Mon 5th 1st Frode & Niels 57% 2nd Gerard & Derek 56%
Wed 7th 1st Gus & Guttorm 61% 2nd Paul Sc & Dave H 57%
Fri 9th 1st Dave C & Terry 69% 2nd Dave Hurst 60%
Bidding Quiz Standard American (short ♣) bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.
Hand A Hand B With Hand A it’s both vul. What do you open in first seat?
♠ K765432 ♠ AQ9
♥ - ♥ Q9865
♦ 973 ♦ KJ8 With Hand B partner opens 3♠, what do you do?
♣ AQ7 ♣ K3
Hand C Hand D With Hand C partner opens 1♦, what do you bid?
♠ A42 ♠ 96
♥ J93 ♥ AQ72 With Hand D you open 1♦ and partner bids 2♣, what do you bid?
♦ A10654 ♦ KQ32
♣ AJ ♣ K93
Current club championship standings
|
Gold Cup = Best 30 |
Silver Plate = Best 10 |
Bronze Medal = Best 5 |
1 |
1821.9 Hans Vikman |
647.4 Hans Vikman |
334.0 Bob Short |
Dave’s Column
West East Book Bidding
♠ K983 ♠ QJ107542 West North East South
♥ Q652 ♥ A3 - - 3♠ pass
♦ AQJ ♦ 83 4♠ all pass
♣ A4 ♣ 96
You are East, declarer in 4♠. South leads the ♣K. You could lose one trick in each suit if you
are not careful. What is your best chance to make ten tricks? Plan the play.
Dave’s Column Answer Board 14 from Wednesday 7th Sept.
Dealer: ♠ 6 Bidding
East ♥ K987 West North East South
Love all ♦ K1097 - - 3♠ pass
♣ J853 pass 4♠ al pass
♠ K983 N ♠ QJ107542
♥ Q652 W E ♥ A3
♦ AQJ S ♦ 83
♣ A4 ♣ 96
♠ A
♥ J104 South leads the ♣K, plan the play for declarer.
♦ 6542
♣ KQ1072
It is not a good idea to pin all of your hopes on the ♦ finesse. That is only a 50% chance.
It would be an error to duck the first ♣. South has an easy switch to the ♥J and when North
turns up with both red kings, you will fail. It would also be wrong to take the ♣A and lead a
trump as South will win, cash the ♣K and lead the ♥j and it’s curtains again.
You have four losers, one too many. Loser can be eliminated by ruffing in the short trump
hand (not applicable here) or by discarding on dummy’s extra winners. Here dummy has no
extra winner yet and so you have to set up that extra trick at once. Win the ♣A and lead the ♦Q
at trick two (you have no convenient entry to take the ♦ finesse). Now you have an extra
winner in dummy on which you can discard a ♥ loser.
And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? Everybody was in 4♠-1.
The bottom line:
Dave’s 2nd Column
North South Bidding
♠ K765432 ♠ AQ9 West North(A) East South(B)
♥ - ♥ Q9865 - 3♠ (1) pass ? (2)
♦ 973 ♦ KJ8
♣ AQ7 ♣ K3
(1) What did you bid with this North hand A in this week’s quiz?
(2) What did you bid with this South hand B in this week’s quiz?
Dave’s second column this week is about bidding.
When first played, North opened 3♠ and everybody passed. North made 12 tricks for +230.
South argued that North had two defensive tricks and should open 1♠. North countered that
the hand was not a 1-level bid and that the ♠ game was decent without the ♣A.
Where did N-S go wrong?
Dave’s 2nd Column Answer Board 13 from Wednesday 7th Sept.
Dealer: ♠ K765432 Bidding
North ♥ - West North(A) East South(B)
Both vul ♦ 973 - 3♠ (1) pass ? (2)
♣ AQ7
♠ 8 N ♠ J10
♥ A1043 W E ♥ KJ72
♦ Q1062 S ♦ A54
♣ 10654 ♣ J982
♠ AQ9
♥ Q9865 (1) What did you bid with this North hand A in this week’s quiz?
♦ KJ8 (2) What did you bid with this South hand B in this week’s quiz?
♣ K3
Pre-emptive bidding has evolved to the point that there are no absolute truths. The
requirements for a first seat three level opening are a matter for partnership discussion. I (the
original author) like to have a good suit, and not too much outside. The North hand, wth two
outside first-round controls and a poor suit, would not qualify. Given a choice between 1♠ and
3♠, I would open 1♠ and believe that that would be the mainstream choice.
The purist in me, however, would prefer to pass now and bid later. The hand would be
described well by a passed hand jump in ♠’s over opposition bidding. But if the opponents were
at the three of four level I would be committed to bidding in any case (indeed, that is part of the
case for opening 1♠). Partner would know that I had long ♠’s, unsuitable for an opening action
(outside cards, weak suit, insufficient high cards for an opening bid). In the actual lay-out N-S
would have no trouble reaching game after a pass by North and a 1♥ opening by South.
Nonetheless, South should raise a 3♠ opening to 4♠. It’s always a good idea to raise with a
fit. Here you expect to make 4♠ with a high frequency.
Inverted Minors Board 13 from Friday 9th
When you have a decent hand with just one good minor suit and partner opens your minor,
you have a problem using natural methods. Tables A & B on the next page were from the
individual with unfamiliar partnerships.
Dealer: ♠ 96 Table A
North ♥ AQ72 West North East South(C)
Both vul ♦ KQ32 - 1♦ pass 1♥ (1)
♣ K93 pass 2♥ pass 3NT
pass 4♥ pass pass (2)
♠ 873 N ♠ KQJ105
♥ K1084 W E ♥ 65 Table B
♦ J S ♦ 987 West North(D) East South(C)
♣ Q8652 ♣ 1074 - 1♦ pass 2♣ (2)
♠ A42 pass pass (3) pass
♥ J93
♦ A10654 Inverted minors auction
♣ AJ West North East South(C)
- 1♦ pass 2♦ (1)
pass 2♥ (4) pass 3NT (5) all pass
Table A: (1) What did you bid with this South hand C in this week’s quiz? This is very awkward
playing natural methods. You have no forcing ♦ raise available and 3NT
would be wrong if there is no ♥ stop or if there is a ♦ slam. So you have to lie, but
I personally do not like to lie in a major!
(2) South just has to hope that 4♥ makes.
Table B: (1) This is the recommended bid for question C if you have no conventional means of
solving this problem – lie in the other minor.
(3) Unfortunately North did not realize that the bid was forcing!
But what did you bid with this North hand D in this week’s quiz? This example is
a good advert for playing that a reverse does not necessarily show extra values
after a two-level response. I don’t like 2NT with no semblance of a ♠ stop and 2♥
must surely be best…
Inverted: (1) … But playing Inverted Minors, all of your problems are solved and 2♦ is forcing.
(4) Partner’s 2♦ bid denies a 4-card major and one bids stoppers up the line. So 2♥
here is just showing a ♥ stop.
(5) South now has an easy 3NT bid. An alternative is to show the ♠ stop hoping that
partner will play the hand in the eventual 3NT.
The bottom lines:
Bidding Quiz Answers
Hand A: Pass, 1♠ or 3♠. This is a Dave column problem and the author puts the case for all
three, with his preference being the order above.
Hand B: 4♠. With these ♠ honours the game should usually make.
Hand C: 2♣. You have a problem as no ♦ bid is forcing. So you have to lie and it’s best to
lie with 2♣ (this is better than lying in a major as you may well end up playing in
the major). You could simply bid 3NT but it’s best to take it slowly with no ♥ stop.
Of course if you play Inverted Minors you bid 2♦ (forcing).
Hand D: 2♥, that’s if you do not play this reverse as showing extra values or reversing shape
after a two-level response, which seems very sensible to me in this sequence. 2♦
with a 4-card suit does not look attractive and neither does 2NT with no ♠ stop.
3♣ is an alternative I suppose?