Bidding Quiz                                                 16th April, 2008

 

                                                    Board 1      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

Partner’s Jacoby 2NT shows a game-forcing raise and in the standard set of responses Opener shows a singleton or void if he has one.  Does that mean that 3♣ is the bid here?  We don’t think so, for the same reason that we avoid splinters with a singleton Ace or King, it’s likely to mislead Partner.  For example, if she holds xxx in Clubs, that will look like a good holding opposite our shortness, having no wastage.  But there is wastage if that is the Club situation, and it’s in the short hand!

 

Partner’s actual hand is: ♠ A98, ♥ T9874, ♦ KQ7, ♣ A7.  Opposite North’s collection that will be worth only 10 or 11 tricks (10 with normal play in the Spade suit).  Now let’s tweak the North hand by getting rid of some wastage.  First, we’ll move the useless K♣ into the Spades.  The J♥ is overkill in that suit, so we’ll combine it with the J♠ and transform it into the Q♠.  We’ve still got 15 HCP’s, and the same shape but look at the difference: ♠ KQ43, ♥ AKQ32, ♦ J93, ♣ 2.  Now, all the high cards are working and the slam is cold!

 

 

                                                    Board 5      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

We wouldn’t open this characterless 11-count in 1^st or 2^nd seat, but 3^rd seat is another story, here we would open 1♠.  Even though Partner is a passed hand there is a good chance that we can compete effectively in Spades, and if we end up on defense then a Spade opening lead from Partner is likely to be a good start.  Of course, when we open light there is the danger that Partner might take us seriously and over-compete, but if the partnership is playing the highly recommended Drury convention that need not happen.

 

 

                                                    Board 5      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

First of all, do you agree with that original Pass?  We like it ourselves, but there are some that like to open all 12-counts, no matter how atrocious they may be.  No matter, let us assume that the North hand is whatever you consider to be a maximum Pass in third seat.  Now, in 3^rd seat, Partner opens 1♠, and there you are with 3-card support and maximum values for being a passed hand.  Is this the time for a strength-showing jump bid?  No, Partner could have opened light in 3^rd seat, most partnerships allow some latitude opposite a passed hand.  The bid here is an artificial 2♣, known as Drury, saying “I have support for your major and game-invitational values”.  Now, Partner can bid 2♠, saying “Rotten hand, forget about game”, or, if she is stronger than that she can bid the game or make a move towards game.  Follow the link for more on this most valuable convention.

 

                                                    Board 8      Dealer West       None Vul

 

 

This looks like an obvious 2♠ bid.  Or is it?  With that 6-4 shape we would be tempted to bid 3♠ here, the 4-card suit gives us some extra offense without adding much to the defense.  We’d like 3♠ even more if we did not have that Q♣.  Anyway, 3♠ is at least worth consideration and it works like a charm on the actual deal, as Partner has ♠ KQ7, ♥ AQ4, ♦ 72, ♣ T9753.  Once the opponents get to 4♥ West must decide whether or not to sacrifice in 4♠.  Opposite a 2♠ bid it won’t be so obvious, there’s a reasonable chance that 4♥ is going down.  But opposite a 3♠ opening the sacrifice looks like a better proposition.  As it happens, 4♠ doubled is down one, whereas 4♥ makes 10 tricks.

 

 

                                                    Board 9      Dealer North       E-W Vul

 

 

Opposite an opening bid, South immediately has slam in her sights, and that jump shift by North raised her sights even higher.  4NT was Roman Key Card, and 5♦ showed 0 or 3 Key Cards (1430 responses).  Before you take a stab at a grand slam, it would be nice to make sure that Partner has the Q♥, how does South do that?  The standard method is to use the “cheapest non-signoff”.  So, obviously not 5♥.  How about 5♠?  Could Partner interpret this as an attempt to play in 5♠?  Surely not, it hardly makes sense to invoke RKCB in Hearts and then to play below slam in another suit.  So, we’d bid 5♠ as the Queen Ask, trusting Partner’s unfailing good sense to do the right thing.  But we would certainly be a little nervous!

 

OK, we bid 5♠ as the Queen Ask, and here are the responses available to Partner:

            6♥:      No Q♥

            6♣:      Q♥ and K♣

            6♦:       Q♥ and K♦ (but not the K♣)

            5NT:   Q♥ but no King to show

There’s some logic to these responses.  We bid the trump suit with no Q♥, and when we do have the Queen we show a side-suit King if possible, or else bid 5NT.  As can be seen, there is no way to show the K♠ in this particular sequence, just not enough room available without going beyond 6♥.

 

On the actual hand, Partner does have the Q♥.  Now what?  South can reasonably expect 7 Hearts from Partner, which takes the trick count up to 12.  South reasons that if the Diamond suit does not bring home the 13^th trick and if North does not have the K♠, then she’ll have to rely on the Spade finesse.  As it happens, the 13^th trick is an 8^th Heart.

 

                                                    Board 12      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

This is an easy one, we make a Negative Double.  The real question is “Does this Double guarantee both majors?”, and the answer is “Yes!”, at least the way that the convention is generally played nowadays.  Of course, if that is the case, then it follows that a bid of 1♥ or 1♠ (over 1♦) can be made with just a 4-card suit.

 

 

                                                    Board 12      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

Opposite an opening 1♣ or 1♦, 1NT shows 6-10 HCP’s and denies a 4-card major.  And opposite an overcall, as here?  It’s usually to up the point range a little, taking into the account that overcalls are sometimes made with less than opening values, let’s say 8-11 HCP’s.  Here West fits into that range, but he does also have that 4-card Spade suit.  We’d bid 1NT anyway, it’s such a descriptive bid for this hand.  This gives up on a Spade fit, perhaps not a great loss as South has guaranteed 4 cards in that suit.

 

 

                                                    Board 20      Dealer West       Both Vul

 

 

Here’s a straightforward choice.  Do you double or do you bid 2♣?  There’s nothing wrong with overcalling on 16 HCP’s, or even with more high cards, but this hand has altogether too much playing strength, only 4 losers on the Losing Trick Count.  We’d double first, bid Clubs later, a sequence that shows a really good hand.

 

                                                    Board 20      Dealer West       Both Vul

 

 

What’s happened so far?  West’s Redouble showed Heart support, and Partner’s Double followed by 3♣ showed a really nice hand, one that was too good for an immediate 2♣ overcall.  What next?  We have a pretty nice hand here, probably enough for game.  Which game?  Playing matchpoints we normally prefer 3NT to five-of-a-minor, but obviously we cannot bid 3NT ourselves, we have no stops in either of the enemy suits.  What do the cue-bids of 3♦ and 3♥ mean here?  The common treatment, with two enemy suits is to bid the one that you can stop, hoping that Partner has the other one stopped and can bid 3NT.  Of course, if we had both stopped we’d bid 3NT ourselves.  Here we have neither stopped.  We could pass, hoping that Partner will do the right thing, but we’d say our hand is too good for that, so we’d just up and bid 5♣.  Yes, this takes us beyond 3NT, but perhaps if Partner had both of their suits stopped he would have bid 2NT on the previous round of bidding.

 

                                                    Board 21      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

We have agreed Hearts and whether we belong in 6♥ or 7♥ depends entirely on Partner’s trump holding.  If she has KQx or Kxxx we want to be in 7♥, and with lesser holdings we just hope that 6♥ will be making.  There are two ways to tackle this one:

-         Exclusion Key Card:  Bid 4♠ (or 5♠ if you prefer) asking for Partner’s Key Cards excluding the A♠.  Pretty exotic stuff, small wonder that Exclusion been voted by an expert panel as their least favorite convention (as in “most accident-prone”).  Those same experts also usually play 3014 responses to Exclusion even though they prefer 1430 for normal Roman Key Card (no wonder this is sometimes called Confusion Key Card!).

-         Grand Slam Force:  Another rare convention, 5NT here would be an asking bid for Partner’s trump holding, and for the answers to this please visit the System Library.

 

 

                                                    Board 22      Dealer East       E-W Vul

 

 

This auction would mean different things to different people, here’s what this pair meant it as:

-         2♣:  An inverted raise, showing game-invitational values (or better), support for Partner and no 4-card major.

-         2♠:  Shows something in Spades and creates a game force (there are numerous other treatments available).  Some might bid 3♦ here instead, showing Diamond shortness.

-         3♦:  Something in Diamonds

-         3♥:  Ambiguous, could be something in Hearts (as here) and a good hand, or could just be a hand that is unable to bid 3NT.

-         4♣:  If you play Minorwood, then this is a good hand for the convention.

-         4♥:  0 or 3 Key Cards (1430 responses)

-         4♠:  It’s the cheapest non-signoff, commonly used in Key Card auctions as the Queen Ask.

 

Yes, as on Board 9, we have a Queen Ask but this time there is more space available for the responses.  The same principles apply, however:

            5♣:      Returning to the trump suit denies the Q♣

            5♦:       Q♣ and the K♦

            5♥, 5♠:Q♣ and the King of the bid suit

            6♣:      Shows the Q♣ with no side-suit King

What about 4NT?  This can be used to show the Q♣ and no side-suit King (instead of 6♣) if you prefer.

 

 

                                                    Board 24      Dealer West       None Vul

 

 

4♣ looks like Gerber to us.  What are your responses?  Some players like to keep things consistent, so they agree to play “1430”, just like their Roman Key Card method.  That’s fine, but what about “two without” and “two with”?  You could just ignore that and use the third step to show two Aces (with no need for a 4^th step).  Better than that though is the following:

            4♦:       1 or 4 Aces

            4♥:      0 or 3 Aces

            4♠:       2 Aces, minimum hand

            4NT:   2 Aces, hand with extras

That’s right, the responses are identical to Roman Key Card except that the trump Queen has been replaced with “extras”.

 

                                                    Board 25      Dealer North       E-W Vul

 

 

 That West hand is too good merely to bid 3NT, but if not that then what?  Slam is not certain, we need Partner’s cooperation, so a direct 6♣ would be too much.  How about a cue-bid of 4♦?  No, that would be confusing, Partner will probably expect a hand with both majors.  Surely the right call is 4NT, which we would expect Partner to interpret as invitational to slam rather than Ace-asking.

 

 

                                                    Board 31      Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

In competitive auctions, when we cue-bid the opponents’ suit we are generally showing some values and support for Partner’s suit.  Here East has the values and he has the support and he also has two cue-bids available.  So, what is the difference here between a 2♣ cue-bid and a 2♥ cue-bid?  Our own preferred treatment here is to use the cheaper cue-bid to show three-card support, and the more expensive cue-bid to show four-card support.  This treatment makes it easier for Partner to judge the auction from a “total tricks” perspective, and it has the added benefit of getting the auction higher more quickly when there is the bigger fit.

 

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