Here is a difficult competitive auction to start with on board 1.
North - should he open? If so what?
Only 7 HCPs but what shape 65. (6 5 come alive! - Here is Larry Cohen on 6 5)
Generally one should not bid a weak 2 in the majors if you have a 4+ card other suit. Here is Larry Cohen (again) on the limitations of a weak 2 bid.
Is the hand strong enough to open 1 ♠ with 7 HCPs planning a weak 2♥ rebid? It does not meet either a 11HCP opening bid or the useful 'rule of 20'. Here is (yes again) Larry Cohen on the Rule of 20
So North should probably pass.
East has to choose between 1 ♣ planning to rebid 2♣ or 1N (to show balanced 15-16 as with the 5 card ♣ s and 14HCP you may want to upgrade it, Kaplan hand evaluator says it is worth 15.65!). Opening 1NT is a very strong 14 HCP hand)
Over 1♣ South will bid 2NT the unusual NT showing the 2 lowest unbid suits ♥ and ♦ s.
West has a good HCP raise of ♣ s. Whilst you cannot do the normal unassuming cue bid raise as South has not bid a suit, but he has shown ♦ s and ♥ s so you could bid 2♦ to show a HCP raise of s♣ . Saving 3♣ as a preemptive raise. Here is Andrew Robson on the unassuming cue bid.
Over west's 2♦ North has great support for ♥ s and should bid to the level of fit (or the Law of Total Tricks as made popular by Larry Cohen in his book 'To bid or not to bid' ) and he will bid 4♥ (5+5).
East now has a difficult decision, but will probably bid 5♣
South will either pass or bid 5♥ . Another saying leave the 5 leval to the opponents. Here is Andrew Robson discussing Five is for the other side. To bid 5 over 5 you need a special feature to do it, such as a void in opponents trump suit or a double fit. Without this South and North should pass, though bidding 5♥ works best here.
Let's hope the rest of the hands are easier!
|