The bidding questions on the web site have been provided by Bernard Magee and Mr Bridge for details of all of Bernard Magee’s DVD’s, Books and Mr Bridge holidays visit the Mr Bridge website by clicking here.
Bidding is based on "Standard ACOL" weak NT and 4 card majors
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1NT. Your partner has doubled 1♣ for takeout: showing an opening hand with club shortage. Your best suit is diamonds, but your strong holding in clubs should lead you down another avenue: with 7-9 points and a good club holding you can respond 1NT. Remember that you expect shortage in clubs in your partner’s hand, so your club holding should be robust against a singleton. Your jack-ten bolster the club suit and make 1NT sensible.
East Hand ♠ KQ42 ♥ JT765 ♦ AK3 ♣ 5 |
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3♣
Your partner has rebid 1NT, showing a strong balanced hand: 15-17 points. You have 8 HCP, a strong five-card spade suit, along with two tens and all the high cards working together. The hand is worth a good nine points and you should go for game.
You can describe your hand fully by making a jump bid of 3♣. This suggests your shape and allows your partner to pick the best game. It also highlights the weakness in diamonds and means that 3NT can be avoided.
Here, you would finish in 4♠.
East Hand ♠ J52 ♥ AK42 ♦ 96 ♣ AK62 |
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2♥
Once your partnership has agreed a minor, if you have extra strength both players should be considering no-trumps. Supporting a minor denies length in the majors (you would have responded 1♥ or 1♠ had you had four or more). With no interest in playing in a different trump suit, all new suit bids are trial bids for a no-trump contract – they show a stop in the suit bid and ask partner to view his assets and either bid no-trumps or, in turn, show a stopper in a suit, or finally return to the original suit (clubs).
Your partner has shown a diamond stop and is asking you to show any stopper you hold. Your heart holding will make a certain trick and constitutes a stopper, so you should show it by bidding 2♥ . This allows your partner to bid 3NT with confidence.
East Hand ♠ AQ3 ♥ 76 ♦ AK4 ♣ KQ872
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Pass
What does your partner’s double mean? When your side makes a pre-emptive bid of any sort, doubles are for penalties. This is because one player in the partnership has given an accurate description of his hand: you have shown seven hearts and 5-9 HCP. This leaves East in the perfect position to judge the best final contract. Here, holding good trumps and plenty of outside strength he makes a penalty double, hoping to get more points from 3♠ doubled than you might get from a game contract.
You might take 3♠ three off for 800 points (nearly twice as much as a ropey 4♥ contract).
Penalty doubles are often difficult to identify and they require good partner- ship trust because one player will be short in the trump suit, whilst the other has the length.
East Hand ♠ QT97 ♥ 3 ♦ AK94 ♣ KQ43 |
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