[Brian Davies]

Thank you. So, the 1S-2H-4D sequence would generally be a splinter unless exactly 5422 shape?

[Brian Davies]

I have always used the 2NT then 4H route with this hand type. I had assumed that this was standard, so I am interested that Bernard (in his Monday live seminar) and you don’t like this approach.

We are unlikely to get any opposition interference at this stage, so I would be interested in your opinion of the down-side.

Thanks

[Brian Davies]

Great reply Michael. We need a ‘Like’ feature on the forum.

[Brian Davies]

Hi Julian, can I follow up on a couple of these please?

SINGLETON CLUB

This came up before: http://blog.bernardmageebridge.com/forums/topic/weak-12-15-4441-hand-when-i-am-dealer/ and I expressed the opinion that opening 1D with a singleton club may appear silly if you have to rebid a singleton club, but I think that it is the lesser lie and I gave some pertinent examples why opening 1H can lead to silly contracts as well. I would add that opening 1H can cause problems in competitive auctions, because a 1H opening promises extras – either 15+ points or a 5-card suit. Responder will often judge to bid up in Acol “knowing” that partner has either extra shape or extra strength and will be disappointed when opener shows up with a 4441 12-count.

You mention that responder can bid 4th suit forcing on hands with three-card heart support. But this is messy, in that 4SF followed by 4H is generally stronger than an immediate 4H raise and if you follow this sequence with all three-card holdings you will lose the ability to make the strength showing raise.

SINGLETON HEART

Bernard recommends opening 1C when 4-4 in the minors. I think that you are suggesting that he should open 1C with a singleton heart to be consistent? I think that it would be very rare for there to be any advantafe either way?

[Brian Davies]

Hi Julian, can I follow up on a couple of these please?

 

SINGLETON CLUB

This came up before: http://blog.bernardmageebridge.com/forums/topic/weak-12-15-4441-hand-when-i-am-dealer/ and I expressed the opinion that opening 1D with a singleton club may appear silly if you have to rebid a singleton club, but I think that it is the lesser lie and I gave some pertinent examples why opening 1H can lead to silly contracts as well. I would add that opening 1H can cause problems in competitive auctions, because a 1H opening promises extras – either 15+ points or a 5-card suit. Responder will often judge to bid up in Acol “knowing” that partner has either extra shape or extra strength and will be disappointed when opener shows up with a 4441 12-count.

You mention that responder can bid 4th suit forcing on hands with three-card heart support. But this is messy, in that 4SF followed by 4H is generally stronger than an immediate 4H raise and if you follow this sequence with all three-card holdings you will lose the ability to make the strength showing raise.

 

SINGLETON HEART

Bernard recommends opening 1C when 4-4 in the minors. I think that you are suggesting that he should open 1C with a singleton heart to be consistent? I think that it would be very rare for there to be any advantage either way?

[Brian Davies]

This post is a bit muddled – you don’t give any signals as declarer, the opponents are the only players who can gain.

What I think that you might be trying to express:

• You Play Attitude, High Encouraging / Low Discouraging (HELD) when partner has led the suit.
• You play Count, High Even / Low Odd (HELO) when declarer has led the suit.

This is a perfectly reasonable start for signalling when following suit. You can also play HELD when discarding (you would usually play a low card in a suit that you don’t want led, a high card would be less frequent and would be encouraging).

As for DODDS, they seem to have mis-described it and it a complex system that seems to confer little advantage in my opinion, although some people seem to like it.

[Brian Davies]

Hi Julian, can I follow up on a couple of these please?

SINGLETON CLUB

This came up before: http://blog.bernardmageebridge.com/forums/topic/weak-12-15-4441-hand-when-i-am-dealer/ and I expressed the opinion that opening 1D with a singleton club may appear silly if you have to rebid a singleton club, but I think that it is the lesser lie and I gave some pertinent examples why opening 1H can lead to silly contracts as well. I would add that opening 1H can cause problems in competitive auctions, because a 1H opening promises extras – either 15+ points or a 5-card suit. Responder will often judge to bid up in Acol “knowing” that partner has either extra shape or extra strength and will be disappointed when opener shows up with a 4441 12-count.

You mention that responder can bid 4th suit forcing on hands with three-card heart support. But this is messy, in that 4SF followed by 4H is generally stronger than an immediate 4H raise and if you follow this sequence with all three-card holdings you will lose the ability to make the strength showing raise.

 

SINGLETON HEART

Bernard recommends opening 1C when 4-4 in the minors. I think that you are suggesting that he should open 1C with a singleton heart to be consistent? I think that it would be very rare for there to be any advantage either way?

[Brian Davies]

Yes, that would have worked well on this hand John. 🙂

I would have mentioned if we were doing anything non-standard.

[Brian Davies]

Declarer clearly has enough tricks once he gets in. We need to find partner with either:

1. A109XXX in clubs (a 5-card suit won’t work, because declarer can duck).
2. Or 1098X in clubs and A10XX in spades (again, A10X won’t work because declarer can duck).

I played the Queen of Spades, hoping for the second holding. Partner had led from A109852 in clubs and we let the contract through. Should I have got this right? Partner might have chosen an active spade lead with a 4-card suit headed by the A10 rather than a passive lead from 1098X. The auction seems to suggest an active lead.

Nik gets the right answer, although I’m not sure that the rule of symmetry has any genuine mathematical basis (for computer dealt hands). 🙂

[Brian Davies]

Charles, West is on the left and North is at the top – where you would normally expect them. Declarerer’s hand is hidden, but would be on the right. Partner’s hand is hidden, but would be at the bottom.

West plays before North, in the traditional fashion.

[Brian Davies]

Hi Ian, no I don’t use McKendrick and disagree that Mckendrick is “generally favoured”. I have rarely come across it, but maybe that’s a regional thing. There are a number of approaches, but Bernard teaches that 2NT is the invitational response and 2S is used to sign off in three of a minor. I think that Bernard’s is a very reasonable method – particularly if you only started playing 18 months ago.

I Personally I use a completely different method involving transfers in all four suits – but that would be introducing more complexity and I won’t go into the details.

[Brian Davies]

Hi Michael, you ask: “partner opens 1NT (12 – 14) and I have around 11ish points with a ‘good’ 6-card diamond suit.  How should the bidding go?”

It is difficult to offer an opinion without seeing the hand. But there is a good chance that 3NT will make, even opposite a minimum 1NT. The key is whether you will be able to get the diamond suit to run and it would not be unusual to find that 3NT makes if the diamond suit can be set up to run, but 2NT doesn’t make if the diamond cannot be set up in time. 3NT is often the practical bid.

Bernard gives some good advice on hand evaluation for invitational raises in his Monday Live seminar on 3rd August.

 

[Brian Davies]

It’s only advanced in the sense that when we start off with cue bids we agree the suit first. Compare:

• 1♦-1♥-3♥-4♣ The three heart bid has already agreed hearts before the cue bidding starts. The four club is a cue bid.
• 1♥-2♦-3♥-4♣ Only opener has bid hearts, but we don’t really want to bid a new suit at the four level, so most would play that the four club bid is a cue bid (agreeing hearts in the process).

The second example takes a little bit of getting used to for someone new to cue bidding. But it soon becomes second nature.

[Brian Davies]

I really dislike this convention. At the heart of the convention is the assumption that there is the need to differentiate between an invitation with 11 HCPs and an invitation with 12 HCPs. This is a spurious level of precision which values counting over judgement. Bernard emphasises in every seminar that hand evaluation should involve upgrading and downgrading for a myriad of factors. But advocates of Mckendrick disregard such advice and reduce everything to a point counting exercise.

[Brian Davies]

Maybe:

1♠-(Pass)-2♣ -(3♦)

3♥-(Pass)-4♦*-(Pass)

4NT-(Pass)-5♦-(Pass)

6♥

 

* The 4♦ bid is a more advanced type of Cue Bid, because hearts have not been explicitly agreed. But a bid in the opponents’ suit is always artificial and forcing and it is best to play it at this level as agreeing the last suit bid and inviting slam. The interference has made it tricky and isn’t an ideal hand for players new to Cue Bidding!

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