Playing today in the local duplicate with a new partner. We had not played together before. I suggested "Yellow Card" and she was not familar with that. I said Standard American then with 15-17 no trumps, WTB and strong jump responses. I hate WJR, they usually lead to problems for the bidding side and eliminate a valuable tool for slam bidding. Anyway, our opponents were strong players and with us vulnerable held the following. S Q87 H AK3 D T4 C AKJT2. I routinely open this 1NT. If I open 1C and pard responds ANYTHING at the one level I have no adequate rebid. My NT bid is made despite the weak doubleton. LHO passes and pard bids 2C Stayman. RHO sticks in a 2D overcall and I have to find a bid. With no 4 card major I pass. LHO passes and pard bids 3NT. All pass and pard tables AKJ4 QJ75 62 943. The opponents quickly cash 6 tricks for down two. With no interference 3NT would be the normal rebid but with the OVERCALL lead director it just doesn't seem right. I think pards right bid is 3D asking about the diamond stopper. With a diamond stop 3NT would be OK. With none you must check on the stopper situation. I now will bid 3H denying a stopper and having previously denied 4 hearts I am looking for a 4-3 fit. This time it works out. The 3 card suit stops the run of diamonds and 10 tricks are there with 4S, 4H and 2C tricks. Makes five if they lead diamonds and force the ruff. This should be a top board. Few will find the 4-3 fit and missing nine diamonds assures 5 diamond tricks on defense unless the suit blocks.
This subject requires more discussion. I dont think there is a "standard" bid in this situation. After pard bids 2C I will not sell out at the two level without doubling. I suggest a double of 2D with a stopper, denying a 4 card major. A pass would deny a stopper and bidding ensues as before. A bid of 2H or 2S would neither admit or deny a stopper. After this, only bid NT if you hold a stopper yourself. Don't rely on pard to have one. BTW I dont advocate bidding 2C with garbage. It should represent an optimistic invitational bid at minimum.
If 2C is doubled for lead direction a similar situation occurs. In this case, PASS with a CLUB STOPPER. This neither shows nor denies a 4 card major. Pard then reopens with a redouble and the auction proceeds as if there was no double or redouble except you now know about the stopper. BTW this applies if a transfer bid is doubled for lead. Pass shows a stopper, pard redoubles to reopen the bidding.
More later on handling interference after opening 1NT. I'd love to see your comments. If they are civil I will include them on the blog. The only response so far is from my friend Dr. Wilson Miller. He said to tell everyone it's not hard to enter a comment. Simply click on comments, leave the message and email address, then answer the "letters" question to discourage spammers.It's OK to sign in as anonymous and the email address wont be available to me.
Thanks for reading. Happy Bridging. SPADEWOOD
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2 comments:
IF WE WERE PARTNERS WE WOULD HAVE BEEN I IN 4 OF A MAJOR
I think your protocol over the 2 diaond overcall and the lead directing double work well and are just about right. You dont want this to be too sophisticaed and overburdened with mixed messages and mulitlple implications. What is more important that to tell partner in an unambiguous way about your stopper or lack of a stopper. If you have a low level way of doing that you will find the bidding space to solve the problem when there is no stopper. Good ideas. tommy
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