| Developing a bidding system #16 |
We have covered your responses in most auctions and looked at some, where opener has limited his hand by rebidding his suit or NT or by raising your suit. The auction becomes less clear when opener makes a rebid in a third suit. The search for a fit is still uncertain and neither partner may have limited the value of his hand. The scope for getting it wrong increases and the spectre of a misfit looms. Simon is clear about a misfit. As soon as you identify a misfit, pass. You may not be in the best contract but another bid to try to improve the contract may result in making it drastically worse.
We have already touched on the subject of reverses, 1D – 1S – 2H and you can only show preference for diamonds at 3-level. Opener bids his suits in this order to show his 5-4 shape and no other reason. But since you are forced to sign off at the3-level opener needs some extra strength, say 16+HCP. Note the difference with 1H – 1S – 2D you can sign off with 2H. This sequence promises no greater strength than 1H – 1S – 2H. A reverse occurs when opener bids a higher ranked suit at 2-level e.g. 1D – 1S – 2H or a lower ranked suit at3-level e.g. 1S – 2D – 3C. Notice too there is no jump. The first sequence is forcing for 1 round and the second to game as responder has shown 10+HCP.
Or putting it the other way round you open 1D and rebid 2H to show the shape of your hand but as you force partner to 3-level you need strength not just opening values.
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♠ K5
♥ K1076
♦ AK963
♣ 62 |
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♠ QJ84
♥ 853
♦ 842
♣ KQ9 |
Do you fancy 3D with 13HCP? You can win S-2 D-3 and C-1 for sure and when the moon is blue, 8 tricks. Swap ♣6 for ♣A and there a good chance of 9 tricks. Note that the sequence 1H-1S-2D is not forcing. As was suggested above it is no stronger than a rebid in hearts, it merely confirms 5-4 shape at least. The rebid of 2H would usually show a 6-card suit. After 1H-1S-2D responder can pass but normally should be reluctant to do so. With a weak hand he should normally show preference for opener’s first, so longer suit.
With a minimum hand for your response you must sign off. You have already denied holding 4 hearts and your 2H preference promises little. Opener’s hand is 5-4 or possibly 6-4. And unless you hold 2 more cards in the second suit, give preference to his first suit. With minimum values would you rather play at the 2-level with a 4-3 or a 5-2 [and maybe 6-2] trump holding? So would partner. The same argument applies after 1H-1NT-2D but here you may well have made your response out of dislike for 1H and a pass of 2D may merely be in hope of a less bad landing spot. Feb 2012 JM Traill
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| Developing a bidding system #15 |
In the last article in this series we looked at game forcing responses, which suggested at least slight slam interest and it may be as well to finish off some of these bids. Bids that might be made by opener or responder.
- Trial bids. These are not even game forcing but an inquiry as to whether game is possible. Often the auction starts 1S-2S and, with some extra values, opener tries 3S. Responder has shown 6-9HCP with 4 trumps so presumably with 6-7 responder passes and with 8-9 raises to 4S. Playable; but not very efficient. Over 50 years ago now MacLeod suggested that after 1S-2S it was better to make a trial bid in a suit where assistance was needed. So 3D said ‘Bid4S if you have 4 trumps with 8/9 points and can help out in diamonds, otherwise sign off with 3S’. Opener might have ♦K86 and if responder held any of: ♦QJ5, ♦Q5, ♦5 or ♦- he could cover some losers. In some cases he might have ♦Q105, ♦J105 or ♦54 and ♥A and might bid 3H with the message that ‘I’ve got all you need but the help in diamonds isn’t wonderful, however I’ve something in hearts that might help.’ Opener can sign off in 3S or bid 4S.
- Cue bids. Say opener starts with 2S[strong] and responder bids 3S - now 4C [forget Gerber!!] is a cue bid. Note the two bids are similar - a suit has been agreed the trial bid allows responder to sign off below game but the cue bid takes the bidding to game level. The cue bid says ‘Knowing what you’ve told me so far I’m interested in a slam. I’ve got a control in clubs. Are you interested? If so, tell me about your controls.’ With no interest responder signs off with 4S. With some interest he can show a control in diamonds or hearts. And with extra values he can bid beyond 4S to show strong interest. Now what is a control and how is it shown? We’ve decided opener’s 4C is a cue bid and it traditionally it shows first round control of that suit either with ♣A or a void in the suit. He could cue bid 4D to show ♦A or void as first round control in diamonds AND deny first round control in clubs. Responder too would show controls on the way up; missing one denies a control. This does tend to send the bidding spiraling up and multi-cues have been developed allowing 1st or 2nd round controls to be shown. So opener’s 4C cue shows ♣A/void or ♣K/singleton and his cue of 4D would deny first or second round control in clubs. Now responder can decided to sign off in 4S or with suitable clubs continue to cue bid. I’ve even used a half-way house where ‘declarer’ can use multi-cues as the lead is coming up to his ♣Kxx and ‘dummy’ uses the traditional cues. The choice is yours - just agree with partner or you might end up in 7S with ♣K facing ♣xx both having multi-cue bid the suit.
- Blackwood. You should realize that any form of Blackwood is designed to keep you out of slams missing too many top cards. It isn’t an enquiry to get into slams. In the earliest days of bridge Easley Blackwood realized that 4NT was an idle bid and he decided to use this bid as an enquiry for aces. The step responses show 0 (or 4), 1, 2 or 3 aces. If you don’t have all the aces you bid the small slam or sign off at the5-level. You only ask for kings with 5NTwhen checking for a grand slam, so you guarantee all the aces are present. Nowadays Roman Key Card Blackwood is more popular. In this there are 5 ‘aces’ or ‘key cards’ with the trump king being the fifth. The step responses show 0/3, 1/4, 2 and 2 with the trump queen [we assume that there is no need to show all 5 aces – it would be 5NT]. With the majors, over 5C/D it is possible to use the next step as an enquiry for the trump queen. Responder denies the card with the next suit [or trumps] and shows it by indicating a side suit king or bidding 5NT. Or 5NT asks for kings and responder gives the count 0, 1, 2, 3 [excluding the trump king]; or can cue bid his lowest side suit king. Just agree what you are doing. Note that after NT openings an immediate 4NT is quantitative and asks opener to bid 6NT if his hand is maximum. [5NT tells opener to bid 6NT unless his hand is minimum – but this is rare and seems a waste of a bid.] At last we have a route from 1C to 7NT but there is still more for the next few issues! Jan2012 JM Traill
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