Julian Pottage
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Brian Davies gives a good example of when a new suit at the three level definitely would not be forcing.
For the opening bid, I would not open 2NT (or open 2C and rebid 2NT if that is the way to show this point count) because the singleton heart is a spot card.
A few people have mentioned that it is usual to open 1D with a 4144 shape but here your priority is to make it as easy as possible for partner to respond, so I agree with your choice of 1C.
Unlike the hand in Charles Bentley’s post, the responding hand has some shape and useful intermediates so i would not be passing 1C – also with the singleton I would be trying to keep the opposition out.
Did the opponents really pass out 1C when they had 11 hearts between them or have a I misread the question?
The word ‘always’ rarely applies in bridge! On this auction, however, 3H is forcing. Partner must have a good long suit to open 3D, so you are never going to need to rescue partner. I am not sure I would bid 3H with this hand because the suit is poor but if I did I would not expect partner to pass.
Some 5 HCP hands would be worth a response. Here the intermediate cards are poor and there is a danger of getting too high if you respond. If you had two clubs and three diamonds, there would be more of a case for responding. As it is 1C should be a respectable contract. The fact that you are vulnerable is another reason for caution. A 1H response would not be a crime but I can see why pass gets top marks.
This is a tricky one. Being vulnerable you do not want to bid 3H without 4 hearts and partner is reluctant to bid 3H without 6 hearts. I do not think it was clear cut for either of you to have bid on. The responding hand might make a takeout double of 2S but the hand is a shade weak for that.
I strongly recommend playing Lebensohl. South’s 3C would then promise some values (a weaker hand bids 2NT and passes partner’s semi-forced 3C). North could have bid 4S rather than 4C. With nothing wasted in spades, South could then bid 6C. It is tough to reach 7C.
Incidentally West’s bidding is terrible. Raising spades immediately is normal. After North-South subside in 4C, West should let them play there. You do not sacrifice vulnerable against not when the opponents top in a partscore and your hand is so poor defensively that the opponents could well have a game or slam on.
You have 12 certain tricks if diamonds are 4-3 as well as finesse and squeeze chances if they are 5-2, so being in 6NT certainly is reasonable. Perhaps with a good 5-card suit and no flaws East should upgrade the hand to a 2NT opening. With an expected 32 HCP and a decent 5-card suit, West will be bidding the slam then.
After West’s 3S rebid, I play 4 level bids in unbid suits (4D and 4H) as cue bids but a repeat of your own suit as natural. I would therefore have bid 4D rather than 4C on the East cards.
Your actual auction, until the final bid, was actually quite good. West, looking at ace-queen in both red suits and knowing that East had bid clubs first, should have bid 6NT rather than 6C.
West’s holdings in the red suits would in fact have made a 2NT rebid (assuming you play it as forcing) rather than 3S fair and indeed possibly superior – East would quite often not have a stopper in one of the red suits and so have to raise 3S to 4S.
A simple rule is that if you are opening the bidding or if you have 3-card support for partner’s suit then you add 1 point for a doubleton, 2 for a singleton and 3 for a void.
If you have 4-card or longer support for partner, you add 1 point for a doubleton, 3 points for a singleton and 5 for a void.
Some people call the 1, 3, 5 adjustment when your side has a good fit ‘dummy points.’. The 1, 3, 5 adjustment is in Goren’s book ‘Point Count Bidding’ first published in 1950 but whether Goren invented it I would not know.
You cannot bid 2H and expect partner to read it is natural. In the old days the traditional meaning was a very strong hand (the strength of a 2C opener or not far short). These days most people play the cue bid as a two-suited hand, typically spades an a minor.
Sorry I am afraid I do not agree with your 4NT bid either. Why did you think you had the values for a slam? Furthermore, while it is true that the opening bid was 1H, the opening bidder would be on lead against a diamond contract so you might well get a spade lead.
Finally I do not see how your partner made an overtrick in 5D. You have not given the South hand but Qxx of diamonds seem to be unaccounted for, which would be a trump loser to go with a heart loser.
Anyway, in answer to your question, I would double 1H – your hand is a bit too strong for a 1NT overcall. With 9 points and a 6-card diamond suit, West jumps to 3D. You bid 3NT over that.
Hi Kathryn, A slam only makes as a result of an incredibly fortunate lie of the cards. Without the Q-J doubleton of hearts, you would have a certain loser in each rounded suit. Unless someone overbids wildly, you are never going to reach a slam. Using a weak no-trump and Stayman, 1NT-2C-2H-4H is the way to bid these hands.
North made a cardinal error here, overbidding and then passing a forcing bid. North lacks the values to reverse but having taken the decision to rebid 2H one has to see it through. With tolerance for spades, North should raise 3S to 4S. South was quite right to take the bidding slowly because if North had a slightly better hand (the HK instead of the HQ) a slam would be an excellent contract. As it was you can make a slam if you guess to take the simple heart finesse rather than a ruffing finesse.
This sort of hand is perfect for Lebensohl. After the double I would bid 3C, natural and showing some values (a weaker hand bids 2NT en route to 3C). So no I would not have bid 4C immediately if that is what you are asking.
Having bid 3H and seen 3S from partner, raising with a doubleton was rather rash. If holding five spades, partner might well have overcalled 2S rather than doubling. I would have bid 4C over 3S, if that is what you are asking, but I would not have gotten myself into this situation.
