Bidding Quiz                                    4th June, 2008

 

                                                    Board 3      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

Because a reverse of 2♦ shows a strong hand there is no need for 3♦ also to show strength.  So, a common treatment is for the jump reverse to be a splinter.  Most splinter bids are forcing to game by necessity, for example, if the auction starts 1♥ 4♣, then it’s too late to play in a part-score.  But here there is still room to play in 3♥, so the common way to play the jump reverse is for it to show around 14 HCP’s or more (with no upper limit).

 

                                                    Board 3      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

West’s 3♦ was a jump reverse, played by E-W as a splinter, but not game-forcing, it could be made on as little as a good 14.  Obviously, East has more than enough to go to game, and we’d say that it is just about enough to make a slam move of some sort.  But not 4NT, that would be a gross overbid, and highly unsuitable with that worthless doubleton in the unbid suit.  So, East bids 4♦, planning to give up on slam if West now bids just 4♥.

 

But suppose that West bids 4NT.  Playing Roman Key Card, we bid 5♠, showing two Key Cards and the Queen of trumps.  Now Partner bids 5NT, the King Ask.  But which King Ask?  Do you play “Number of Kings” or “Specific King”?  It’s possible to construct hands where either one works better, but on balance the Specific King method is surely superior.  In fact, this hand provides supporting evidence for that.  If Partner shows us the K♣ we’ll want to be in 7♥, but if he shows us the K♦ then the grand slam will be on a finesse.  However, if we are playing “Number of Kings” and Partner shows us one King, we’ll be completely in the dark as to whether that King is the much-prized K♣ or the semi-useless K♦.

 

 

                                                    Board 5      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

As North, having passed originally, what is your choice the second time around, after Partner has opened 1♠?  We’d say that there are two answers to this question, depending upon whether your general style is SAYC-based or 2/1:

-         Playing SAYC:  In these methods, this hand is too good for a 1NT response, and the obvious bid is 2♥, after which, if South rebids 2♠ or 2NT, that will be the end of that.

-         Playing 2/1:  If this is the method in use then North has the Forcing NT at her disposal (or, as she is a passed hand, let’s make that the so-called semi-Forcing NT).  This 1NT is more wide-ranging than “standard” methods and is a viable alternative to that 2♥ bid.  We actually like 1NT here, the hand has a No-Trumpish look about it, and 1NT could well be the right place if Partner has opened light in 3^rd seat.  If Partner has 4 Hearts then she’ll tell us … and if she has 3 Hearts we’ll just have to hope that No Trump plays better than the 5-3 Heart fit.

 

Suppose that you bid a semi-Forcing NT and that Partner rebids 2♦.  Is now the time to show that Heart suit?  No, it’s too late for that, 2♥ here would show a weaker hand with a 6^th Heart.  The correct bid is 2NT, inviting game.

 

                                                    Board 6      Dealer East       E-W Vul

 

 

At first glance, this might look like an automatic 3♠ bid, inviting game.  But if we look a little deeper we can see a couple of plus points, enough, we think, to go straight to game.  First of all, that K♥ can be upgraded, sitting as it is over the Heart bidder.  Second, there is that nice fit with Partner’s Club suit.  Of course,  the Diamond suit looks dangerous, what can we deduce about that suit?  We’d say it is likely that Partner is short in that suit.  How so?  Well, Partner has bid Clubs and Spades, and it’s reasonable to presume that he might well have 3 or 4 Hearts also (we are short and North did not raise).  So, perhaps Diamonds won’t be such a problem after all.

 

Are we perhaps guilty of bidding Partner’s hand for him?  After all, if he is short in Diamonds, he will be quite aware of the fact.  Yes, but he won’t be aware of our other plus values.  In fact, his hand is:

            ♠ AT42

            ♥ AQ43

            ♦ T

            ♣ Q765

If we bid a pusillanimous 3♠, will it be obvious that Partner should go to game with this hand?  We don’t think so.  Counterbalancing the lovely Diamond singleton is a minimum hand, a useless-looking Q♥, and a rotten Club suit.  Looks like a Pass to us.

 

                                                    Board 8      Dealer West       None Vul

 

 

Opposite a 2♣ opening, East has a pretty good hand, with 9 HCP’s, and a 7-card suit he was no doubt thinking about slam early in the auction.  But with Partner bidding Spades, then Hearts, then more Spades, things have gone suddenly downhill.  Partner might well have 11 or 12 cards in the majors, and we have zero help in both those suits.  The Q♦ is surely worthless, which leaves us with just one working card in all probability.  So, we would pass 4♠.

 

                                                    Board 9      Dealer North       E-W Vul

 

 

After West’s Double, North will, of course, be raising Partner’s Spades, but how?  With a 9-card fit, North is prepared to compete to the three-level, but this hand is too good for an immediate 3♠, that would be preemptive.  On the other hand, North is not good enough for a 2♣ cue-bid.  It’s somewhere in between a preempt and a cue-bid, in that zone known as a “constructive” raise and the common treatment is to raise to 2♠ and then to compete further to 3♠ if necessary.

 

However, there is a gadget for this hand type, one which borrows from Bergen Major Raises.  The simplest form of this gadget is to use 3♣ here for the “constructive raise”.  When is this 3♣ raise in effect?  One possibility is that it is in effect whenever Partner has opened or overcalled 1♥ or 1♠, and when the opponents are in the auction, and when 3♣ will be a jump bid.  As with most conventions there are some caveats and wrinkles, which is why it is our “Convention of the Week”.  Please check there for more information.

 

 

                                                    Board 9      Dealer North       E-W Vul

 

 

West has been given the job of making the final decision in this competitive auction.  The choices are:

-         Pass:  This seems altogether too feeble, don’t you think?  East has opened, West has two Aces and 10 points, surely West will not give up so easily.

-         Double:  This could work, but the opponents are non-vulnerable, and it will take a two-trick set to get a worthwhile score.  As the opponents have a 9- or 10-card fit that might be expecting a bit too much.

-         Bid 4♣:  Partner does not have many Spades, and has denied 4 Hearts, so it seems fair to assume that he has at least 5 Clubs.  Hopefully the 9-card fit, the Spade shortness and the good controls will be enough for 10 tricks.

 

On the actual deal, 4♣ is probably the winning bid.  4♣ will make 10 tricks with careful play, and 3♠ doubled is down one for sure, and down two if Declarer misguesses the Diamond situation (or if the defense makes the mistake of breaking the suit).

 

                                                    Board 11      Dealer South        None Vul

 

 

As a general rule, when we hold a 5-card Spade suit we refrain from making a Takeout Double unless we have substantial extra values (doubling and introducing a new suit shows a very good hand, let’s say 18+ HCP’s).  But Partner is odds on to have a Heart stack, considering our void, and the absence of a Heart raise from North.  So, East should double, catering for the possibility of a penalty pass from West.

 

 

                                                    Board 16      Dealer West       None Vul

 

 

2♦ was an Inverted Raise, showing at least invitational strength, with Diamond support, and no 4-card major.  Some partnerships like to bid stoppers here, but a simpler (and in our view more effective) style is to bid the hand-type:

-         2NT is a balanced minimum

-         3♦ is an unbalanced minimum

-         2♥ and 2♠ show something in that suit and enough for game

-         Side-suit bids at the 3-level show shortness

If these are the methods in use then West has an obvious 2NT rebid.

 

As luck would have it there was another 1♦ 2♦ auction on Board 25.

            East     South   West    North

                                                Pass

            1♦        Pass    2♦        Pass

            ??

 

East’s hand was:           ♠ K763

                                    ♥ J

                                    ♦ QJT86

                                    ♣ KQ6

It’s another minimum opening, but this one is unbalanced, an obvious 3♦ bid.

 

 

                                                    Board 16      Dealer West       E-W Vul

 

 

At this favorable vulnerability it seems almost criminal to pass when there is a viable alternative.  North could throw in a 1♠ overcall, it’s ultra-light in the HCP department, of course, but justifiable because a Spade lead from Partner is much to be desired.  However, even that seems a bit wimpish, we’d dive in with 2♠!  No need to be shy here.

 

                                                    Board 17      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

North is a passed hand so there is no possibility that 1NT here could be construed as natural, the obvious interpretation is that it shows both the unbid suits, a sort of Unusual NT but at the one-level.  That being the case, North has three distinct ways of showing the unbid suits:

-         Double:  Typically 4-4 or 4-5 in the unbid suits with 10 or 11 points.

-         2NT:  At least 5-5 in the unbid suits, with a weak hand, in other words it’s your classic Unusual NT.

-         1NT:  Also 5-5, but a better hand.  Perhaps something exactly like the actual North hand!

 

Sure, North could double to show good values (for a passed hand) and the unbid suits, but 1NT is more descriptive, conveying also the 5-5 distribution.

 

 

                                                    Board 18      Dealer East       N-S Vul

 

 

Surely no Norths decided to preempt with the North hand after West’s Negative Double.  Perish the thought!  North has way too much defense, we’d say that 2♦ is a reasonable place to start.

 

 

                                                    Board 19      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

South has 21 HCP’s and a 3-loser hand, enough for some players to open 2♣.  But opening 2♣ when our long suit is a minor often leads to an extremely cramped auction, so much so that we are prepared to open 1♣ or 1♦ with extremely strong hands.  And so it is here, we’d open this 1♦.  But, swap around those red suits for example, and we’d open 2♣ with no qualms, as 2♣ 2♦, 2♥ is a much more comfortable start to the auction.

 

 

                                                    Board 19      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

On Board 11 of the Bidding Quiz we started out by saying: As a general rule, when we hold a 5-card Spade suit we refrain from making a Takeout Double unless we have substantial extra values (doubling and introducing a new suit shows a very good hand, let’s say 18+ HCP’s).  The reason given then for breaking that “rule” was that it seemed likely that Partner was champing at the bit to convert the Takeout Double of their preempt into a Penalty Double.  It’s possible that Partner is champing again here, but less likely as they are at the one-level and as we are Red vs White.  No, here we have a different reason for making a Takeout Double with 5 Spades, namely that the Spade suit is dreadful.  So, again we Double.

 

 

                                                    Board 21      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

East’s 2♦ was a Jacoby Transfer, and, yes, it’s super-accept time again!  This hand is actually a good commercial for the practice of super-accepting major suit transfers when holding 4-card support.  Follow the link for more on this subject, here we’ll just take a look at what happens if West “super-accepts” the transfer and takes the partnership to the 3-level.  It turns out that 3♥ goes down one trick, to which one might say “What’s so great about that?  Down one when 2♥ was destined to make!”  Well, 2♥ was not destined to make anything!  If West had not super-accepted, then South would have got into the auction with 2♠, and if West had competed to 3♥ then North would have gone on to 3♠.  So, the super-accept may have got E-W too high, but its preemptive value wins the day.

 

 

                                                     Board 25

                                                           Please see Board 16

 

 

                                                    Board 30      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

North’s 2NT was “Unusual”, in this case showing the minor suits.  Do you play “Unusual vs Unusual”?  The basis of this convention is that, with the enemy having bid (or at least shown) two suits, there are two available cue-bids, in this case 3♣ and 3♦.  The common approach is to use one cue-bid to show a good raise for Partner’s major, and the other one to show a decent hand with the other major.  There are many methods in use, here is one that is simple and effective, it’s known by some as “Lower for lower”:

-         The lower minor shows a decent hand and the lower major (the definition of “decent” being “at least invitational”)

-         The higher minor shows a decent hand and the higher major

-         Bidding 3♥ or 3♠ is natural and shows a weaker hand.

 

Those responses are the same regardless of which major Partner opened.  If that is the schema, what is East’s bid?  Not 3♣, that would be a good hand with Heart support.  And not Pass, surely.  No, we’d muster up the courage to bid 3♥ on our magnificent 3-count, fortified by the 4-card fit and the singleton.

 

 

                                                    Board 30      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

North’s 2NT was the Unusual NT, showing the minors.  East’s 3♥ is explained as “competitive”, in other words it shows something less than game-invitational values.  What next?  The question to be asked is “Can E-W make 4♥?”  If we trust Partner not to have too much defense for that 2NT then surely the answer is “Yes!”  Against 4♥, N-S will score one Spade, no Hearts, and surely not more than two tricks in the minors.  The second question is “Will 5♦ be a profitable save?”  That’s less clear, but we would consider it unlucky if we lost more than two tricks in the majors and two Clubs.  All in all, we are of the 5♦ persuasion here, there’s no reason to delay, we’d bid it directly over that 3♥ bid.

 

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