

 

                                                    Board 12      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

West’s hand is an excellent candidate for Drury opposite Partner’s potentially light third-seat opening.  However, South’s 2♦ puts a stop to that and West must choose between 2♠ and 3♦.  Well, maybe not much of a choice in reality, as 2♠ is a gross underbid.  True, if we bid 3♦ we’ll be committing to the 3-level, and that may be dangerously high if Partner has opened light, or with a 4-card suit.  Although 3♦ may not work out, not to bid it would be pusillanimous.

 

                                                    Board 14      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

It might seem obvious to bid 3♦ here, but is that forcing?  A new suit by an unpassed hand (opposite an opening bid) is generally considered to be forcing, but here North is in the balancing seat, and there is something to be said for 3♦ to be natural but non-forcing in this auction.

 

Let’s say that we bid 3♥ for that very reason, and now Partner bids 3NT.  What next?  Pass could work, but our hand is suit-oriented, so now we would bid 4♣ (after the cue-bid, this bid would certainly be forcing).  Then we’ll pass if Partner bids 4♠ or 5♣.

 

 

                                                    Board 15      Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

South’s 2♦ bid was minimum support (Inverted Minors are not usually played in competition).  Should North compete further over 2♠?  We think so.  The opponents have at least an 8-card fit, it hardly seems right to give them an easy ride at the two-level.  So, even though we do not have a 5^th trump, nor do we have any extra values, we’d compete to the three-level.

 

 

                                                    Board 24      Dealer West       None Vul

 

 

This hand looks altogether too good for a preemptive raise to 3♠, what with that singleton and that nice Heart suit.  Then again, assuming that you play Drury in this situation, it’s not good enough for 2♣ (or 2♦, depending on your methods).  So, our choice would be 2♠, followed by 3♠ if necessary.

 

System Footnote

There’s a useful gadget for this hand.  Some partnerships play constructive raises here:

-         3♣ is a 4-card constructive raise with a singleton (now 3♦ asks for the singleton)

-         3♦ is a 4-card constructive raise without a singleton

And what is a constructive raise?  Something in-between a preemptive raise and a limit raise, let’s say in the 6-9 range or thereabouts.  The actual hand is only 4 HCP’s, but we’d say that the singleton and the nice Hearts make it good enough.

 

Here are some other situations where the same method could be employed:

            Them   Us        Them   Us       

                        1♥        1♠        3♣/3♦

 

            1♥        1♠        Pass    3♣/3♦

 

                        1♥        2♣       3♦

In all cases, the agreed suit is a major, and the constructive raise must be a jump (to 3♣ or 3♦).  In the last example, the opponents bid 2♣, so that 3♣ is no longer a jump and 3♦ is required to do double duty (constructive raise, with or without a singleton).

 

 

                                                    Board 24      Dealer West       None Vul

 

 

South’s Double was a tad light, but, with 10 HCP’s and the perfect shape, it would be criminal to pass here.  North’s Double was Responsive, ideally showing both minors, but she may not have been dealt the ideal hand, and could well have just 4-3 in the minors and some values.  How many values?  Let’s say around 9+, considering that North is prepared to go the 3-level.

 

The goal here is to make sure that we play in a 4-4 minor suit fit, and the way for South to do that is to use the Scrambling 2NT.  Assuming that you are playing this most useful convention, 2NT here says “pick a minor”.  This is so much better, don’t you think, than guessing to bid 3♣ and finding that Partner is 3=3=4=3.

 

Could 2NT usefully be natural in this situation?  Not really, we did not overcall 1NT originally, and if we were too strong for that bid we would be bidding 3NT this time around (once Partner has shown us some values).

 

 

                                                    Board 30      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

 It would be nice if West could bid Clubs here, but some pairs play that 2♣ here is game-forcing, and 3♣ is weak, neither of which is suitable for the actual hand.  So they have to bid a rather warped 1NT.  Make that 3-card Heart suit stronger and we might be tempted to try 1♥ here.

 

Assuming that we do indeed respond 1NT, we’d be prepared to compete to 3♣ later in the auction.

 

 

                                                    Board 30      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

Let’s not pass out 1NT when we have a 6-card suit!  Although the opponents have bid our suit naturally, we should compete with 2♦ naturally.  This can hardly be a delayed Michaels hand, because if we were 5-5 in the majors (a) why didn’t we bid 2♦ earlier? and (b) with both majors we could Double now, and pull Partner’s 2♣ to 2♥.

 

                                                    Board 31      Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

Here’s what the auction so far means:

-         2♦ was Michaels, showing the majors.

-         2♥ was a variation of “Unusual vs Unusual”, showing invitational (or better) values in Clubs (2♠ would have shown invitational or better in Diamonds).

-         South’s Double showed a Heart fit

-         East’s 3♣ said “My hand is only invitational”

 

What now?  We think that Double is called for.  Partner has opened, we have two Aces, it seems like a reasonable gamble to us.  A “top or bottom” Double, +200 or -730, but, in the long run we’d expect considerably more tops than bottoms.

 

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