Julian Pottage
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You are quite right that the 3 actions have similar meanings and no pair would want to play them all. You have listed them in the reverse chronological order.
The Jacoby 2NT raise is the most modern of the 3 methods and has become popular because it keeps the bidding lower, enabling the partnership to get a good idea of whether the controls and values for a slam are present without going above game.
The 3NT pudding raise showed a weak no-trump type hand with 4-card support for opener’s major – because it used up a lot of space the meaning needed to be more specific than the modern 2NT Jacoby raise.
Going back further in history, there was a time when people played both 2NT and 3NT as natural responses, which meant the only way to show support on a hand too good for a limit raise and too good for a pre-emptive raise was to bid some other suit first. The two disadvantages to the delayed game raise were (i) because you had to bid game to show the support, space for exploring a slam safely was limited (ii) because opener’s rebid would often indicate a 5-card or longer suit, responder would want to play in the major with 3-card support, which meant responder could not easily confirm 4-card support.
Hi Paul, This combination is one of those listed in the Official Encylopedia of Bridge (or at least it is in the 6th edition). Without any clues from the bidding it is a toss up whether you finesse the ten and then the nine or whether you run the queen and finesse the ten next. It goes on to say that running the queen is better if West is likely to be short in the suit. It would only seem to matter if East has the singleton king or West the singleton jack. Which you think is more likely may depend on whether the 1C opening is natural or could be a short.
The term ‘Waste paper’ exaggerates how much less value secondary honours are facing a shortage. Sometimes possession of such lower honours means you need to do less ruffing so can more easily cope with a bad trump break for example. Sometimes the lower honours enable you to take a ruff elsewhere.
Suppose responder holds:
S Q 9 6 5 4
H J 7 5 3
D A K 2
C 5
Now consider these two possible opening hands:
S A K J 7 3
H A
D 9 5 4 3
C K Q 2
S A K J 7 3
H A
D 9 5 4 3
C 4 3 2
With the first hand 6S is more or less a certainty because you can discard one of dummy’s diamonds on a club whereas with the second hand there is a sure loser in each minor.
You should not count five points for KQx when you know partner is short (because partner made a 4C splinter in response to your 1S opening) but you do not want to count them as zero either.
I am not sure of the relevance of ‘weak twos’ (which you have put in the title) to the question. If I have missed something then please let me know.
Yes indeed.
Incidentally, you have said that partner has shown 4+ hearts but bear in mind that partner would bid 2H on a decent hand with 5+ hearts so partner’s point count will be limited on hands with 5+ hearts.
The simple rule is that below 4NT you can cue bid either a first or second round control but if you cue bid at the five level then you should have a first-round control. Whenever possible you want to establish whether you have all suit controlled below 4NT. Even in the second situation you cite, you can cue bid either 4D or 4S while keeping the auction below 4NT so you might do either with only second control. Because 4S is above 4H, it would should more serious slam intent.
Usually if an artificial bid on a potential slam auction is a jump it is a splinter and if it is not a jump then it is a cue bid. You will not go far wrong if you assume that a jump bid cannot be a cue bid and a non-jump bid cannot be a splinter.
Your partner’s 4D shows a shortage in diamonds but does not deny a club control. With a suitable hand you are therefore at liberty to cue bid 4H with a heart control but without a club control. Indeed, if you had a control in both suits you might bid 4NT yourself, so there is a slight inference that you lack a club control. It is possible that your hand is not quite good enough to take command with 4NT, which is why 4H does not actually deny a club control.
Unfortunately I cannot see the start of the auction. If East opens 1H and South overcalls 2C, I do not see how West gets to bid 3H at any point. I guess that South did not overcall despite the favourable vulnerabiltiy, West made a Jacoby 2NT raise and East rebid 3C to show a club shortage (or 3D to show length if that is the partnership method). Indeed, since it would be illogical for West to cue bid 4C with a king facing a known shortage, East’s rebid must have been a natural 3D. With 16 HCP, the West hand is just worth a 3NT ‘serious slam try’ over 3S if you are playing that but I have no objection to the actual sequence.
While 8 HCP is not usually enough for a 2-level overcall, South has a decent six-card club suit, is non-vulnerable against vulnerable and is facing a passed partner and really should have taken some action. I do not mind either 2C or, if 3C is a natural weak jump overcall, 3C. You do not want to be allowing your opponents an uncontested auction if you can help it.
North’s double shows extra values (maybe 10/11+ points) and no clear alternative bid. With 11 points, a moderate spade suit and only a partial heart stopper, it is a good description.
Although you have asked about North, I should say that I do not really understand South’s bidding. Playing a weak no-trump, South should have opened 1NT. If NS are playing a strong no-trump, it is usual to play support doubles (double shows 3-card support for responder’s suit), in which case South would have doubled 2H.
Your heading refers to a response but the auction you give asks about a reopening action. I assume the latter is what you intend. You might have heard the mantra ‘strong over weak and weak over strong.’ This applies here. If the opponents make a weak opening bid, a jump by your side is strong.
North has a good suit and good shape so should pre-empt to 3S despite being vulnerable. In the modern style West might well respond 1H but the more traditional 2C worked well. If North had jumped to 3S over 2C, East could still bid 4NT. If West responds 1H and North overcalls 3S, reaching 6C is tricky. East doubles for takeout but it is not obvious for West to go looking for a slam.
6C is an excellent slam and might well make even if the diamonds were 4-1. If they were 4-1, declarer would have to ruff the fourth round of diamonds but the East-West heart holding is strong enough to guarantee endplaying South.
If you have two four-card majors and your hand is too strong for a weak 1NT opening, you open 1H. This leaves room for partner to respond 1S and facilitates finding a ft in either major.
If you have two four-card suits, one of which is a major and one of which is a minor, Bernard’s style, the Standard English style and that in my most regular partnership is to open the major. Yes if responder has a singleton or doubleton in opener’s major then the weak hand can end up declaring a no-trump contract but if responder has three or four cards in opener’s major then opener becomes declarer.
This is not easy. Knowing that West must be looking for a club control East does not really want to sign off but the hand does have only 8 points and no aces. While it is unusual to invoke Blackwood with one suit (hearts) potentially uncontrolled, it probably is the best thing to do here. A 5C cue bid would sound like the ace and, on this aceless hand, might lead to a slam off two aces. Signing off in 4S has some merit too because you have already given a positive response and you know partner could not make a game forcing opening. If you are going to sign off in 4S, you need to do so in tempo because otherwise it will be obvious that you have a club control but not a heart control.
You need to ask David Stevenson whether 2C would be legal. I do not deal with matters that would involve a director.
