Mon 27th 1st Bob P & Robbie 63% 2nd Niels & Sigurd 61%
Wed 29th 1st Tom G & Johan 69% 2nd Bob P & Nick 59%
Fri 1st 1st Terje & Sigurd 59% 2nd Arne & Svein 58%
Bidding Quiz Standard American bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.
Hand A Hand B What do you open with Hand A?
♠ AJ7 ♠ KQ95
♥ Q5 ♥ AK97 With Hand B LHO opens 3♣ and partner doubles,
♦ QJ1097 ♦ J73 what do you bid?
♣ A105 ♣ 54
Hand C Hand D With Hand C RHO opens 3♣, what do you bid?
♠ 872 ♠ 4
♥ Q4 ♥ AK10 With Hand D RHO opens 1♠, what do you bid?
♦ K9832 ♦ A653
♣ AK8 ♣ AJ965
Hand E Hand F With Hand E it’s love all in 2nd seat, what (if anything)
do you open?
♠ Q94 ♠ K2
♥ J4 ♥ Q62 With Hand F partner opens 1♠ and RHO overcalls 2♣,
♦ J107542 ♦ K1082 what do you bid?
♣ AQ ♣ 10873
Bidding Sequence Quiz
1NT pass 2♣ pass
2♦ pass 2♠ Is 2♠ weak, invitational or forcing?
Double 1♠ with just three ♥’s? Board 21 from Friday 1st July
Dealer: ♠ AQ9863 Table A
North ♥ 97 West North East(D) South(F)
N-S vul ♦ QJ7 - 1♠ 2♣ (1) dbl (2)
♣ K4 pass 2♠ pass (3) pass
pass (4)
♠ J1075 N ♠ 4
♥ J8543 W E ♥ AK10 Table B
♦ 94 S ♦ A653 West North East(D) South
♣ Q2 ♣ AJ965 - 1♠ dbl (1) pass
♠ K2 2♥ 2♠ dbl (5) pass
♥ Q62 pass (6) pass
♦ K1082
♣ 10873
Table A: (1) What did you bid with this East hand D in this week’s quiz? I don’t really like this and prefer the bid at table B.
(2) What did you bid with this South hand F in this week’s quiz? This South bid a negative double to show some
points the red suits in his style? My style is that a negative double here guarantees four ♥’s and I would pass.
(3) I guess that dbl here is best – as long as partner takes it as take-out?
(4) West was put off from balancing with 3♥ because he assumed South had four ♥’s. Perhaps he should have
asked North what South promised with his negative double?
Table B: (1) This is my answer to question D. It would be nice to have four ♥’s, but these ♥’s are good and a double is
clearly the most descriptive bid.
(5) Intended as take-out.
(6) This hand and these ♠’s are nowhere good enough to pass for penalties, and West should work out (if he did
not know) that partner’s dbl is take-out as he himself holds four ♠’s.
And what happened? No E-W pair reached the best contract of 3♥. One pair overbid to 4♥-1, another to 4♣*-4 and the
other three let North play in 2♠ (2♠*+2, 2♠*= and 2♠=).
The bottom lines:
. Some (like Paul Kelly) play that it simply shows points.
. Some (like Dave) play that it shows the two unbid suits
. Some (like me and Marty Bergen) play that it guarantees 4 cards in the unbid major and says nothing about the unbid minor.
. And it appears that some play it as showing the unbid suits but one may be just three cards? Since in this example it was
three cards in the unbid major, I would guess this is in the first category (simply showing values)?
Responding to partner’s double Board 25 from Friday 1st July
Dealer: ♠ J Table A
North ♥ 852 West(B) North East(C) South
E-W vul ♦ A4 - 3♣ dbl (1) pass
♣ QJ109732 4♥ (2) pass pass dbl
4♠ pass pass dbl
♠ KQ95 N ♠ 872 pass pass 5♦ dbl
♥ AK97 W E ♥ Q4 all pass
♦ J73 S ♦ K9832
♣ 54 ♣ AK8 Table B
♠ A10643 West North East(C) South
♥ J1063 - 3♣ pass (1) pass
♦ Q106 dbl (3) pass 3NT all pass
♣ 6
Table A: (1) What did you bid with this East hand C in this week’s quiz? This hand is good enough
for a 1-level opening bid; but, especially with miserable majors, it is not good enough to
force partner to bid at the three level, and this ♦ suit is obviously not good enough for a 3♦ bid.
(2) What did you bid with this West hand B in this week’s quiz? Opposite a sensible double you
want to play in game, presumably 4-of-a major, and the best bid is 4♣, asking partner to
choose the strain. Unfortunately this would not work in this scenario because of partner’s
off-beat double with nothing in the majors.
Table B: (1) This pass is clearly the best answer to question C.
(3) Now this is more like it – this is the sort of hand where a double of 3♣ is the best bid.
(4) And with a good hand with two ♣ stops, 3NT is clear here.
And what happened? Two pairs reached the easy 3NT+1. The other results were 3♣(N)*-2, 5♦*-1 and 5♦-3.
The bottom lines:
Dave’s Column
West East West North East South
♠ 963 ♠ K5 1NT pass 3NT all pass
♥ AQ6 ♥ 74
♦ A953 ♦ QJ1087
♣ AK6 ♣ QJ105
You are West, declarer in 3NT. North leads the ♥5. It’s matchpoint pairs and so an overtrick would be nice.
Plan the play. And how would you play at teams?
Dave’s Column Answer Board 20 from Wednesday 29th
Dealer: ♠ J104 Book Bidding
West ♥ J9853 West North East South
Both vul ♦ K 1NT pass 3NT all pass
♣ 8432
♠ 963 N ♠ K5 North leads the ♥5. It’s matchpoint pairs and
♥ AQ6 W E ♥ 74 so an overtrick would be nice. Plan the play.
♦ A953 S ♦ QJ1087 And how would you play at teams?
♣ AK6 ♣ QJ105
♠ AQ872
♥ K102
♦ 642
♣ 97
At matchpoint pairs West knows that he may get a poor score if he takes just nine tricks in 3NT if other
Wests are making more. So he went for the maximum by running the ♣’s and finessing in ♦’s. North took
the ♦K and the ♠J shift meant down two. But West knew that the same thing would happen at many other tables.
At IMP scoring West wants to give himself the best chance of making the contract and so cashes the ♦A.
A good rubber-bridge player wins eleven tricks; the good duplicate player wins just seven.
And what happened at the Pattaya bridge club? 3NT+2, 3NT+1, 3NT= and 2♦+3.
Terry Comment: I was sat out for both of Dave’s columns this week and glad about this one as I would have
gone two down against good defence (the ♠J switch). A singleton ♦K with North is just over 6% and at pairs
I would most certainly go for the extra overtrick with the finesse.
Dave’s 2nd Column
Dealer: ♠ AJ7 Bidding
North ♥ Q5 West North(A) East South
Both vul ♦ QJ1097 - 1♦ (1) 1♥ 2NT
♣ A105 pass 3NT all pass
N ♠ 642
W E ♥ KJ9863
S ♦ A43
♣ QJ743
You are East, defending 3NT. Partner leads the ♥7:
(a) If declarer plays low from dummy, what card should you play?
(b) If declarer plays the ♥Q from dummy, how should you defend?
Dave’s 2nd Column Answer Board 21 from Wednesday 29th
Dealer: ♠ AJ7 Bidding
North ♥ Q5 West North(A) East South
Both vul ♦ QJ1097 - 1♦ (1) 1♥ 2NT
♣ A105 pass 3NT all pass
♠ 9853 N ♠ 642
♥ 72 W E ♥ KJ9863
♦ K2 S ♦ A43 West leads the ♥7
♣ QJ743 ♣ 2 (a) If declarer plays low from dummy, what card
♠ KQ10 should East play?
♥ A104 (b) If declarer plays the ♥Q from dummy, how
♦ 865 should East defend?
♣ K986
What did you bid with this West hand A in this week’s quiz? This was the popular choice but I would
(did in practice bidding when sat out) open 1NT.
Onto the play, with South as declarer.
West led the top of his doubleton, dummy played low, and East impulsively inserted the his ♥J.
South wisely allowed the ♥J to win, and East was then trapped. He returned his ♥K to blot North’s ♥Q,
but it wasn’t enough. South still had ♥10 for a second ♥ stop and west had no ♥ left to lead when he got
in with the ♦K. If declarer plays the ♥Q from dummy at trick one, East should not cover with the ♥K but
encourage. When West later wins with his ♦K he continues with ♥’s and East can again establish his ♥ suit
before his ♦A is dislodged.
And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? 3NT(S)-2 four times, 3NT(N)+1.
Note that the play is slightly different if North is declarer. North wins the opening ♥ with the ♥Q, crosses to
dummy with a ♠ and leads a ♦. West has to be alert and hop up with the ♦K in order to beat the contract,
but this is perhaps not so obvious with Norh as declarer and the ♦ suit concealed. At the one table where North
was declarer West failed to do this and 3NT made +1.
Bidding Quiz Answers
Hand A: 1NT. The ♦QJ1097 is worth more than 3 points and if you end up as declarer the ♥Qx is usually
better in declarer’s hand than in dummy.
Hand B: 4♣, asking partner to pick a major. You should not jump to 4♥ or 4♠ as partner has not promised
both majors with his double.
Hand C: Pass. This hand is not good enough for a double at the three level. Also, there will generally be
problems – if partner jumps in a major or bids 4♣ asking you to pick a suit – you will have gone
past 3NT which is very likely to be the best contract.
Hand D: Dbl. It would be nice to have 4 ♥’s, but you don’t, and double is clearly the most descriptive bid.
Hand E: Pass. I guess that you could open 2♦ if your partnership allows such a lousy suit in 2nd seat.
But the reason that this is in the quiz is that two(!) players found a 1♦ opening on this West hand 27
from Friday. This is ridiculous of course in any but 3rd seat. The result was that they ended up in a
hopeless slam when partner had 19 points.
Hand F: Pass. Actually this is up to your partnership agreements on negative doubles. If you play that a negative
double simply shows values then you double. If you play that the double shows 4 ♥’s, or shows the
two unbid suits, then you pass.
Bidding Sequence Quiz Answers
G 1NT pass 2♣ pass If you play “Garbage” Stayman, as most in our club do,
2♦ pass 2♠ then 2♠ is weak to play, with 5 ♠’s and 4 ♥’s.
Current club championship standings
|
|
Gold Cup = Best 30 |
Silver Plate = Best 10 |
Bronze Medal = Best 5 |
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 |
1798.8 Janne Roos |
639.8 Per Andersson |
332.2 Per Andersson |