No Problem

7^th June – Board 12: North/South Vul.  Dealer West.

6-4 hands are a constant source of worry because the holder has to decide whether to rebid his six card suit before owning up to the four carder, understanding of course that the opportunity to do so may never come. I think a simple rule is that if there is a great disparity between the two suits then the second should initially be ignored, otherwise just bid the hand as though you were 5-4.

I don’t see why East shouldn’t own up to holding a diamond suit as soon as he can and the very fact that he does so makes West’s jump preference to 3H an easier bid to find. It would be naïve to think of that West hand as only being worth nine points. After all it has potentially quite a few tricks in spades, three trumps opposite a known five card suit (at least) and the diamond holding could hardly be better. In any event it is an eight loser hand so that at least should justify any aggressive action. Even with the bad trump break the play should prove no problem; declarer can aim to ruff two diamonds in dummy, losing in all just two trumps and a spade.

Under Control

31st May – Board 9: East/West Vul.  Dealer North.

The key to good bidding is to keep everything under control and to make sure every bid paints a more accurate picture of the hand held. Both East and West were often guilty of forsaking that principle on the hand shown below, but in fact the auction should be fairly straightforward.

West has no good reason not to support clubs at his second turn and East has a close decision as to whether to bid on or not. I think 3♥ is correct however, showing as it does six hearts and four clubs and a better than minimum hand. West might pass or might bid 4♣, both making contracts as it happens, but at least the fairly hopeless 3NT is avoided. (In fact 4♥ is a make with the fortunate position of the hearts, but how embarrassing would it be to bid and make that!)

Giving Preference

24th May – Board 17: Love All.  Dealer North.

We are all accustomed to the notion that when we bid two suits we are (usually) showing 5-4 at least in those suits. While that is true one must never lose sight of the fact that by so doing you might be making life extremely difficult for partner, and if that is likely to be the case then perhaps an alternative approach should be considered. Just look at the hand below:

The gut reaction on those North cards is to open 1♥ and rebid 2♣ over partner’s 1♠ response, but that is wrong. So much of the time responder will merely give preference for opener’s first suit, more often than not with a doubleton, and that is correct for a number of reasons. A 5-2 fit generally plays well, certainly better than a 4-3 fit, but the main upside of giving preference is that it keeps the bidding open it case the opener has a really good hand. What I am trying to say in a rather laboured way perhaps is that with a minimum 5-4-3-1 hand opener should eschew his second suit in preference to raising his partner with three card support if he can do so at the two-level. The corollary to all this is that if he bids two suits, gets preference to his first suit but then raises responder’s suit, he is showing a strong hand, say 16 points or more. I know this is difficult but imagine opener has ♠Kxx ♥AQJxx ♦x ♣AQJx. It would be right to open 1♥ and rebid 2♣ over a 1♠ reply, but then if responder gives preference to 2♥ opener should continue with 2♠. He would then be showing a 3-5-1-4 strong hand. If the hand is minimum – as in the blogged hand – then opener’s first rebid should be 2♠, NOT 2♣. 

As it was most Norths rebid 2♣ and made life difficult for partner. 2♦ would be 4th suit forcing and 2NT should still show about 11 points. That is the bid found by a number of players with what can only be described as disappointing results. For what it is worth I think 2♠ is better, but better still for opener to have bid that in the first place.

Bidding Theory

6^th October – Board 20: Game All. Dealer West.

It is easy to be convinced that partner is giving real support for one of our suits when in reality all he is doing is giving some mild sort of preference. In the featured hand it is almost certain that West only has two card support for hearts but the reason may not be immediately obvious.

West	North	East	South
1C	No	1H	No
1S	No	2D	No
2H	No	3D	No
3NT	End

With a minimum opener and a 4-3-1-5 distribution you obviously would want to open 1C but over the 1H response it is correct to bid 2H and not 1S. The reason for this is that if you have a strong hand – say 15 or more points – you do rebid 1S but then if partner returns to your first suit and bids 2C you now complete the picture of your hand by bidding 2H. In the sequence above West has not bid 2H immediately and yet over the fourth suit forcing bid of 2D he has made the weak bid of 2H, but if he had started with three card support he would have bid 2H as his rebid and not 1S. Geddit? So with a known doubleton diamond opposite East should rebid the suit in the hope that his partner can bid 3NT with an independent stop. All that East is ever trying to do is to find the best game contract, which he is fairly certain must exist somewhere.

Something In Reserve

30th June – Board 22: Game All. Dealer East.

If as responder you intend to make more than one bid then it is correct to bid your suits in the normal way, that is to say you should bid your longest suit first. It is only when you intend to pass if your partner makes a minimum rebid in his suit that you should prefer bidding a four card major to a five card minor.

West	North	East	South
		1H	No
2C	No	2H	No
2S	No	4D	No
4S	End

It is perfectly in order to respond 2C on the hand shown above because as responder you aim to bid again. East is close to reversing with 2S but is not quite good enough since a reverse after a two-level response is forcing to game. Sometimes it is better to have something in reserve. However that East hand becomes enormous when partner shows the other major and a splinter bid of 4D looks appropriate, showing a raise to game in spades with a singleton or void diamond. West might be tempted to bid on but the queen of diamonds looks wasted and the trump suit is too fragile to suggest further action other than a bid of 4S. South should lead a trump as both East and West have shown distributional hands but declarer can easily prevail by cross-ruffing his way to ten tricks.

Dead Giveaway

9th June – Board 16: E/W Game. Dealer West.

Sometimes our sophisticated bidding can turn round and bite us and that might well have happened on the featured hand although I have a suspicion that it didn’t.

West	North	East	South
No	1H	No	2D
2H	Dbl	3C	Dbl
End

West cannot be blamed for wanting to get into the action and while ‘double’ might have some appeal after South has bid 2D it seems to me that that bid should be reserved for a flatter hand with 4-4 or 4-5 in the black suits. By bidding 2H you are merely showing a Michaels type hand, with 5-5 in spades and clubs. Nothing wrong with that except it warns N/S about the bad spade break! In any eventuality a bid of that suit by either North or South would not be natural, as who in their right mind would want to play in the suit best held by the opposition? North should double to show a good heart suit and East will doubtless find it easy to give preference to clubs! But with the weight of high cards behind them South should double and lead a trump. Leading a trump is in fact mandatory whenever the opposition have outbid you but hold considerably less in the way of high cards. Obvious really, because how else will they make tricks other than by cross-ruffing?

Onwards and Upwards

11^th November – Board 9: E/W Vul. Dealer North.

The theory behind reversing is undoubtedly a puzzle for most people. But think of it this way: A lot of the time when opener bids two suits their partner will give preference to the first on the grounds that the opener will probably have more of the first suit bid than the second but in any event will certainly not have less. So that if the responder has made a minimum response in a new suit with about six or seven points only, and they are subsequently forced to give preference to opener’s first suit at the three level, then it makes sense that the opener should be about a trick better than a minimum opener – say sixteen points or more. A corollary to this is that if responder is strong enough to bid his suit at the two level and opener reverses then game must ultimately be reached. The hand above should really be bid as follows:

West	North	East	South
	No	1S	No
2D	No	2S	No
2NT	End

If East reverses by rebidding 3C, then the auction will continue onwards and upwards and subsequently get too high with insufficient values.