6 What is the object of bidding?

 Well, it is not to describe your hand as fully as possible, if that’s what you thought. Why take the opponents on a scenic tour of your hand, so helping their defence strategy?

The object of bidding is to reach your best contract as soon as possible. I always love this well-known example:

S AKQJ10

H xxxx

D Kx

C xx

Partner opens 1H, what do you bid? The answer is 4H of course. You’ve found your fit, go for the max. Why bid the spades? Your partner will see them when your dummy goes down. This complete waste of time would let in the opponents for a possible sacrifice, or at the least a bid to indicate the lead. Yes, you will have a couple of losers in hearts maybe, but with trumps drawn your spades (even with a 5-3 fit) will provide a dump for losers, whereas played in spades, the hearts will provide no such thing.

What is the best sort of contract to aim for?

a) If it’s trumps, the holy grail is a 4-4 fit or better (5-4). Always prefer this to:-

b) A 5-3 fit. This is workable, but the key difference is that dummy has one less ruffing chance.  So it’s second choice.

c) A 4-3 fit is deadly, avoid it like the plague. You cannot guarantee to draw enemy trumps and survive. So never raise your partner with three trumps unless you know she has a five suit.