Bidding Quiz                                                    2nd April, 2008

 

                                                      Board 1      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

North wisely declined to open with a Weak Two, but then the auction took a nasty turn.  After West’s penalty pass of 2♥, what do you do?  The choices are:

-         Pass?  Surely not right, there must be a better spot somewhere.

-         Redouble?  That would be an SOS Redouble, asking partner to find a better place.  This would be fine if the unbid suits were equal in length, or even if they were just one apart, but here the discrepancy is two cards’ length.

-         2♦?  Not much of a suit, but at least there are 6 of them.

 

Either Redouble or 2♦ could work on any given day, but the odds favor bidding the 6-card suit.  And on this particular day?  It turns out that there is a 4-4 Heart fit which is down only one, a trick better than the 6-1 Diamond fit.  Oh well!

 

                                                    Board 3      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

East has a fine hand and it looks like a “six or seven” hand.  West appears to be short in Hearts and may very well be void.  Suppose that East bids 4NT (Roman Key Card), and West’s response is 6♠.  Conventionally, this shows one Key Card and a void (no doubt in Hearts), but even that is not enough to bid 7♠ with confidence, there is still the matter of the Q♠ to say nothing of some minor suit help required.  If we decide to give up on the grand slam it might be tempting to bid 6♠ directly, but that would be a little impatient.  The opponents are White vs Red, so it’s not completely impossible that South has opened with a 5-card Weak Two and North has furthered the preempt with 3-card support.  So, the prudent route to 6♠ is via 5♠.  That is a bid which says “I have two fast losers in their suit, go to slam if you have that suit controlled”.  The responses to 5♥ are:

            5♠:       Two Heart losers

            5NT:   Kx in their suit

            6♠:       Singleton in their suit

            Other: Anything else shows a 1^st round control.

 

                                                    Board 6      Dealer East       E-W Vul

 

 

What is your opening bid with this monster?  More to the point, what is your plan?  Is there any risk to opening 1♥?  It may seem odd to open with a non-forcing bid holding 11 top tricks, but there is little risk involved.  There are plenty of points and distribution in the other three hands, and it is almost conceivable that 1♥ will get passed out.  The benefit of opening 1♥ (instead of 2♣) is that this will give us a better chance to get both of our suits into the auction at a reasonable level.

 

So, is it agreed that we start with 1♥ then jump shift to 3♣?  We don’t think so, that little preamble was just a red herring!  There’s no good reason to treat this as a two-suiter.  Our Hearts are self-sufficient, we wouldn’t bother to mention the lower-scoring Club suit, we’d insist on Hearts.  If that is our plan then we would do better to open 2♣ hoping that Partner bids 2♦ and that we can then jump to 3♥.  This would set the trump suit and hopefully would allow a later 5♦ Exclusion Key Card bid.  Not a bad plan provided that West or North don’t get in the way and make the 3♥ jump impossible.  In real life they do get in the way and the auction develops:

            South   West    North   East

                                                Pass

            2♣       2♦        2♠        Pass

            3♥        Pass    3♠        Pass

            ??

The best we can think of now is 6♥.  It’s a complete guess, of course, and could be too high or too low.  But at least it is uninformative to the opponents.

 

                                                    Board 9      Dealer North       E-W Vul

 

 

Let’s assume that your methods allow you to show both a two-suited hand and a Club one-suiter over their 1NT opening.  What would be your choice?  This deal is analogous to Board 1, where North had a similar dilemma with a 4-6 hand.  More often than not, bidding the 6-card suit works better, and that should be West’s choice here.  Suppose that E-W are playing DONT, and that West shows the one-suiter with a Double.  East bids 2♣, West passes, and suppose that the enemy then competes in a red suit.  Now, West can introduce his second suit by bidding 2♠, surely showing a hand with 4 Spades and 6 Clubs.

 

 

                                                    Board 12      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

The choices here are a Michaels Cue-Bid (showing Hearts and a minor) or some number of Hearts.  Let’s eliminate Michaels, that seems misdirected.  Those Hearts are so much better than the Clubs and longer, too, our own choice would be to preempt with 3♥.

 

 

                                                    Board 14      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

How aggravating that RHO has bid our suit in front of us!  But, even though Clubs have been bid by the opposition, South’s suit is good enough for a N-S Club contract to be quite playable.  South cannot bid 2♣, that is generally played as Michaels.  But how about a jump cue-bid?  Here is the most common treatment for that bid:

-         If the opening bid is a minor:  The jump cue-bid is natural and primarily preemptive.

-         If the opening bid is a major:  The jump cue-bid says “Bid 3NT if you have a stopper in their suit”.  The bid is usually based on a running minor suit.

If those are the N-S methods then South might well try 3♣ over 1♣, which, on the actual deal will create an awkward problem for West, whereas passing 1♣ will give the opponents an easy time.

 

Here’s another common situation where the opponents bid our suit but we get to bid the suit naturally:

            South   West    North   East

                        1♣       Pass    1♠

            ??

Here, bids of 2♣ and 2♠ are generally played as natural, typically with a good 6-card suit.  This makes a lot of sense, after all, if we have both the unbid suits we can always double or bid the Unusual 2NT.

 

 

                                                    Board 15      Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

One possibility here is to cue-bid 3♥, showing Spade support and at least invitational values.  But, if you did that, would you be happy to pass a minimum-showing 3♠ bid by Partner?  We wouldn’t, we think this hand has too many plus factors, there’s that 4-card fit, a 5-card suit on the side, and shortness in the enemy suit.  That being the case, we might as well show both our game-going values and our most important asset right away.  Yes, our choice is a splinter bid to 4♥.  A bit light, perhaps?  We don’t think so, but it certainly is minimum.  On the actual deal, Partner has three small Hearts, a perfect holding opposite a splinter bid, and the slam is easily reached.

 

                                                    Board 16      Dealer West       E-W Vul

 

 

Playing as SAYC style of system, this one is easy, just bid 2♣ and then 3♣.  But, playing a 2/1 system, this hand, although it does have good playing strength, is not good enough for a game-forcing 2♣ response.  If your methods allow for an invitational jump to 3♣ then that would be fine, but many partnerships prefer to use that bid for other purposes.  If yours is such a partnership then you could always bid 1NT (forcing) planning to rebid 3♣.  But, we’d say this hand is too good for that.  Our choice would be a game-forcing 2♣ bid.  Sure, it’s an overbid, but not by much, and experience tells us that bidding our good suits early on improves the chances for an easy auction.

 

How does 2♣ work out in real life?  It propels E-W to a 21-point 3NT contract, but one which requires no more than a successful Club finesse.  The bad news is that this finesse loses, the good news is that there is still the chance of a misdefense.

 

                                                    Board 16      Dealer West       E-W Vul

 

 

What are the choices?

-         3♣?  No, we have only 3 small Clubs, and rather dull distribution, that hardly seems right.

-         2NT?  Sure, we have the right distribution for the bid, but it is far from ideal to grab the No Trump when we have two small cards in one of the unbid suits.  Let Partner bid the No Trump (if he can) and protect his holding from the opening lead.

-         2♠?  Some partnerships play that this does not necessarily show a 6^th Spade, and that the bid is sometimes made with only 5 Spades and no suitable alternative.  That’s fine, but perhaps there is an alternative!

-         2♦?  That would be our choice.  Sure, we are short a Diamond, but that’s where our values are, and it looks like the best way to get Partner to declare 3NT.

 

We are not done yet, the auction progresses:

            West    North   East     South

            1♠        Pass    2♣       Pass

            2♦        Pass    3♣       Pass

            ??

It still looks as if 3NT will be the best contract, at least if Partner has some stuff in Hearts.  What would 3♥ show now?  It could be the start of a slam auction, but a more likely explanation is that West would like to play in 3NT if East has something in Hearts.

 

                                                    Board 17      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

There’s a point at which a hand becomes too good for an overcall, and when a Double is required, even if the hand does not have the desired takeout distribution.  What is your own cut-off point?  16, 17, 18?  Let us suggest something in the 18 region, which is more than some (perhaps most) partnerships play.  We use the word “region” advisedly, because HCP’s are not the whole story, playing strength is also a factor.  Anyway, this hand has 18 HCP’s, but it’s a rotten 18 (the ♦QJ are dubious values), and we would say that this is a 1♥ overcall, not being good enough for a Double followed by a Heart bid.

 

 

                                                    Board 24       Dealer West       None Vul

 

 

Holding a 5-card major, some players never ever open 1NT, others may open 1NT if the major is weak, and some open 1NT willy-nilly.  Our own personal preference is the willy-nilly approach, it eliminates rebid problems, but the danger is the potential of missing a more profitable 5-3 major fit occasionally.  However there is a way around that, for more on which please follow the link.

 

Suppose that West opens 1♥ with this hand, and East bids 1♠.  Now what?  West has a rebid problem.  Too good for 1NT and 2♠, not suitable for 3♠ (that requires 4-card support).  The best that West can do is to make up a 2♦ rebid, that seems like the least undesirable lie.  At this point West might be thinking how much easier life would be if he had opened 1NT originally.

 

 

                                                    Board 26      Dealer East       Both Vul

 

 

How do you play this sequence:  1NT 2♣, 2♦ 2♠?  If you play it as weak and natural, then this is the perfect way to handle North’s weak 5-4 hand.  But let’s not make your life so easy, instead let’s suppose that you play this sequence as 5-4 and invitational, and, similarly, that 1NT 2♦, 2♥ 2♠ is 4-5 and invitational.  Those methods handle the invitational hands rather well, but make life more difficult with the weak hands.

 

One solution for the weak hands is to play “Garbage Stayman”.  Responder, with both majors and a weak hand, bids 2♣ planning to pass if Opener shows a 4-card major.  If Opener uncooperatively bids 2♦ then Responder bids 2♥ saying “I have a weak hand with both majors, pick one of them”

 

We should point out that Garbage Stayman is not the perfect solution when Responder is 4-5 or 5-4, because when Opener has equal major length there is a 50-50 chance that Opener will select the 4-3 instead of the 5-3 (or, even worse, the 4-2 instead of the 5-2).  Some partnerships live with that defect and would therefore use Garbage Stayman on the problem hand.  Others do not use Garbage Stayman with 5-4 in the majors, only with 4-5 or 4-4 or 5-5, and with the problem hand would be obliged to give up on the Hearts and simply transfer to Spades.  Choose your method.

 

                                                    Board 27      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

After North bids 2♥, East would love to have available a resounding penalty Double.  Alas, most partnerships play this Double as Responsive, showing the unbid suits.  But all is not lost as West can pass and confidently await a reopening Double from East.  That Double will be ostensibly for takeout, of course, though with that presumed void in Hearts West will be half-expecting that it will be passed.  But, as can be seen, East does not oblige with a Double, instead he rebids his Diamonds.  Rats!  There goes that hoped-for penalty.

 

What next?  East has 12 HCP’s and has yet to make a noise.  It might be tempting to try 3NT in an attempt to recover the lost profits of the missed penalty.  But first let’s consider what type of hand Partner has for his sequence.  He’s void in Hearts, and yet did not balance with a Double, so surely he has a weak hand.  Furthermore, he could no doubt guess that you were planning a penalty Pass.  His hand must be relatively weak, surely with long Diamonds, and with poor defensive values.  If that is the case, 3NT will not be making, and the indicated action is to pass.  Partner’s hand is: ♠ A52, ♥ --, ♦ KT98763, ♣ Q98.  10 tricks in Diamonds, only 7 in No Trump.  Sure, 2♥ doubled would have scored better, but we can understand why West chose 3♦ instead.

 

                                                    Board 28      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

The choice here appears to be between 2♦ on a 3-card suit and 2♠ which is perhaps a slight overbid.  2♠ is not forcing to game but it does show reverse values, typically a little more than West actually has.  You can take your pick on this one, we think that it is a close decision.

 

Professor Oddbid came up with a novel suggestion, namely 3♥.  The good news for this bid is that it shows extra values without overstating those values, and, as the Professor pointed out, “That looks like a 6-card Heart suit to me”.  No, the Professor didn’t miscount, he was extolling the virtues of super-strong suits.  On the actual deal, 3♥ works perfectly, getting the partnership to the best contract of 4♥ on the 5-2 fit.

 

 

                                                    Board 28      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

West’s 2♠ showed reverse values but is not normally played as forcing to game.  If that is the case then does your partnership have any clear-cut agreement on how to stay short of game?  One effective treatment is for 2NT to be a type of Lebensohl bid, and, as such, for it to be the only way to stop short of game.  After 2NT Opener will usually bid 3♣, in case Responder has a weak hand with a long minor.

 

Of course, on the actual hand, East is going to game, so he has an easy 3♦ call, showing his suit and initiating a game-forcing auction.  Suppose now that, after 3♦, East bids 3♥. Now what?  3NT is tempting, but there is the danger that Opener is short in Clubs, so, that plus the ruffing value in Spades would persuade us to bid 4♥.

 

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