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Bidding Stoppers
The enemy is bidding a suit or maybe two, and it looks as if No Trump is where we belong. Which bids announce a stopper and which bids show a stopper? Please read on.
9th May, 2007 Board 25 E-W Vul
Partner does not have Spades on this auction. So, what does a 3♠ bid show here? Does it say “I have Spades, if you’ve got the Clubs then bid 3NT”? Or does it say “I don’t have the Spades”? There’s a logical answer to this, at least to us, but first we must back-track and consider some other situations. Let’s start with this one:
West North East South Pass 1♣ Pass 1♦ Pass 3♣ Pass ?? In this auction, there are two unbid suits, both of which have been denied by East. What do you bid holding: ♠ 832 ♥ A92 ♦ QT932 ♣ Q4. When we are angling for No Trump, and there are two suits in question, standard practice is to bid the suit that we have. So a 3♥ bid is called for here, telling Partner that we have the values for game and something in Hearts.
West North East South Pass 1♣ 2♣ Dbl 2♥ 3♣ Pass ?? In this auction, South showed the majors, and again there are two unbid suits which can be bid below 3NT. As before, we bid the one we have, hoping that Partner has the other one and can bid 3NT.
So much for when there are two suits in question. How about when there is just one suit to worry about? As in the following auction …
West North East South Pass 1♣ 1♠ Dbl 2♠ 3♣ Pass ?? Sure, nobody has bid Diamonds, but, for the purposes of No Trump bidding, all we care about is the suit that they have bid and raised. If West had a robust Spade holding no doubt he would bid 3NT himself. But, when he has the values for game and an unsuitable Spade holding, he bids 3♠, hoping that Partner can oblige with 3NT.
So far, so good. When there are two suits in question, we cue-bid the one we have. When there is only one suit in question, we cue-bid the suit if we don’t have it, and bid 3NT if we do have it. OK, finally we are ready for the actual Wednesday Game problem! As you will recall:
♠ J8 ♥ AK92 ♦ 642 ♣ A843
West North East South Pass 1♦ Pass 1♥ Pass 3♦ Pass ??
Here we have a little twist! There are two unbid suits, but only one available cue-bid. What does a 3♠ bid here say? - Is it “I’ve got the Spades, have you got the Clubs? - Or is it “Bid 3NT if you have the Spades under control?”
Our own take on this would be that, as there is only one cue-bid available, it seems more intuitive that it should ask. In other words: - 3♠ says “Have you got Spades?” - 3NT says “I have Spades, hopefully between us we have the Clubs under control”
11th July, 2007 Board 9 E-W Vul
West makes a DONT 2♥ bid, showing the majors. How do you evaluate your hand, and what are your methods?
Let’s start with the hand evaluation. We have a 9-count, which when opposite a 15-17 1NT is on the cusp between inviting to game and forcing to game. We think that this hand is worth forcing to game, primarily based on those two lovely Aces, cards which are not fully recognized in the HCP scheme of things.
OK, let’s assume, rightly or wrongly, that this hand is worth forcing to game. What are our options? Here are some of them: - Generally speaking, when the opponents show two suits and we are angling for 3NT, we bid the one that we have. This is contrary to the approach that we use when they have shown only one suit … in that case we bid their suit if we need help in the suit, and bid No Trump if we don’t. So, here, 2♠ would say “I’ve got the Spades”, and, by inference, would ask “Do you have the Hearts?” - By the same token, 3♥ would announce something in Hearts and ask about Spades. - What is Double here? You can play it for penalty, that’s fine, our own preference is for the Double to be value-showing, typically a hand which is invitational. - How about 2NT? We’d prefer to play this as Lebensohl, but if you are not of that persuasion then it should no doubt be natural, hopefully showing at least something in the majors.
We managed to omit the bid that we prefer! Yes, our choice would be 3NT! Isn’t that supposed to show stops in both majors? Well, yes and no! But there’s a lot to be said for just zipping into 3NT directly and giving the opponents the minimum of information. Why burden West’s brain with useful data when we can make him guess. It’s not as if we have aspirations for an alternative contract. So, forget about those torpedoes, it’s full steam ahead to 3NT.
How does this work in practice? West is on lead and his hand is: ♠ KJ932 ♥ QT875 ♦ 9 ♣ T6 Yes, a pretty raunchy vulnerable 2♥ bid, but that’s not the issue here. If North shows Spades along the way to 3NT, would you not lead a Heart? And if North just boots out 3NT would you not have a guess? Indeed you would! And if you guess to lead a Spade, then you will hand the bad guys their 9th trick.
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