Mon 11th 1st Gerard & Derek 59% 2nd Bob P & Robbie 59%
Wed 13th 1st Ivy & Robbie 63% 2nd Bob S & Terry 58%
Fri 15th 1st Ivy & Terry 61% 2nd Mike G & Bjorn Tr... 60%
Bidding Quiz Standard American bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.
Hand A Hand B What do you open with Hand A, 2nd seat both vul?
♠ 864 ♠ AK42
♥ K42 ♥ 109 With Hand B partner opens 1♦ and RHO overcalls 2
♣,
♦ A543 ♦ A53 what do you bid?
♣ AJ2 ♣ 9753
Bidding Sequence Quiz
E 1♣ 1♦ dbl Dbl is negative, but what does it show in the majors?
F 1♦ 2♣ dbl Dbl is negative, but what does it show in the majors?
Even more about negative doubles Board 17 from Monday 11th
Having written up two misunderstandings about negative doubles in the last two news-sheets, here’s yet another one that went wrong.
Dealer: ♠ J76 Table A
North ♥ KJ42 West North East South(B)
Love all ♦ KQ862 - 1♦ 2♣ 2♠ (1)
♣ Q pass 3♠ (2) pass 4♠ (3)
all pass
♠ Q1053 N ♠ 98
♥ A853 W E ♥ Q76 Table B
♦ 974 S ♦ J10 West North East South(B)
♣ 102 ♣ AKJ864 - 1♦ 2♣ dbl (1)
♠ AK42 pass 2♥ (4) pass 2♠ (5)
♥ 109 pass pass (6) 3♣ (7) pass
♦ A53 pass 3♦ all pass
♣ 9753
Table A: (1) What did you bid with this South hand B in this week’s quiz? This 2♠ bid must be wrong as it shows five ♠’s.
(2) Believing partner had five ♠’s. Partner’s 2♠ bid is forcing of course unless you play Negative Free Bids,
which nobody in the club does to my knowledge.
(3) A bit optimistic.
Table B: (1) This is the best answer to question B. It depends upon how you play negative doubles and in Marty Bergen’s
style this promises just one 4-card major.
(4) This is not a strength-showing reverse. Partner has promised a major and North hopes to find a fit.
(5) So showing 4 ♠’s and not ♥’s.
(6) The Moysian fit should play well
(7) A balancing bid that knocks N-S off of the top spot.
And what happened? 4♠-1 was the only –ve score for N-S. The most popular spot was 3♦=.
The bottom lines:
It’s up to you how you play negative doubles, but you have to be on the same wavelength.
I play Marty Bergen’s treatments:
Marty Bergen’s approach to Negative doubles:
After m – M a double shows the unbid major.
After M – m a double shows the unbid major.
After M – M a double shows both minors
After 1♣ - 1♦ a double shows exactly 4-4 in the majors
After 1m - 2m a double promises just one 4-card major.
Very Weak pre-emptive bids.
About a year ago we introduced the ‘Australian’ rule of 15 for pre-empts in order to prevent very
light pre-emptive bids. The rule is that you add up your total points to the lengths of your two longest
suits. If the total is 15 or more you may bid. We later slightly relaxed the rule for weak twos to a rule of 14.
Hand C Hand D Hand C is 15 for the rule, and if you really want to open
♠ 1098542 ♠ 1098542 or make a weak jump overcall with this miserable ♠ suit it
♥ 3 ♥ 32 is allowable.
♦ A2 ♦ A2 Hand D is just 13 for the rule and an opening pre-empt or
♣ J753 ♣ 753 overcall is unacceptable.
If you really want to bid with hands like hand D then you have to pass at your first turn but are allowed to come in later. Basically, we just ask people to be sensible with their initial pre-emptive bids.
Note that this rule does not apply to weak jump shifts ( a jump when partner opens) which can be extremely weak (often played as 0-5)
Dave’s Column
N ♠ 986 West North East South
W E ♥ K1064 - 2NT pass 3♦
S ♦ QJ1084 3♠ 4♥ pass 4NT
♣ 2 pass 5♦ pass 6♥
♠ 2 all pass
♥ J8532
♦ 97
♣ KQ1075
You are East, defending 6♥. You lead the ♠8 (MUD) and declarer wins with his ♠A,
ruffs the ♠4 in dummy and plays the ♥3 to the ♥7 and ♥Q. How do you defend?
Dave’s Column Answer Board 5 from Wednesday 13th
Dealer: ♠ A4 Bidding
North ♥ AQ9 West North East South
N-S vul ♦ AK6 - 2NT pass 3♦
♣ A9643 3♠ 4♥ pass 4NT
pass 5♦ (1) pass 6♥ (2)
♠ KQJ10753 N ♠ 986 all pass
♥ 7 W E ♥ K1064
♦ 532 S ♦ QJ1084
♣ J8 ♣ 2
♠ 2 (1) 4 keycards
♥ J8532 (2) There is a keycard missing and it would be nice to be
♦ 97 able to ask for the trump queen but here the ask is 5♠
♣ KQ1075 and so there’s no room without committing to the slam.
1430 would work here but the only sure way to always
be able to have room for the queen ask is to play Kickback.
You are East and lead the ♠8 (MUD). Declarer wins with his ♠A, ruffs the ♠4 in dummy and plays
the ♥3 to the ♥7 and ♥Q, how do you defend?
South certainly did some bidding with his 6-point hand. But if North had bid 4♣ over 3♠, maybe they
would have reached the laydown 6♣.
When the hand was first played, Dr. George Rosenkranz, Mexico’s top ranked player for many years,
was in the East seat. He took the third trick with the ♥K and led his last ♠, happily conceding a ruff and discard.
If Declarer trumped in the dummy, he would only have two trumps in each hand, unable to handle East’s three.
But after declarer ruffed in his hand and cashed the ♥A, the bad break meant he was always one down.
And what happened at the Pattaya bridge club? 6♣=, 4♥+1 twice and three spurious results.
Incidentally, on Friday there was a discussion as to what 5NT means after a RKCB 4NT:
Eddie Kantar is the world’s acknowledged expert on RKCB and he says:
5NT = 2 (or 0 or 4) plus a useful void
6 suit below trumps = 1 (or 3) plus a void in the suit bid
6 of the trump suit = 1 (or 3) plus a void in a suit above the trump suit
Dave’s 2nd Column
West East
♠ K76542 ♠ AQ8
♥ 3 ♥ AK9872
♦ 8 ♦ AQ
♣ A7532 ♣ Q6
You are West, declarer in 6♠ with no bidding by the opponents. North leads the ♦5, plan the play.
Dave’s 2nd Column Answer Board 6 from Wednesday 13th
Dealer: ♠ J103 Book bidding
East ♥ 54 West North East South
E-W vul ♦ J97542 - - 2♣ pass
♣ 84 2♠ pass 3♠ pass
4♣ pass 4♦ pass
♠ K76542 N ♠ AQ8 5♦ pass 5♥ pass
♥ 3 W E ♥ AK9872 6♠ all pass
♦ 8 S ♦ AQ
♣ A7532 ♣ Q6
♠ 9
♥ QJ106
♦ K1063 North leads the ♦5, plan the play for West in 6♠.
♣ KJ109
West wins the ♦A and best is to then play a low ♥ from dummy. Ruff the ♦ return, lead a trump to the ♠Q
and ruff another ♥. Then draw trumps with the ♠K and ♠A and cash the ♥AK and two more ♥’s, discarding ♣’s from hand.
This is the best line. It succeeds if the ♥’s break no worse than 4-2 and the trumps no worse than 3-1.
If you cash a high ♥ in dummy before ruffing you will go down.
And what happened at the Pattaya bridge club? 6NT=, 4♥=, 7♠-2 twice, 6♠*-1 and 6♠-1.
Bidding Quiz Answers
Hand A: Pass. This 12 point 4333 hand (South board 10 from Monday) with no intermediates
is not worth an opening bid. 4333 sucks. Apply the Rule of 20 and see what you get. I believe
everybody opened 1♦ and the majority ended up in 2NT-1 when partner eventually bid 2NT
with a decent eleven count.
Hand B: dbl. You should not bid 2♠ as that shows a 5-card suit. It depends upon how you
play negative doubles but I adhere to Mary Bergen’s treatment and a double here
guarantees 4 cards in just one of the majors.
Bidding Sequence Quiz Answers
E 1♣ 1♦ dbl Dbl is negative, exactly 4-4 in the majors. With just one major,
bid it.
F 1♦ 2♣ dbl Dbl is negative. I play Marty Bergen’s treatments and
because it’s up at the two level, the double guarantees just
one 4-card major
Current club championship standings
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Gold Cup = Best 30 |
Silver Plate = Best 10 |
Bronze Medal = Best 5 |
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 |
1798.8 Janne Roos |
639.8 Per Andersson |
332.2 Per Andersson |