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Third Seat Openings It's common, after two Passes, to open light in third seat, but let's not overdo it, it's usually best to have some lead-directing motive in these cases. Light third seat major openings are especially common, often on a 4-card suit, and Drury (covered elsewhere) is generally used to check back on the soundness of that 3rd seat opening.
3rd March, 2010 E-W Vul
It would be criminal not to bid here, in third seat, non-vulnerable. The only question is whether to open 1♠ or 2♠. The problem with opening 2♠ is that the hand has a fair amount of defense, and not a lot of offense (no singleton to start with). Also, if we open 2♠, then North might take it upon herself to sacrifice, a course of action which could be too expense or may be a phantom save. No, a light 1♠ is the way to go here, we think.
7th January, 2007 E-W Vul
Would you open the West hand? Many (perhaps most) would open this 10-count 1♥ in third seat (no doubt fortified by having Drury on their convention card). But is that really such a good idea? The E-W vulnerability works against a part-score skirmish (anyone for -200?) … the Heart suit is hardly a good lead-director … most of West’s HCP strength is in a doubleton suit … and the shape is unexciting. Looks like a Pass to us.
The bottom line? On the actual deal, if West opens 1♥, his Partner probably won’t get the chance to use Drury, and with 4 Hearts and a 12-count might find himself compelled to compete to 3♥. That will be -200 for E-W.
1st October, 2008 E-W Vul
South’s main fear in this situation is that the hand will get passed out. If it does get passed out, then, with the points equally distributed around the table, the odds suggest that it will be N-S who will have missed the boat. Why? Because South’s majors suggest that her side will have the advantage in a part-score battle. So, to avoid the pass-out, South tries 1♥, not liking 1♦ which might get North off to a terrible opening lead.
17th May, 2006 Board 32 E-W Vul
In third seat, some players
habitually open on any old trash. But, there should always be a
reason for a light 3rd hand opening bid. Here, for
example, there is absolutely no reason for East to open 1♦
with such a bad hand and bad suit. Now, opening
1♥
is a different story, there’s a bid with a purpose! True,
1♥
is supposed to show a 5-card suit, but the lead-directing benefit of the
bid outweighs that deficiency. 31st May, 2006 Board 5 N-S Vul
Most players would open this hand in any seat, even though it is hardly a thing of beauty. Playing a 5-card major system, in 1st or 2nd seat, a 1♣ opening would be called for, the bid dictated by the system, and the bid most likely to provide a good foundation for a constructive auction. But, in third seat, things change somewhat. Here, with this apology for an opening bid, opposite a passed hand, we are not really in a constructive situation, we are merely competing. Furthermore, we are quite likely to end up defending. These two factors suggest that we make our first bid count in another way … as a lead-director. So, rather than bid that pitiful Club suit, we’d try 1♠ … sure, Partner may think we have 5 of them, but hopefully we can survive that … and, at least she’ll know where our strength is.
28th June, 2006 Board 2, Board 26, Board 32
Coincidentally, there were three hands this Wednesday where a 3rd seat player (after two Passes) had to decide whether or not to throw in a lead-directing 4-card major on a marginal hand. Here they are, in each case it’s gone Pass, Pass:
Bd 2, West Bd 26, West Bd 32, East Non-Vul Vul Vul ♠ Q54 ♠ 863 ♠ AQ52 ♥ AK95 ♥ AQ84 ♥ Q6 ♦ K52 ♦ AT7 ♦ Q863 ♣ 975 ♣ JT4 ♣ J98
We would pass all three of these hands in 1st or 2nd chair … yes, even the first one, those square 12-counts don’t really do it for us.
In third seat, on Board 2, we’d open this 1♥, notwithstanding our 5-card major system … most of the time we’ll end up defending this one, and when we do we’d really like Partner to lead Hearts. Actually, we’d open 1♥ even if we were vulnerable here (though it’s less appealing), so much do we want a Heart lead.
On Board 26, we would advise passing. Yes, it would be nice to suggest a Heart lead, but we are alarmingly vulnerable with a square distribution … the danger of Partner competing and depositing us in -200 territory is quite real … we don’t think that the Heart suit is that good, the risk/reward ratio does not seem to be in our favor. But if we were non-vulnerable, we’d give 1♥ a shot.
On Board 32, we’d also advise a Pass … true, the shape is better this time, but that’s off-set by the abundance of Queens … and again, there is the vulnerability issue.
Our advice for light third-seat situations is: (a) Be wary of opening light when vulnerable; (b) When you do open light, bid a good suit; (c) Consider violating the 5-card major style if the suit is good; (d) Don’t feel obligated to open garbage in 3rd seat, have a lead-directing purpose.
3rd October, 2007 Board 1 None Vul
This is not a hand that we would open in 1st or 2nd seat, those 4-4 11-counts are just not enough. But, in 3rd seat, there’s a lot to be said for saying something, provided that we have a reason to bid. We cannot see a good reason to open 1♣, that’s unlikely to help us to compete for the contract and may well get Partner off to a disastrous lead. A pointless bid in our opinion. Even playing 5-card majors, we would open this (in third seat) with 1♠ for two reasons: - Getting Spades into the auction gives us a good chance to push the opponents up to the 3-level. - If we end up defending and Partner is on lead, we’d love a Spade lead.
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