Club News Sheet – No. 176    www.pattayabridge.com   18th  March 2006

 

                                    Winner                                             Runner-up

           

Mon 13th    N-S   1st    Clive/Dave                       67%       2nd  Chris/Paul Scully                   64%

                  E-W   1st    G. & L. Karlsson              59%       2nd  Lars/Rude                            57%

Wed 15th    N-S   1st    Barbara&Bev Estes          61%       2nd  Clive/Hans                            59%

                  E-W   1st    Albert/Dave                      61%       2nd  G. & L. Karlsson                  59%

Fri    17th    N-S   1st    Benny/Olle                       60%       2nd  Clive/Dave                           56%

                  E-W   1st    Trudy/Jennat                     56%       2nd  Bob P / Bob Short                54%

 

 

Bidding Quiz                           Standard American is assumed unless otherwise stated

 

Hand A           Hand B           With Hand A you open 1♠ and partner bids 4♠. What do you do?

 

♠ AK983         ♠ J32                                            

♥ AK4             ♥ Q10832        With Hand B partner opens 1♣ and RHO overcalls 1♥, what do

♦ K                  ♦ A1094          you bid?

♣ J1098           ♣ 7

                             

Hand C           Hand D           With Hand C RHO opens 1♣, LHO bids 1♥, RHO bids 2♣,

LHO bids 2♥ which is passed round to you. What do you do?

♠ KQ104         ♠ 1084

♥ J84               ♥ J75               With Hand D partner opens 1♠, RHO bids 2♦ and you bid 2♠.

♦ QJ4               ♦ A86              LHO bids 3♦ and partner bids 3♠, what do you do?

♣ 962              ♣ A972

                                                                       

Hand E            Hand F            With Hand E you open 1♠, LHO bids 2♦, partner bids 2♠ and

RHO bids 3♦. What do you do?

♠ KQ973         ♠ J953            

♥ AK64           ♥ A52              With Hand F LHO opens 1♣, RHO bids 1♥, LHO bids 2♣,

♦ 107               ♦ A765            RHO bids 2♥ which is passed round to partner who bids 2♠.

♣ Q4               ♣ 107              RHO bids 3♣, what do you do?

 

With these 4 hands                   Hand G           Hand H           Hand J            Hand K

partner has opened 1♠,

what do you bid?                      ♠ Q765            ♠ Q7654          ♠ Q765            ♠ K765

                                                ♥ J3                 ♥ J32               ♥ AJ3              ♥ J32

                                                ♦ A2                ♦ 2                   ♦ 2                   ♦ A

                                                ♣ A7432          ♣ KQ95          ♣ A7432          ♣ A7432

 

These 4 hands all concern         Hand L            Hand M          Hand N           Hand P

opener’s action when

playing negative doubles.           ♠ AKQ97        ♠ AKQ9          ♠ J32               ♠ KQ54

In every case you open 1♣,      ♥ 7                   ♥ A7                ♥ KQ103         ♥ 72    

LHO overcalls 1♥ and this        ♦ 7                   ♦ 7                   ♦ Q4                ♦ Q

is passed round to you.             ♣ AKQ953      ♣ AQ9532       ♣ AQ76           ♣ K96532

What do you do?

Bidding Sequences Quiz – A Negative Double summary

 

For all of these sequences we assume that you play negative doubles

 

Q   1♣   1♥      pass                       What does the pass mean?

R   1♣   1♥      pass     pass           What does the double mean?

      dbl

S    1♣   1♥      pass     pass           What does 1♠ mean?

      1♠

T    1♣   1♥      pass     pass           What does 2♠ mean?

      2♠

U   1♣   1♥      pass     pass           What sort of hand does opener have for his pass here?

      pass

V   1♣   1♥      1♠                          What does 1♠ mean?

W  1♣   1♥      dbl                         What does dbl mean?

 

 

The direct jump to game (4♥/♠) is weak            

 

I was asked about this deal. I don’t know which day it was. I was given the exact hand but I have made a minor change of interchanging two cards to make the point very clear.

                                                                       

♠ AK983              N             ♠ Q765                    West(A)     North         East(G)    South    

♥ AK4               W    E          ♥ J3                        

♦ K                        S              ♦ A2                        1♠              pass           4♠    (1)    pass

♣ J1098                                 ♣ A7432                  pass (2)      pass

                                               

(1)   What did you bid with this East hand G in this week’s quiz? It’s ‘only’ 11 points, but it’s worth much more when partner bids ♠’s. Those two 1st round controls are huge and the shape is great in support of ♠’s. The hand is easily worth a raise to 4♠. But the ‘problem’ is that a direct jump to 4♠ is a pre-emptive bid (such as Hand H in this week’s quiz) There are a few solutions. Best is to play some sort of strong raise (such as Jacoby 2NT or Swiss). The more basic method is to bid another suit (so 2♣ here) and then jump to 4♠ - this is called a Delayed Game Raise and shows a sound raise to 4♠.

(2)   What did you bid with this West hand A in this week’s quiz? If you accept that the direct raise to game is weak, than this hand should certainly pass.

 

And what happened?

An easy (75%) slam was missed. East asked West why he did not ask for aces. I’m 100%+ behind West’s pass.

The bottom lines: -

-         The sequences 1♥ - 4♥ and 1♠ - 4♠ are weak pre-emptive raises.

-         With a sound raise to 4♥/♠ then bid a minor and then jump to 4♥/♠ if you do not have any other methods (such as Jacoby 2NT).

-         With a sound raise to 4♥/♠ and a shortage (singleton/void) then splinter.

 

Another ‘Negative Double’ penalty missed       Board 2 from Monday 13th

 

Dealer:             ♠ 108654                                      

East                  ♥ 5                                                 West(B)     North         East(M)    South

N-S vul            ♦ QJ86                                           -                 -                 1♣           1♥

                        ♣ 1064                                          pass (1)      pass           2♠    (2)    pass      

                                                                              2NT           pass           3♣           pass

♠ J32                    N             ♠ AKQ9                  3♠              pass           4♠            all pass  

♥ Q10832          W    E          ♥ A7                       

♦ A1094                S              ♦ 7                          

♣ 7                                        ♣ AQ9532              

                        ♠ 7                                                

♥ KJ964                                       

                        ♦ K532                                         

                        ♣ KJ8                                           

 

(1)  What did you bid with this West hand B in this week’s quiz? With these great hearts sitting over a vulnerable overcaller it is surely best to go for the penalty. So pass and await partner’s ‘automatic’ re-opening double.

(2)   What did you bid with this East hand M in this week’s quiz? Double is virtually always correct in these sort of situations and with these great top cards there is absolutely no reason to do anything else. Now I believe that East’s ‘excuse’ was something like ‘I did not know what sort of hand you had’.  Precisely! And that’s why you should double – and partner will tell you. If partner has a penalty hand then he’ll pass for penalties. If partner has a weak hand then he will bid something and you can then bid on strongly to show a very powerful hand.

With this actual East hand you should double, and if partner makes any sort of bid (he usually bids 1♠ in this sort of situation) then he does not have the penalty hand and you can then bid 2♠ to show this very strong hand.

 

And what happened?

4♠ went one down. The computer says that E-W make 8 tricks in ♥’s, so that is 50 away instead of a cool top for 1♥ doubled minus two vul (500). Note that even if 4♠ makes then 420 is less than 500.

The bottom lines: -

-         The situations where you should not re-open with a double (playing negative doubles) are few and far between. But I’ll cover them on the next page.

-         Look for the penalty at favourable vulnerability.

 

When you do not re-open with a double.

 

I was asked under what circumstances opener should not re-open with the ‘automatic’ re-opening double when playing negative doubles.

Now as I have frequently said, every pair plays negative double differently. I won’t go into my preferred treatment again, but I will answer the question.

When you play negative doubles; you open, LHO overcalls and this is passed round to you, it is usually correct to ‘automatically’ re-open with a double. But there are hands when you should not. The hand types where you should not re-open with a double are: -

 

(a)    Hand L          When you have a very powerful hand with game virtually in your own hand

♠ AKQ97      and where you may well make slam opposite very little. With Hand L I

♥ 7                 would jump to 2♠. I guess that some would have opened 2♣, but I prefer the

♦ 7                 natural slow approach with two-suiters.

♣ AKQ953

 

(b)   Hand N         When you have a decent opener but have so much in the opponent’s suit that

♠ J32             you know that partner cannot possibly be sitting with a penalty hand. I would

♥ KQ103       pass with Hand N.

♦ Q4

♣ AJ76

 

(c)    Hand P          When you have a weak distributional hand with little defensive values. I

♠ KQ54         think that 1♠ is reasonable with Hand P although I would not argue with

♥ 72               double. Some might argue that they would not have opened, but it does

♦ Q                conform to the rule of 20 and a 1♣ opening would be a popular choice these

♣ K96532     days.

 

Just pushin’ ‘em up – part 1                                Board 15 from Friday 17th

 

E-W got clobbered when they got too high here, who was at fault?

 

Dealer:             ♠ 62                                              

South               ♥ KQ1097                                     West(C)     North         East(F)     South

N-S vuL           ♦ 10932                                         -                 -                 -               1♣

                        ♣ KQ                                            pass           1♥              pass         2♣

                                                                              pass           2♥              pass         pass

♠ KQ104              N             ♠ J953                     2♠  (1)        3♣             3♠    (2)    pass

♥ J84                 W    E          ♥ A52                      pass           pass           dbl           all pass

♦ QJ4                     S              ♦ A765                   

♣ 962                                    ♣ 107                     

                        ♠ A87                                           

♥ 63                                              

                        ♦ K8                                             

                        ♣ AJ8543                                     

 

(1)   What did you bid with this West hand C in this week’s quiz? I think 2♠ is fine, this is a miserable flat hand but South has denied ♠’s and North has shown 5+ ♥’s. Thus partner probably has ♠’s and as the opponent’s have stopped bidding he also has points. This is called balancing – you are ‘bidding partner’s hand’ in the pass-out seat.

(2)   What did you bid with this East hand F in this week’s quiz? You should pass. Partner has ‘pushed them up’ from a great 2♥ contract into an inferior 3♣ contract, he has already bid your hand for you. Bidding here simply converts a top into a bottom. It is the opposite of balancing – it is called “hanging one’s partner”.

 

And what happened?

3♠ doubled went for 300 for a near bottom. 2♥ would have scored 140 or 170 for N-S, 3♣ would have scored 130 for N-S. it’s only 10 or 40 points difference but important at pairs scoring.

The bottom lines: -

-     When partner bids in the pass-out seat, he is bidding your hand for you. It is rarely correct to raise him.

Just pushin’ ‘em up – part 2                                Board 1 from Friday 17th

 

N-S got too high here, who is at fault?

 

Dealer:             ♠ KQ973                                      

North               ♥ AK64                                         West          North(E)    East          South(D)

Love all            ♦ 107                                             -                 1♠              2♦            2♠

                        ♣ Q4                                             3♦    (1)      3♠    (2)      pass         4♠    (3)

                                                                              all pass

♠ J52                    N             ♠ A6                           

♥ 1082               W    E          ♥ Q93                     

♦ Q52                    S              ♦ KJ943                  

♣ J1063                                 ♣ K85                    

                        ♠ 1084                                          

♥ J75                                            

                        ♦ A86                                           

                        ♣ A972                                         

 

(1)  A gentle nudge

(2)  What did you bid with this North hand E in this week’s quiz? With no more than a minimal opener I would pass. 3♠ is just competing and no too bad I suppose(?). Any other bid (3♥) would be a game try and this hand is too weak.

(3)  What did you bid with this South hand D in this week’s quiz? South has a maximum, but that is not the point. North’s 3♠ is not an invitation, it is simply competing. If North wanted to invite game then any bid other than 3♠ would be a game invitation.

 

And what happened?

There are just 9 tricks there. Nobody else bid game and so this should have been an outright bottom for N-S. However, this is Pattaya bridge club and N-S got an undeserved total top when a mis-defence let 4♠ through.

The bottom lines: -

-     In competitive situations like this simply bidding one’s suit is just competing, any other bid is a game try. If there is no room (say E-W were bidding ♥’s and not ♦’s) then double at (1) would be the game try.

 

 

Bidding Quiz Answers

 

Hand A:     Pass. Partner’s direct jump to 4♠ is a weak pre-emptive bid.

Hand B:      Pass. And await partner’s ‘automatic re-opening double and pass that. If partner has just a minimal opening then you will get a decent penalty. If partner has a good hand (so that you have game) then you will get a huge penalty. 1NT is a very poor 2nd choice.

Hand C:     2♠. But only if your partner understands balancing.

Hand D:     Pass. You are max but partner is not inviting you to bid on, he is simply competing.

Hand E:      I would pass. I guess that some might bid 3♠ (just competing). Any other bid (3♥) shows a much stronger hand.

Hand F:      Pass. Partner has scraped up a bid in the pass-out seat and is bidding your hand for you and likely has just 4 ♠’s. You will get a better score for defending 3♣ than for defending 2♥ had partner passed. To bid (3♠ here) simply destroys his good work as you are bound to get doubled.

Hand G:     2♣ followed by a jump to 4♠. This shows a sound raise to 4♠. If you play Swiss or Jacoby 2NT then that is obviously best.

Hand H:     4♠. A pre-emptive raise.

Hand J:       4♦. A splinter, showing ♦ shortage and agreeing ♠’s.

Hand K:     Same as hand G. It is best not to splinter with a singleton ace as partner will devalue a king in the suit.

Hand L:      2♠. Showing an enormous two-suiter that is worth a 2♣ opener in the ‘modern’ American style. You probably won’t get enough from a penalty.

Hand M:     Double. No reason not to go for the penalty if that’s what partner has in mind (very likely – where are the ♥’s?).

Hand N:     Pass. You have nothing special and partner cannot have a penalty hand with you holding this ♥ holding. A rare situation.

Hand P:      1♠. Showing a weak distributional hand with little defense for ♥’s. Dbl is also fine.

 

Bidding Sequence Answers

 

For all of these sequences we assume that you play negative doubles

Q   1♣   1♥      pass                 What does the pass mean? Responder either has a hand that cannot make a noise over 1♥ (so presumably very weak) or he is sitting with a ♥ stack and waiting for opener’s double.

R   1♣   1♥      pass     pass     What does the double mean? That he has 13 cards.

      dbl

S    1♣   1♥      pass     pass     What does 1♠ mean? A weak distributional two-suiter.

1♠

T    1♣   1♥      pass     pass     What does 2♠ mean? A strong distributional two-suiter.

2♠

U   1♣   1♥      pass     pass     What sort of hand does opener have for his pass here?

Pass                                   An indifferent hand with good ♥’s.

V   1♣   1♥      1♠                    What does 1♠ mean? Natural and forcing. Some play it as showing 5+ ♠’s, depending upon you answer to W below.

W  1♣   1♥      dbl                   What does dbl mean? It is negative. I play it as simply showing exactly 4 ♠’s. Others play it as showing ♠’s and ♦’s.