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In all the boards below, N and S Pass, unless stated otherwise.
With hands 5, 6, and 7 click on 'Show Detail' to reveal the hands.
After you have worked out how you would bid the board, click on ‘Show Answer’ and compare your bidding with that of the experts!
Click on CONVENTION CARD to see bidding system
Good luck!
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| BOARD 1 |
Show Detail |
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| Show Answer |
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West
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East
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| 1♦ |
2♦ |
| 3♣ |
5♦ |
| Pass |
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5♦ is a very good spot. Can we get there? And can we get there other than we can tell from looking at the two hands we want to be in it? (this will be a perennial problem for the way this feature is done!). I think we can get to 5♦. If we use Losing Trick Count (LTC) we will respond 3♦ to West's 1♦. That should be enough to get West excited.
If we bid 2♦ as East then the question moves to West as to whether its worth a move or not. If West makes game try of 3♣ then East should recognise that her hand has just got a whole lot better. Five trumps, AQJx of partner's second suit and a singleton. The auction I have given has East jumping to 5♦ which I think is the right valuation but if you are confident you and partner are on the same wavelength East should bid 4♥ (over 3♣) which would be a splinter bid.
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| BOARD 2 |
Show Detail |
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| Show Answer |
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West
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East
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1♥ |
| 2♣ |
2♥ |
| 3♦ |
3♥ |
| 4♥ |
Pass |
I think the key moment is what does East rebid over 3♦? Show the 6th Heart or the Spade stop? I'm sure at the table I would bid 3NT. As one of expert panel explains this could well be wrong as over 3♥, West could bid 3♠ (fourth suit forcing) if she was worried about Spades and wanted to play in 3NT. I have been persuaded of the logic of this so have been converted to the idea of showing the 6th heart.
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| BOARD 3 |
Show Detail |
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| Show Answer |
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West
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East
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| 1♣ |
1♥ |
| 4♥ |
Pass |
Over 1♥ how many Hearts are we worth? I'm forcing all the way to 4♥. You could try 3♠ as a splinter and agrees Hearts. If you don't play this or not sure how partner would take it then bid 4♥ (and then have the discussion with partner as to what 3♠ should mean). This is a hand where it probably depends on whether you are playing pairs or teams. This theme will come up again and again - at Teams there is a premium for bidding your games so when decisions are close you stretch to bid game.
At Pairs there is no real upside to being in thin games. You will find that I come very much from a teams background so will always err on stretching to thin games. I will try and be clear when I think I have done this. In short - West should probably rebid 3♥ at Pairs and force to game at Teams.
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| BOARD 4 |
Show Detail |
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| Show Answer |
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West
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East
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| 1NT |
2♣ |
| 2♦ |
Pass |
I have had a lot of conversation with my class about the point count requirements for Stayman. Somehow they were of the belief (which I'm claiming very strongly they did not get from me!) that you need 11+ points to use Stayman. I don't believe this is true and is not how it is taught on the EBU course. Most of my expert panel thought this was a good hand for Stayman and landed into 2♦.
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| BOARD 5 |
Show Detail |
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| Show Answer |
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West
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East
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| 1♥ |
2♥ |
| Pass |
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So we have 25 points and want to play in 2♥?! Playing losing trick count (LTC) we have a chance as both East and West will have their feet on the brakes using LTC. I have given the auction driven by LTC. If people are unfamiliar with LTC they can email me and I'll try and find some stuff which explains it. If you play much teams bridge - a version of the game which pays a premium for bidding games - you will not win very often if you play hands with 25 points in part scores. Given what I said on hand 3 I can't imagine I would end up in 2♥ if this happened at the table rather than in a quiz.
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| BOARD 6 |
Show Detail |
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| Show Answer |
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West
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East
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| 1♥ |
1NT |
| 2♦ |
3♦ |
| Pass |
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Another hand where some partnership discussion would be useful. I got some interesting comments from the experts. Some were passing 2♦, some were raising to 3♦ - which is what I prefer. I'm the camp of knowing that 2♦ is not forcing but I'm not going to pass very often as 2♦ can be quite wide ranging in strength. And therefore I'm certainly not passing with five card Diamond support. If partner has a weaker hand and I passed 2♦ there must be a real chance that the oppenents would back into the auction and find their Spade or Club fit.
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| BOARD 7 |
Show Detail |
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| Show Answer |
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West
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East
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1NT |
| 3♥ |
3♠ |
| 4♣ |
4♦ |
| 6♥ |
Pass |
According to our System card 3♥ is Game Forcing and a Slam invite in Hearts to seems like the right start if that's how you play it. If you are not sure how you get things on a Slam footing after partner has opened 1NT this is a discussion worth having. The other discussion that is worth having is what is your cue bidding style once you start to Cue Bid. I had six submissions from my expert panel and they found six different ways to bid the slam. Shows that it’s a tough game but they can smell a slam and find a way to bid it. In the auction I have given 3♠, 4♣ and 4♦ are all cue bids and after 4♦ West thinks she's heard enough to bid the Slam
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| BOARD 8 |
Show Detail |
North will overcall 2♠ (weak)
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| Show Answer |
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West
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East
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Pass |
| 1♣ |
(2♠) Pass |
| X |
3♥ |
| 4♥ |
Pass |
North will overcall 2♠ (weak). Hopefully everybody plays West's Double as Takeout. What should East bid over the Double? This is where its useful for partnerships to have some discussion and life is easier of you have a bit of system here. Many people play something called Lebensohl in these sorts of situations. This means in the auction given 3♥ shows some values. Even playing Lebensohl. East's is marginal but the 5th Heart makes it worth (I think) the constructive bid of 3♥.
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