Bits and pieces

[Walddk]

4 hands from real life bridge. What are your bids, and why?

 

1.

 

[hv=d=s&v=b&s=s6hk853daq6cak1092]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

Strong NT. You open 1♣, LHO overcalls 1♥, and partner responds 1♠ (4+). Pass from RHO. What do you rebid?

 

.....

 

2.

 

[hv=d=s&v=b&s=s6hk853daq6cak1092]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

Opps don't bid. Partner opens 1♦, you 1♥, 2♦ by partner, and 3♣ from you. Partner has more diamonds: 3♦. You?

 

.....

 

3.

 

[hv=d=s&v=b&s=s6hk853daq6cak1092]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

East opens 3♠, passed to your partner who reopens with a double. What now?

 

.....

 

4.

 

[hv=d=s&v=b&s=s6hk853daq6cak1092]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

Uncontested auction.

 

1♥ - 1♠

2♣ - 2♥

2♠ - ??

 

You may or may not agree with 2♥ (I do), but that's beside the point. What do you bid now?

 

Roland

[pbleighton]

Nice nasty problems, Roland.

 

1. 2C. Not nice, but 1NT is too much of an underbid.

 

2. Whatever form of RKC you play.

 

3. Yikes! Pass, and hope. 4C is a close second choice.

 

4. 2H is fine by me. I play pd for 3514, 16-18 hcp.

We aren't stopping diamonds in 3NT unless his singleton

is J or higher, and then, just once.

 

4H.

 

Peter

[whereagles]

1. 2♣ seems fair.

 

2. Sounds like pard has a min with 7 diams without the ace. In this case the spade ace is almost guaranteed. 4♦ here, probably not stopping short of 6 :P

 

3. 4♣. Even if this gets hammered, it will probably cost less than seeing 3♠X coming home.

 

4. 3♣. If pard can go on with 3♥ (showing 5 good ones) or 3NT (showing singleton top honor), I'll oblige and bid the corresponding game.

[hrothgar]

1. Rather annoying hand... The hand started out too strong for a 15-17 HCP NT opening. I like the 1♣ opening, planning to reverse into Hearts. In practice, my hand has devalued significantly following the 1♥ overcall and 1♠ advance plus I can't reverse into Hearts any more.

 

All of my potential rebids look badly flawed.

 

1NT s way off with respect to range

2♣ is wrong on range and sugests a sixth club

2NT suggests a doubleton Spade and is probably overstating strength

 

I think that 2♥ is the best of a bad lot. However, I'll be interested to hear what folks think about a 2♦ reverse

 

2. What was 3♣? Can I bid 3♥ without worrying that this will get passed out?

 

3. Very nasty hand. Mark me down as a 4♣ bidder

 

4. I come from a school in which opener strives to raise 1♠ to 2♠ with most hands holding 3 card spade suport. Accordingly, its hard to image many hands where this auction is reasonable. In theory, partner might hold something like

 

♠ xxx

♥ AQJ93

♦ x

♣ AQ84

 

In which case 4♥ looks reasonable

[joker_gib]

Of course nice problems ! :P

 

1. 2♣ I'm a sort of French and very conservative but you already know that ! :D

 

2. 3♠ to learn more and then search for slam in ♦ more likely

 

3. Ouch ! the tougher for me ! MP I'll pass but IMPS : great problem ! I don't like it but will take a view : PASS :(

 

4. I still think that 3NT is the most likely game with 10HCP and no ace so I go for 3NT ! :)

 

 

Alain

[MickyB]

1. 2♣

 

2. 4♦, looking for a ♠ cue

 

3. Pass

 

4. 3♣ (surely forcing, given that we could have passed 2♣ or 2♠), looking for 4♠, 5♣ or 6♣

[Blofeld]

1. 2♣: however tempting a 2♦ reverse is, I feel miserable when partner raises.

 

2. 4♦

 

3. Pass without a lot of conviction. 4♣ tempts.

 

4. I think a spade game looks reasonably likely, and I'm tempted to just bid 4♠ now. If 3♣ is forcing then I'd prefer that.

 

Tough problems!

[mike777]

4 hands from real life bridge. What are your bids, and why?

 

1.

 

[hv=d=s&v=b&s=s6hk853daq6cak1092]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

Strong NT. You open 1♣, LHO overcalls 1♥, and partner responds 1♠ (4+). Pass from RHO. What do you rebid?

 

.....

 

2.

 

[hv=d=s&v=b&s=s6hk853daq6cak1092]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

Opps don't bid. Partner opens 1♦, you 1♥, 2♦ by partner, and 3♣ from you. Partner has more diamonds: 3♦. You?

 

.....

 

3.

 

[hv=d=s&v=b&s=s6hk853daq6cak1092]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

East opens 3♠, passed to your partner who reopens with a double. What now?

 

.....

 

4.

 

[hv=d=s&v=b&s=s6hk853daq6cak1092]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

Uncontested auction.

 

1♥ - 1♠

2♣ - 2♥

2♠ - ??

 

You may or may not agree with 2♥ (I do), but that's beside the point. What do you bid now?

 

Roland

1) 2c

2) 4d

3) 4c

4) 4h

[pclayton]

1. 1N yuk, but 2♣ and 2♦ are worse. Give me a better heart spot and I'll do something stronger I think. After reading the votes for 2♣, I'm wondering if 2♣ should have a much wider range than 1N. Perhaps it should but not by a lot.

 

2. 4♦. Eyes on real big things if pard can cue ♠'s.

 

3. Pass - take the $$. Easy to see that a grand is possible opposite the right 0-4-4-5, but I'm s.o.l.. Follow-ups over a high level TOx are much unrefined.

 

4. 3♦ - 21st century cue bid. Can't be a suit, so it shows a fitting maximum. May have something big with the right 17.

[Winstonm]

1. 2C

2. 4D if forcing, otherwise 5D

3. Pass. Might lose this match but long run probably best.

4. 2N

[luke warm]

1) 1nt because of the heart bid on my left

 

2) 3♠ and if 3nt by pard i bid 6♦... any bid other than 3nt i bid 5♦

 

3) pass, but it wouldn't surprise me if 4♥ was best

 

4) 2nt but i'm worried that partner is 3514.. he does have another bid, however

[hrothgar]

Question for all the folks choosing to rebid 1NT on hand 1...

 

What would you rebid with 12-14 balanced with no spade support?

I would think that 1NT would be the "normal" bid...

 

Then again, I'd never consider using that same 1NT rebid to show a rock crusher like this so I must be missing something...

[luke warm]

i don't think i have a rock crusher, richard... i *did* have a good hand, but that was before it became likely that my ♥K is not in the greatest position

[hrothgar]

i don't think i have a rock crusher, richard... i *did* have a good hand, but that was before it became likely that my ♥K is not in the greatest position

I'm well aware of the concept of plastic valuation.

I even made reference to it in my original post.

 

However, your taking this to extremes...

 

K+R evaluates the original hand worth 19.5 HCPs: this is significantly too strong for 1NT and easily worth a reverse.

 

Lets assume that the King of Hearts is now completely worthless and plus the followign hand into K+R

 

♠ 6

♥ 9853

♦ AQ6

♣ AKT92

 

This still evaluates as 16.5 HCP. Event if you downgrade the hand a bit more for the singleton opposite partner's Spade suit, its still not a balanced 12 count. (And given the amount of bidding going one, partner is going to assume that your on the low end of your range)

 

It seems insane to downgrade your hand by (roughly) 7.5 HCP basd on an assumption about the location of the AQ of Hearts.

[MickyB]

I think K+R has this one wrong, Richard. Our most likely game is 3N, and Thomas Andrews' work evaluates this as equivalent to a flat 17 count in NT. Given the auction, it seems reasonable to downgrade this to a 2♣ bid.

[Joe de Balliol]

Board 1: 2♦ seems fine. It's not likely to get into serious trouble. If pard is interested in game, I'm quite happy to hear a 2♥ or 3♦ probe. If not, I'll be passing 2♠ or 3♣

 

Board 2: I quite like 4♦ hoping for S cue, but partners have a tendency to pass bids like these. I'll go with some kind of RKCB.

 

Board 3: I pass. Not a big problem.

 

Board 4: 3♦. I want more info.

 

J

[goodwintr]

1. 2D. Assuming 1S showed something besides any old four spades and presence at the table. (Not necessarily a Rothian "free bid," but something.) Over 3D, 3NT; over 2S, 2NT.

 

2. 3H. I am hoping he raises to 4H, so I can bid 5D and focus on spades. I don't think 5D (over 3D) has the same focus. Maybe 4D (over 3D) is better than 3H: it could attract a cue-bid in spades from partner, even on a small singleton.

 

3. P. Either you do or you don't.

 

4. 4D. Anti-splinter, showing an ideal holding opposite partner's singleton (or void). OK, this is fancy, but I read about it somewhere and have been wanting to try it out. Why can't partner have perfect cards for slam, even if 2C is non-forcing?

[Kalvan14]

• 1. 1NT. There is really no good bid here. I started the auction ready to reverse in hearts, but LHO's overcall has ruined my lil ploy. Now the risk is finding pard with 5 spades and 4 diamonds. I really do prefer downgrading my hand a bit but avoiding stronger actions in a likely misfit situation.
  
• 2. 4D (certainly forcing). Hope pard can cue-bid spades.
  
• 3. Pass, and lead AD. I should get at least 1 down. 4C can be awkward if pard's balancing double is a bit off shape.
  
• 4. 3D: I like Phil's reasoning
  

[Winstonm]

pclayton: 1. 1N yuk, but 2♣ and 2♦ are worse. Give me a better heart spot and I'll do something stronger I think. After reading the votes for 2♣, I'm wondering if 2♣ should have a much wider range than 1N. Perhaps it should but not by a lot.

 

IMO, it is not a choice but a matter of being forced to have a wider range.

Consider this bidding without the heart overcall. The essence of a reverse is that it shows extra strength because it propels the bidding up another level - though some may reverse with this hand it is not for me. My reverses start at a good 17.

That means that when holding 4 hearts, the minor rebid has to have a wide range, from 11 and 4/6 to 16 and 45.

 

Although I really deteste bidding 1N with a singleton, I would be more apt to do it in this auction but then I'd be trying to limit my hand: x, Kxxx, Kxx, AQJxx. With a misfit and a poorly placed King I'd want partner to know my range because it is going to take a lot of extras from him to get us anywhere.

 

2C, though, is more flexible: I either have long clubs or a goodish hand or somewhere in the middle with no heart stop.

 

Anyway, those are my views.

 

Winston

[Finch]

(joint Frances/Jeffrey answers as he is standing next to me)

 

1. 2C. Not ideal, but anything else is worse.

2. 4D/3H (see long comment below)

3. We wish to abstain. 4C in a long match. Pass at (x-imp) pairs or a short match.

4. 3D. Seems obvious. Partner has a 3514 with extra values. We have the values for game, let's find out where we are playing. Pass 3NT (singleton D honour), bid 4H over anything else.

 

2. Frances bids 4D, which will make (grand) slam bidding trivial if we can extract a spade cue bid from partner. Jeffrey bids 3H which he says may allow us to find 4H opposite something like Qx x(x) A109xxxx KQ(x) without giving up on slam. Jeffrey now says 'perhaps that's a bit pairs-esque', but likes keeping the auction low.

[mikeh]

1. 2♣: the only bid that is not a lie. Yes, it is both maximum in hcp and minimum in length, but neither holding is inconsistent with the meaning of the bid. This hand has gone down in value and is a good lesson hand for those who form their impression of hand strength at trick one and never think of it again. It may improve again, but for now, it ain't worth its apparent hcp.

 

2. 3♠. This is intended to get partner to own to a ♠ stopper: he might have Jx x AQxxxxx KJx or the like and 5♦ is the limit. If he refuses to bid 3N, I sign off in 5♦. If he bids 3N, I bid 4♦ and now he absolutely has to show me the nature of his ♠ control: 4♠ with the Ace, 4N with the King and (probably) with the Qxx or QJx. Over 4♠ I will bid 7♦. Over 4N I will bid 5♦: a very strong slam move.

 

3. 5♣ in a long match, pass in a short match: I wrote my answers down before scanning the posts and I agree entirely with Frances and Jeffrey in terms of when to pass, but I like my hand too much to settle for 4♣ red at imps if I am going to pull. Sure, I may hate the outcome, especially if partner is 1=5=4=3 or so, but 4♣ is not getting me to 4♥ then anyway.

 

4. 4♠. I admit, this is an error. The correct bid is either the Bluhmer (I think that is the correct term) of 4♦ showing almost exactly this hand or 3♦ as a non-committal force. However, I did not think of either until I had written down my actual bid :) . I expect partner to hold a chunky 3=5=1=4, and I liked my 10 of ♠. However, either ♦ bid is better, since it includes partner in the discussion while my bid does not.