Mon 12th 1st Bob S & Sigurd 64% 2nd Bengt D & Hans V 56%
Wed 14th 1st Espen & Jan 61% 2nd Phil & Kenneth 57%
Fri 16th 1st Fred & Helge 56% 2nd Niels & Niclas 55%
Bidding Quiz Standard American (short ♣) bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.
Hand A Hand B With Hand A you open 1♥ and partner bids 4NT, what
do you bid?
♠ - ♠ K43
♥ QJ954 ♥ 543 With Hand B it’s favourable vulnerability. Partner opens 2♠,
♦ A73 ♦ J10874 what do you bid?
♣ KQ1054 ♣ 85
Hand C Hand D With Hand C partner opens 1♥, what do you bid?
♠ AQ7 ♠ K962
♥ AK86 ♥ 9764 With Hand D LHO opens 1♦ and partner overcalls 1♥.
♦ KQ9 ♦ QJ9 RHO bids 1♠, what do you bid?
♣ A32 ♣ A7
Current club championship standings
|
Gold Cup = Best 30 |
Silver Plate = Best 10 |
Bronze Medal = Best 5 |
1 |
1822.2 Hans Vikman |
647.4 Hans Vikman |
335.4 Bob Short |
Dave’s Column
♠ A43 N Bidding
♥ 3 W E West North East South
♦ AK8532 S 1♦ 1♥ 1♠ 3♥
♣ 943 pass 4♥ all pass
♠ K962
♥ 9764 You are West, defending 4♥. Partner leads the ♦10 which you
♦ QJ9 win with the ♦K. You can see three defensive tricks, where is
♣ A7 the fourth trick to set the contract to come from? Plan the defense.
Dave’s Column Answer Board 12 from Wednesday 14th Sept.
Dealer: ♠ J Bidding
East ♥ AKJ82 West North East South(D)
Love all ♦ 76 1♦ 1♥ 1♠ 3♥ (1)
♣ KQJ62 pass 4♥ all pass
♠ A43 N ♠ Q10875
♥ 3 W E ♥ Q105
♦ AK8532 S ♦ 104
♣ 943 ♣ 1085
♠ K962
♥ 9764
♦ QJ9
♣ A7
Dave’s book as I play it as pre-emptive. This hand is well worth a sound raise to 3♥ and the
way to bid that is to use the Unassuming Cuebid. So bid 2♦.
Anyway, onto the play. East leads the ♦10 to the ♦J, ♦K and ♦7. West can see three
defensive tricks, where is the fourth trick to set the contract to come from? Plan the defense.
West has three tricks, two high ♦’s and the ♠A. As long as East has ♥Jxx or better, a third ♦
after cashing the ♦A will promote a trump trick for East.
This is true, but there is a problem. If West does return a third ♦, North can discard a ♠
(loser on loser). To prevent this, West must cash the ♠A before leading the third ♦.
Responding to RKCB with a void Board 27 from Wednesday 14th
There were actually two examples of this last week, here’s one.
Dealer: ♠ 65432 Table A
South ♥ 102 West(A) North East(C) South
Love all ♦ J1085 - - - pass
♣ 96 1♥ pass 4NT (1) pass
5♦ (2) pass 6♥ all pass
♠ - N ♠ AQ7
♥ QJ954 W E ♥ AK86 Possible Auction
♦ A73 S ♦ KQ9 West(A) North East(C) South
♣ KQ1054 ♣ A32 - - - pass
♠ KJ1098 1♥ pass 2NT (1) pass
♥ J93 3♠ (3) pass 4NT (4) pass
♦ 642 6♥ (5) pass 7♥ (6) all pass
♣ J87
Table A: (1) What did you bid with this East hand C in this week’s quiz? Jumping to 4NT is
hardly ever sensible, but I believe that that was the bid chosen by most.
(2) What did you bid with this West hand A in this week’s quiz? 5♦ shows one
keycard,
but this
response says nothing about the void.
Table B: (1) Jacoby 2NT, setting ♥’s as trumps. This is much better than an immediate 4NT
in answer to question C.
(3) ♠ shortage (singleton or void).
(4) Now is the time for RKCB, having found out more about partner’s hand. You
could cuebid first if you wish.
(5) One keycard and a void above the trump suit. (Using RKCB void responses as
recommended by Eddie Kantar). This is my answer to question A.
(6) East knows that partner has a ♠ void and so the ♠KJ are missing. That is of no
consequence to East and there are at most two more points missing and so the
grand slam is easily odds-on.
The bottom lines:
Do not jump into Blackwood if you have more constructive bids available that may find out
more
about partner’s hand.
With this actual deal, the void responses were actually not necessary as long as East responded
with the Jacoby 2NT and found out about the ♠ shortage; knowing that West has
at most one ♠ is good enough to go for the grand.
Anytime that a convention is invented, there is always somebody who wants to change it.
Eddie Kantar is the World’s acknowledged expert on Roman Keycard Blackwood and I
use his responses as below. But the Scandinavians, for some unknown reason, have inverted
the meanings. I see no reason to change the Kantar responses.
Eddie Kantar’s RKCB void responses
5NT = 2 (or 4) keycards with a useful void.
6 of a suit below trumps = 1 (or 3) keycards with a void in the suit bid.
6 of the trump suit = 1 (or 3) keycards with a void in a suit above the trump suit.
Raise the pre-empt to the max IMMEDIATELY Board 9 from Friday 16h
Dealer: ♠ QJ8762 Table A
North ♥ 82 West North East South(B)
E-W vul ♦ A65 - 2♠ pass pass (1)
♣ K4 3♥ pass 4♥ 4♠ (2)
Pass pass dbl all pass
♠ 95 N ♠ A10
♥ AK976 W E ♥ QJ10 Table B
♦ KQ S ♦ 932 West North East South(B)
♣ Q973 ♣ AJ1062 - 2♠ pass 4♠ (1)
♠ K43 pass (3) pass pass (4)
♥ 543
♦ J10874
♣ 85
Table A: (1) What did you bid with this South hand B in this week’s quiz? This pass is a bit
feeble and 3♠, as chosen at another table is better (but not best!).
(2) South judges (correctly) that E-W will make game easily and that at this
vulnerability 4♠ doubled may be a good save.
Table B: (1) This is my answer to question B. You know that the opponents have an easy
game (slam even!) and you are prepared to sacrifice in 4♠ - so bid it NOW. The
added advantage of bidding game now is that nobody but you knows what is
going on; you may have a hand like this or you may have a very strong hand.
(3) West has no idea that partner has a decent hand (and South does not) and so is
obviously reluctant to bid.
(4) East has no idea that partner has a good hand (and South does not) and so is
obviously reluctant to bid.
The bottom lines:
Raising partner’s two bid opening to game is a double edged sword; it may be strong or
weak.
There is no problem with this ambiguity as you are the captain and partner will not bid again.
Always raise partner’s pre-empt immediately and to the maximum.
Raising a pre-empt (or passing) and then raising the pre-empt later allows the opponents to
gauge strength and you will get doubled if the opponents think that that is the correct option.
And what happened at our club? 4♥+1(W), 4♠*-3 twice, 4♠-4.
Bidding Quiz Answers
Hand A: 6♥, showing one keycard and a ♠ void (assuming you play Eddie Kantar’s RKCB
void responses).
Hand B: 4♠. Bid with conviction and the opponents may well not bid! You know they have
a vulnerable game so pre-empt now to the limit (and the opponents don’t even
know it’s a pre-emptive raise). Partner will not bid again of course.
Hand C: 2NT (Jacoby 2NT). An immediate 4NT RKCB is premature.
Hand D: 2♦, an Unassuming Cuebid showing a sound raise to 3♥ (or better). A 3♥ bid here
is best played as pre-emptive.