| 5NT grand slam force |
W E Bidding This was board 15 on the 9th of August. It was the hand to which I was called most often! East wanted advice on how to progress the auction.
♠ K952 ♠ AQJ W E Here, a quantative bid of 4NT will not work because, with a maximum holding of 14 points, West will bid 6NT and the guaranteed grand slam
♥ 9653 ♥ AKJ2 1NT ? will be missed. If, on the other hand, West had been minimum, he or she would have passed and, disastrously, the guaranteed small slam
♦ AQ4 ♦ K3 would be missed. The answer is for East to bid a forcing 5NT which demands partner bids 6NT with 12 or a poor 13 and bids 7NT with 14 or
♣ KQ ♣ AJ106 a good 13. On the day, no-one bid the grand which was a shame!
14 points 23 points Please note that when a suit has been agreed, 5NT no longer has the meaning described above. If you want to know how 5NT is used after
a suit has been agreed there is a link here.
Steve 13.8.22
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| Bidding to the level of the fit |
Bidding to the level of the fit means that if your partner and you have 10 cards in a suit, then you can assume you'll make 10 tricks. If your partnership has 11 cards between the 2 hands, then assume you can make 11 tricks and so on.
Bidding quickly to the level of the fit means that often you will prevent the opponents finding their fit. This frequently leads to a good score for your side particularly at favourable vulnerability.
This technique works best in pre-empting situations at green vulnerability. Say your partner opens 2♥ weak and you have ♠ x ♥ QJxx ♦ xxxx ♣ xxxx. Knowing your partner has 6-9 points with 6 hearts, it is tempting to pass. That would be wrong. The opponents have a huge ♠ fit and left to their own devices, they are guaranteed to find it. You immediately must bid 4♥ - 10♥s = 10 tricks. If the opponents do find their ♠ fit, you might well have a profitable sacrifice in 5 or 6♥.
Steve 13.8.22
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| Planning the play in No Trump contracts |
Unlike trump contracts, the first thing you should do in a no-trump contract is to count your winners.
If there are insufficient winners, you plan where the rest of the tricks are to come from.
Often, this is by esablishing your longest suit. This should be done first. Lose any tricks in that suit early in the play.
Keep playing this suit at every opportunity, making sure you count the opponents' cards until all you remaining cards become winners.
Counting the opposition's cards when you move to another suit is essential.
Finally, cash short suit winners.
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| Declarer Play in Suit Contracts |
When dummy appears, take your time and get used to looking at both hands and form a plan.
Count your losers. Can any of them be made into winners by finessing, trumping or discarding them on a side suit.
Next, count your winners. Look at each suit and estimate how many tricks you are likely to get.
If your plan includes trumping in the short hand, consider doing that before you draw tumps.
As soon as practicable, take out trumps making sure you count them as you go. If opponents have an outstanding trump higher than yours, then, rather than using two of your trumps to draw it, leave their trump outstanding to be played whenever the opponents wish.
After all trumps are taken out establish your longest side suit if you haven't already done so. Sometimes this step should be done earlier.
Finally, cash honours in your short suits.
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| Opening Leads |
The lead of an honour promises the honour below and another close by. Standard leads say you lead king from ace king, but I think you will all find it easier to lead the Ace which promises the king. You should not lead an honour unless you have the honour below.
The lead of a small card promises an honour in that suit.
If opponents bid no trumps when you have been bidding in the auction try not to lead your side’s suit as they will have cover in it.
Often, it is a good idea to lead the unbid suit when making an opening lead especially defending a no trump contract.
Make sure you lead partner's suit if he has bid during the auction unless opponents bid no trumps.
Consider leading a trump if you think there is a danger that opponents will be trumping losers.
A lead of the 'top of nothing' says to partner I have nothing in this suit.
It is not a good idea to lead away from an unsupported king.
Julia 28/06/22
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| Doubling 1NT opening bids |
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Bidding was as follows:-
S W N E
1NT P P ?
What should East do when South's 1NT opening bid is passed round to her?
With a hand that has 15+ points or, preferably, 16+ points, especially when sitting to declarer's right (as in this case), the correct thing to do is to DOUBLE.
The DOUBLE oa an opening bid of 1NT is ALWAYS for penalties and NOT for take-out. Therefore, partner should pass unless he has a compelling reason to bid.
Such reasons are
i) he has no points and considers that the doubled contract is going to make. However, bear in mind that the fewer points he has, the more his partner is likely to have.
ii) she thinks game is on and will score more points than the penalty. Usually, this will be when her side is vulnerable and the opponents are non-vulnerable. (600 for a vulnerable game out scores 500 for 3 off in a non-vulnerable contract).
When this board was played in class, only once was it played in 1NTX and E/W gained 800 for 4 off. Two E/Ws played in 3NT making 9 tricks for 400, some played in 1NT by South and E/W scored 150 or 200 and the rest played in making part score contracts by E/W.
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| Adopt a Discard System |
1. When you are defending and you have to discard, there is a golden opportunity to give information to your partner.
2. Adopting a discard system will make the game easier.
3. The simpler the system the better. A complicated system will be hard to remember and hard to follow.
4. Odd encourages is a good simple system.
5. Discard by you of an odd card suggests that you would like that suit led when partner gains the lead. If you don't have an odd card in the suit you want, discard an even card in a suit you don't want.
6. Discarding an even card conveys the message that you don't want that suit nor, obviously, the suit led, nor the trump suit which leaves only the suit you do want.
7. When defending a No Trumps contract, it is slightly different in that there is no trump suit, here a high even card suggests the higher ranking of the other two suits and a low even card suggests the lower ranking of the other two suits.
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| Quantitative Raise |
Board 6 ♠ J
Dealer E ♥ K954
Vul : E/W ♦ 7432
♣ AK53
♠ Q9642 ♠ 853
♥ Q6 ♥ JT832
♦ J98 ♦ T5
♣ J74 ♣ 962
N ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ AKT7
N 6 5 4 7 7 ♥ A7
S 6 5 4 7 7 ♦ AKQ6
E - - - - - ♣ QT8
W - - - - -
1. Open 2NT with a balanced 20-22 ponts hand.
2. If responder has 11 or 12 points, consider if a small slam should be bid. 33 points between the two hands is what is required for a small slam.
3. Responder bids 4NT (quantitative raise) which asks partner to bid 6NT with a maximum (22) or pass with a minimum (20/21).
4. In the hand above, opener would rebid 6NT, because she has a maximum.
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| Reverse Bidding |
A reverse bid occurs when you open 1 of a suit and rebid 2 of a higher ranking suit.
1♣ : 1♥ : 2♦ is an example. ♦ is higher ranking than ♣ so a final 2♣ contract is no longer possible.
To reverse you need:-
1. A strong hand with at least 16 points but not strong enough to open with a strong 2 bid.
2. Distribution should be 5/4 or very occasionally 6/4.
3. The first bid suit must be longer than the second.
4. The second bid suit must be higher ranking than the first.
A reverse bid cannot be passed. It is forcing for 1 round and, if partner has responded at the 2 level e;g 1♥ : 2♣ : 2♠ , it's forcing to game.
Don't reverse with 5/5 distribution. Bid the higher ranking suit first and then rebid the second suit (if you're strong you might jump).
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