Out Like A Lamb

Yes, I've been saving this article for March 😏

South Deals None Vul
♠ A 9 ♥ 10 8 ♦ A 10 9 8 7 3 ♣ 8 5 2	N W E S

You	North	East	South
			1 ♣
1 ♦	1 ♥	2 ♠	3 ♥
Pass	4 ♥	Pass	Pass
??

Okay, it wasn't the best 1 ♦ overcall ever but all those lovely spots made us do it. Partner's 2 ♠ preempt was barely a speed bump for the opponents on their way to game. Now what?

ANSWER: I hope you recognize this as an easy problem. Pass; there is no second choice.

Were you considering a double? With only two defensive tricks, and partner having shown a weak hand, the odds aren't great that we can set 4 ♥. Yes, if partner has a singleton diamond and another trick somewhere, the opponents will be down one for +100 instead of +50. But if not, you'll score -590 instead of -420. Not a very good bet if you ask me...

Were you considering 4 ♠? That train already left the station. If you were bidding 4 ♠ on this hand, you should have done so on the previous round over 3 ♥. That would have put pressure on the opponents, forcing them to make a 3-or-5 decision. Even bidding 3 ♠ last time around might have made their life a little bit more difficult. But now the opponents have everything they need to make the right decision over your obvious sacrifice:

• they have freely bid game and are now in a forcing pass auction; they can judge their respective strength with some accuracy
• you didn't bid 3 ♠ competitively, suggesting that you thought 3 ♠ was hopeless (down 2) and thus 4 ♠ will be down 3!

THE PRINCIPLE: Taking a deliberate obvious sacrifice is almost always a mistake. Preempting aggressively -- taking bidding space away from the opponents -- is fine; it forces the opponents to make choices in the absence of better information. Bidding one more in a competitive who-knows-who-can-make-what auction is fine. But obvious sacrifices usually turn out badly because the opponents already know enough to make a good decision. And the lie of the cards that lets you get out for -300 often means you have defensive tricks to set them; there are no good sacrifices against an unmakeable contract.

So, come in like a lion if you wish, but be willing to go out like a lamb. And remember that sacrificial lambs just get slaughtered...

South Deals None Vul	♠ 7 2 ♥ A 7 6 4 3 ♦ K Q J 6 5 2 ♣ —
♠ A 9 ♥ 10 8 ♦ A 10 9 8 7 3 ♣ 8 5 2	N W E S	♠ Q 10 8 6 5 3 ♥ Q 5 2 ♦ — ♣ Q 10 7 6
	♠ K J 4 ♥ K J 9 ♦ 4 ♣ A K J 9 4 3

-- Ray
Better Bridge in 5 Minutes  Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)

A Double From Nowhere

None Vul
♠ 10 7 2 ♥ A Q J 10 8 6 ♦ 6 ♣ 7 4 3	N W E S

You	North	East	South
2 ♥	Pass	Pass	2 NT
Pass	Pass	Dbl	Pass
?

Playing against expert opponents, you have a straightforward 2 ♥ opening. Your right-hand opponent balances with 2 NT. Two more passes, and partner doubles.Your bid?

The real question here is: What does partner have for her double?

• If she has a great fit for hearts, she would have raised hearts immediately.
• If she has a decent hand with a heart fit, she would have raised hearts immediately.
• If she has a strong hand, with or without hearts, she would have taken some action over 2 ♥.

There is no point to a takeout double here, because you've already described your hand as limited with a single suit. Partner's double must therefore be for penalties.

ANSWER: Pass. The only plausible reason for partner to make a penalty double here is that she has a running suit and she needs you to lead it.

So, this is really an opening lead problem disguised as a bidding problem. In the absence of partner's double, your best chance would be for partner to get in and lead a heart through declarer's king. You might reasonably think that declarer has a strong diamond suit, and thus be reluctant to lead your singleton diamond. But knowing that partner has a running suit somewhere, diamonds are the most likely possibility.

THE PRINCIPLE: An "out-of-nowhere" penalty double of a notrump contract shows a solid suit with enough tricks to defeat the contract. The opening leader must take her best shot at finding that suit.

None Vul	♠ Q J 4 ♥ 7 4 ♦ 7 4 3 ♣ Q J 10 6 2
♠ 10 7 2 ♥ A Q J 10 8 6 ♦ 6 ♣ 7 4 3	N W E S	♠ 8 5 3 ♥ 5 3 ♦ A K Q J 9 5 ♣ 9 8
	♠ A K 9 6 ♥ K 9 2 ♦ 10 8 2 ♣ A K 5

2NT by South is down three after a diamond lead, but makes at least three on any other opening lead. Partner has no reason to bid diamonds after your 2 ♥ opening.

-- Ray 
Better Bridge in 5 Minutes.  Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)

Dogs And Cars -- Jacoby 2NT

A car passes by and a dog chases after it, barking madly. What should the dog do if it catches the car?

East Deals N-S Vul	N W E S
	♠ Q J 6 4 2 ♥ Q ♦ A K ♣ Q 10 9 7 5

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1 ♠
Pass	2 NT*	Pass	?

You caught a 2 NT call (Jacoby 2NT) from partner, promising a game-forcing raise with at least four spades. As 14 HCP hands go, this one leaves much to be desired. Now what?

ANSWER: Bid 4 ♣ showing the secondary five-card suit.

THE PRINCIPLE: When responding to a Jacoby 2 NT major suit raise, the conventional rebids are, in priority order:

• 4 of a new suit = secondary five-card suit
• 3 of a new suit = singleton or void in that suit
• 3 of the major = no shortness, extra values (17+) and slam interest
• 3 NT = good 13-15, balanced
• 4 of the major = signoff with no extra values or shortness

If you have a secondary five-card suit, that is the most important characteristic of your hand. Perforce you must also have a singleton or void in another suit. Tell partner about the five-card suit, and she can usually work out the rest.

If you instead rebid 3 ♥ to show shortness in hearts here, partner may likely think that her heart values are all wasted and not move beyond game. If you tell her about your five-card club suit, she can easily find the way to the very good 6 ♠ contract.

East Deals N-S Vul	♠ A K 10 5 ♥ K J 10 9 4 ♦ 7 ♣ A K 3
♠ 9 8 ♥ 8 6 3 2 ♦ J 9 5 4 3 ♣ J 2	N W E S	♠ 7 3 ♥ A 7 5 ♦ Q 10 8 6 2 ♣ 8 6 4
	♠ Q J 6 4 2 ♥ Q ♦ A K ♣ Q 10 9 7 5

-- Ray 
Better Bridge in 5 Minutes.  Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)

Room To Move

For musical accompaniment, I suggest the John Mayall classic "Room To Move" (link opens a new window). It's about five minutes long; coincidence, you say?

In this installment, you have the same hand in two different auctions. You are the dealer, vulnerable against not. After a strong 2 ♣ opening you are not playing any conventional responses (such as Jacoby steps or control steps) other than that a 2 ♦ response is "waiting".

♠ K 6 3 2 ♥ 10 9 6 3 ♦ K Q 2 ♣ Q 10	N W E S

Auction One: You and North both pass, partner opens 2 ♣,  and South passes.  Your call?

Answer: Bid 2 ♦, waiting. You have great stuff for partner, with clear responses for anything she can bid. You don't have a strong five-card suit of your own. Slam seems very likely, and a grand slam is well within possibility. This is a perfect example of a hand where you want to give partner as much room as possible to describe her hand. Don't take away bidding space from partner by bidding 2 NT or 3 NT right now; give her some room to move.

Auction Two: You and North both pass, partner opens 2 ♣ , and South bids 2 ♦. Your call?

Answer: Pass, waiting. You have great stuff for partner, et cetera, etc. Partner will get another bid, you don't need to keep the auction alive for her. So, don't steal bidding space from partner, give her some room to move. Also, unless you and partner have agreed otherwise, it is simplest to reserve Double for a clear penalty situation (but see the Bonus Minute and the Experts Moment below).

THE PRINCIPLE: After a strong two-club opening, give the opening bidder as much bidding room as possible. Don't take up bidding space unless you have to say something Really Important Right Now, like a strong five-card suit (personally, I prefer six). There will always be time later in the auction to show balanced strength, so don't crowd partner by bidding notrump now. Give the strong hand some room to move!

BONUS MINUTE:
What if your partnership normally uses step responses to show high card points (Jacoby steps) or control points? The standard way to handle interference is to use D0P1 -- pronounced "dopey" like one of the Seven Dwarfs -- which is short for "double zero, pass one." For the zero-th step, with 0-3 high card points or no control points, just Double. For the first step, Pass to show 4-6 HCP or one control point. For the next step, make the next available bid above the overcall, and so on. All of these responses must be Alerted. Note that this is the same structure you (should) use if the opponents interfere after a 4NT ace-asking bid.

EXPERTS MOMENT:

When the opponents interfere over a strong 2 ♣ opening, standard expert practice is to Double with a very weak hand and Pass (forcing) otherwise. This allows opener to simply convert the double for penalties if that seems like the last best option; else the partnership bids on normally. A balancing double by opener shows a balanced hand rather than a definite penalty double, in which case responder should take command from that point forward. This structure might be opposite of what most non-expert players would expect, so don't try it without first discussing with your partner!

-- Ray 
Better Bridge in 5 Minutes.  Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)

One And A Half

	N W E S
	♠ K 10 7 4 ♥ A 10 7 ♦ A K J 2 ♣ K 8

West	North	East	You
			1 ♦
Pass	1 ♥	Pass	?

Both sides vulnerable, you are the dealer. Your call?

ANSWER: Bid two notrump, showing a balanced hand with 18-19 HCP. Don't bid spades, and don't raise hearts. Your first priority with hands of this type is to show the strength and balanced shape. It is not forcing; partner may pass with a dead minimum hand and no useful shape.

THE PRINCIPLE: With a balanced hand that is too strong to open 1 NT (15-17) and not strong enough to open 2 NT (20-21), open one of a suit. If partner bids a new suit at the one level and you don't have four-card support, jump to 2 NT showing exactly this strength. Your bid promises a balanced hand with at least two cards in partner's suit but denies four-card support.

Some players call this bid a "jump-shift in notrump" but keep in mind that it is not forcing to game like other jump-shift rebids. I like to think of it as "one-and-a-half notrump".

Note that you have concealed a four-card major in order to show this strength and shape. If partner is 4-4 or better in the majors, she can rebid 3 ♠ to show her four-card spade suit and you can respond accordingly. Her 3 ♠ bid would not necessarily imply a five-card heart suit.

After your 2 NT call, new suit bids by responder are forcing for one round. A simple preference back to your opening suit is nonforcing and weak. If responder rebids her suit, it is forcing for one round and shows at least a five-card suit. (Note that some partnerships play this rebid as nonforcing.)

BONUS MINUTE:

• If you play New Minor Forcing after opener's 1 NT rebid, you should play it after a 2 NT rebid as well.
• If you play 1 NT Forcing in response to a major suit opening, raising the 1 NT to 2 NT shows a balanced 18-19 HCP along with the appropriate major suit.
• There are several advanced conventions that can be used after a 2 NT rebid to reduce the ambiguity of responder's rebids. I suggest that you not explore these until you're sure which bidding problem you want to solve in this situation.

Acknowledgement: I took this example hand from a bidding poll that Krzysztof Kwiatkowski posted on BridgeWinners.com.

-- Ray 
Better Bridge in 5 Minutes.  Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)

Exposing Emptiness

No problem hand this time around, just a quick lesson on a standard tool for ace-asking auctions.

Partner bids 4 NT asking for aces if you are playing plain Blackwood, or key cards if you are playing some form of Key Card Blackwood. How do you respond when you have a void?

There are several methods, but what follows is by far the most common; almost every tournament player on the planet will assume the following structure unless you've agreed otherwise. If somebody says they play "Void-Showing Blackwood," this is what they mean:

• With a void in one of partner's bid suits, do not show the void. It's not a useful void.
• With an even number of aces or key cards and a useful void, bid 5 NT.
• With an odd number of aces or key cards and a useful void in a suit that is lower-ranking than trump, bid six of the void suit.
• With an odd number of aces or key cards and a useful void in a higher-ranking suit, bid six of the trump suit.

Here are a few examples, all using plain Blackwood. Note that the responses will be different if 4NT asks for key cards instead of aces.

You hold ♠ K 10 7 5 ♥ -- ♦ A 9 8 5 2 ♣ K 10 6 5
Partner opens 1 ♠, the auction goes 1 ♠ - 3 ♠  - 4 NT - ?

Bid 6 ♥, showing an odd number of aces and a void in hearts.

You hold ♠ K 10 7 5 ♥ -- ♦ A 9 8 5 2 ♣ A 10 6 5
Partner opens 1 ♠, the auction goes 1 ♠ - 3 ♠ - 4 NT - ?
Bid 5 NT, showing an even number of aces and a useful void.

You hold ♠ K 10 7 5 ♥ -- ♦ K J 9 5 2 ♣ K 10 6 5
Partner opens 1 ♠, the auction goes 1 ♠ - 3 ♠ - 4 NT - ?
Bid 5 NT, showing an even number of aces and a useful void. Yes, same as the previous example; zero is an even number.

You hold ♠ K 10 7 5 ♥ -- ♦ A J 9 5 2 ♣ K Q 10 5
Partner opens 1 ♥, the auction goes 1 ♥ - 2 ♦ - 4 NT - ?

Bid 5 ♦ showing one ace. Your heart void is not considered useful when partner has bid hearts.

You hold ♠ K 10 7 5 3 ♥ -- ♦ A J 9 ♣ K Q 10 8 5
Partner opens 1 ♦, the auction goes 1 ♦ - 1 ♠ -3 ♣ - 4 ♣ - 4 NT - ?
Bid 6 ♣ showing an odd number of aces and a useful void in a higher ranking suit. You bid spades previously, and a diamond void would not be useful, so partner can work out that your void must be in hearts.

But what about kings?
Obviously, partner can't bid 5 NT to ask for kings after you've shown a void in response to 4 NT. If partner needs to know more, the customary continuation is that partner (the asker) bids a new suit at the six level to ask about the king in that suit. Responder tells by simply returning to the trump suit to deny that king, or shows that king by cue-bidding another king (below the trump suit) or 6 NT if that is next available non-trump bid.

Why not just count the void as an ace?

For partner's king to be good, she needs you to hold the ace in that suit, not a void. Also, it's very embarrassing when partner decides at the last minute to play the slam in notrump instead of a suit contract 😔

-- Ray 
Better Bridge in 5 Minutes.  Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)

Two In The Bush

East Deals Both Vul	♠ Q J 10 7 2 ♥ Q 8 3 ♦ K Q 6 ♣ A 2
	N W E S	♠ A 9 5 4 ♥ 7 4 2 ♦ 2 ♣ Q 8 7 4 3

West	North	East	South
		You
		Pass	1 ♥
Pass	1 ♠	Pass	2 ♦
Pass	4 ♥	All pass

Your partnership leads are fourth best from power, and second best from three or more spot cards. Partner led the ♦ 7; declarer played ♦ K from dummy and ♦ 9 from hand, you of course played the deuce.

Declarer led the ♥ Q from dummy, you started a trump echo with the ♥ 4, and declarer followed ♥ 5; partner wins the trick with the ♥ K.

Partner then led the ♦ 8: ♦ Q from dummy, you ruffed with the ♥ 2 completing the trump echo 😎 as declarer played the ♦ 10.

Your trick. Now what?

ANSWER: Underlead your ace of spades!

Partner's ♦ 8 is a suit preference signal for the higher-ranking suit. Based on the other diamonds played so far, you can see that there several low diamonds still lurking somewhere. They must be in partner's hand; she realized from the auction -- and her diamond holding -- that you might be short in diamonds. 

You went to some effort to tell partner that you have a third trump and want another ruff. Partner led a high diamond rather than a low one or a non-committal middle-ish one. Partner definitely signaled a spade entry, and since you have the ace she must therefore have the king.

Why not cash the ace of spades?

Declarer opened hearts (5+) and rebid diamonds (4+),  thus declarer has at most four black cards. You can count nine spades between your hand and dummy. If declarer is void in spades, it doesn't matter what you do. If declarer has two spades, your ace will still be good later. But if declarer has a singleton spade, you won't get to partner's hand if you cash your ace. So, forget the bird in your hand. Instead, trust your partner and get two in the bush -- the spade king and another diamond ruff -- for down one.

	♠ Q J 10 7 2 ♥ Q 8 3 ♦ K Q 6 ♣ A 2
♠ K 8 3 ♥ K 9 ♦ 8 7 5 4 3 ♣ K 9 6	N W E S	♠ A 9 5 4 ♥ 7 4 2 ♦ 2 ♣ Q 8 7 4 3
	♠ 6 ♥ A J 10 6 5 ♦ A J 10 9 ♣ J 10 5

-- Ray 
Better Bridge in 5 Minutes.  Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)