Another WTB with good lessons

Another fun hand. I was doubled after opening 2S and MADE IT. Yeoww! With RHO opening 2S you hold S-A2 H-KT42 D-KQ5 C-A543. You have plenty of juice to double with 16 hcp and 4 hearts and support in both minors. LHO passes and your pard holds QJ43 Q83 7654 J4.
He is in a pickle! The alternatives are pass, 2NT, and 3D(as a sign off). 2NT as a natural bid may lead to more troubles. 3D shows a much better hand and is a poor alternate. Actually 3H has some merit but I wouldn't seriously consider it. Todays modern bridge players often play Lebensohl in this situation. 2NT becomes a transfer to 3C which can be passed or to next bid 3D as a signoff. Not a bad alternative, to transfer then sign off in 3D. At least you wont get in more trouble. All these alternates have one major defect. The board is likely lost. Anything you do will likely be bad. The bid I like is the pass. With vulnerability right, opp Vul vs you NV you have a good play for a top. Now the fun begins. You have to take 6 tricks before declarer takes 8 tricks. As the doubler, what do you lead. You have 4 likely tricks. Pard probably has 2 so it should be down 1. I'd lead the DK. Thats not the killing lead but it is the RIGHT lead. For fun find the killing lead. The full hands are as follows:

........9
........J65
........AJT82
........KQ87
A2................QJ43
KT42...........Q83
KQ5.............7643
A943............J6
.......KT8765
.......A97
.......3
.......T52

The opening lead is the DK. What do you think of your chances of making this? RHO has to have a trump stack. If he has 5 trump you will be down. losing 3 trumps, 2 hearts and a club. With the more likely 4-2 break you can end play him if you reduce your trump length to the same as his. With that in mind I take the DK with the A and lead back the J of diamonds, discarding a heart. LHO wins the diamond and returns a low heart. RHO plays the Q and I take the A. I lead a low club and LHO plays the A.(If he ducks, I pitch a heart on the good diamond.) He cashes the HK and leads a heart. I pitch a club, then lead the S9 and run it. LHO wins the A and leads a diamond. I ruff it, lead a club to the K. We are at the 9th trick. I have 5 tricks, they have 4 tricks. I lead a diamond and trump it. I then lead the ST, won by RHO SJ and he concedes the last two tricks, for making two. An earlier switch to clubs would have ruined the timing for the end play.

Did you find the killing defense? Try leading CA and another on opening lead. Then lead a third round for a ruff when in with the SA. Easy game this bridge.

More blogs to come as I get the mood. Thanks for reading. Happy Bridging. SPADEWOOD.

FUN WTB HAND WITH COMPETITION

This hand was played in Mobile at the Bridge Center. My partner and I were NS on board 3 with EW vulnerable. The opponents are competent players. Pard opens 2D and RHO holds S T3 H AJ98543 D 86 C 64. What do you bid? There are lots of points in your partners and the opponents hands. I personally require a better hand than this to overcall at the two level. I think as a minimum a 2H bid should show a sound weak two bid and a good six card suit. Here the suit quality is covered but the strength is low. I would just pass, expecting to bid later. Anyhow RHO bids 2H! I am faced with a decision holding QT76 T4 KT763 Q5. Pard has bid 2D, RHO overcalled 2H and I bid 5D. I think this places maximum pressure on LHO who I expect to have a terrific hand. He now bids 6H and RHO blanches. We all pass and I lead my fourth best diamond. The whole hand is this: Board 3 EW vul, N dealer: bidding is 2D 2H 5D 6H all pass.

.........92
.........Q3
.........AQJ952
.........752
AKJ83................74
K2.....................AJ98654
void...................86
AKT863.............J4
.........QT65
.........T7
.........KT743
.........Q9

Declarer ruffs the opening lead of the 4 of diamonds. He cashes the HK, plays S AK and leads a low spade from dummy. Pard ruffs with the HQ and declarer overruffs. He then draws the outstanding trump and claims 7 by establishing the 5th spade for his diamond loser. Pards uppercut is essential if I hold the HJ instead of the HT.

I dont know how the bidding will go if RHO passes instead of overcalling 2H. I will bid 5D anyway and LHO will double. RHO may then bid 5H and LHO will raise to 6H for the same result. Most pairs reached 6H making.

More fun hands to follow as I continue to review the ACBL convention card, We'll continue to discuss responses to NT openings and what to do over interference.

In the meanwhile, Happy Bridging and thanks for reading. SPADEWOOD.

Avoiding an impossible 3NT

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

Bidding after opening No Trump

We need to look at how to handle auctions that start with No Trump. I am often asked if I open 1 NT holding a 5 card major. It's not an easy question. With 18 hcp I open a 5 card major and treat the hand as if it is 19 hcp. With 15 hcp I tend to open the major suit and REBID a side 4 card suit or 1NT or PASS if pard responds 1NT. NOTE THIS: IF I OPEN 1H AND REBID 1NT OVER 1S AND PARD BIDS 2 OF A MINOR IT IS A SIGNOFF AND MUST BE PASSED. He has a hand with 6-10 hcp, only 4 spades, no heart support and probably 6 clubs. With 16-17 hcp I freely open 1NT with a five card major and a balanced hand. My rule is to open 1NT with 15-18 hcp hands and no more than 1 defect. A defect is: 1. a five card major,
2. a weak doubleton,
3. a side 4 card suit.
4. a minimum 15 hcp hand,
5. a maximum 18 point hand, or
6. an aceless hand.

Responding to a 1NT opening we usually try to find an 8 card major suit fit. We do this by using Stayman 2C and Jacoby Transfers. 2C response asks for a 4 card major suit, responder rebids 2D without a 4 card major or bids the 4 card major, up the line if you have both. A 2 level rebid by responder shows an invitational hand. A major suit rebid shows a 5 card suit. A 2NT rebid shows 8-9 hcp A jump to 3 of a major after 2D shows 10+ hcp and a 5 card suit. 3 of a minor rebid is forcing to 3NT or 4 of a minor. It shows 10+ hcp and an unbalanced hand.

Jacoby Transfers show a 5 card suit or more. 2D transfers to 2H, 2H transfers to 2S. A transfer followed by 2NT is invitational with 8-9 hcp. Opener bids 3NT or 4 of the major with 17-18 hcp and passes or bids 3 of the major with 15-16. A transfer followed by 3 of a minor shows 5-5 and 10+ hcp. Transfer to 2H and rebid 2S with 5-5 invitational. Transfer to 2S and rebid 3H as forcing with 10+ hcp.

Next post will discuss more NT sequences. Please feel free to comment.

Thanks for reading. Happy Bridging, SPADEWOOD

CLASSIC BRIDGE HAND

It's my blog, I'll write what I want to. Yeoww. I played a fun hand this week at the local duplicate. My opponents were competent players but were not a regular partnership. None vulnerable I held S JT9653 H AK842 D void C T6. Pass on my right. I open 1 Spade! I open light but this is a new record. Let's look at it. 8 hcp plus 6S and 5H easily meets the rule of 20! The AK of hearts is my two defensive tricks and the hand has 6 losers. This is a good hand and I opened it. LHO bids 2NT unusual for minors. Now pard jumps to 4 Spades! In our methods this shows a preemptive hand to make the opponents guess at the five level. It shows no defense! We play unusual over unusual so a bid of 3 Diamonds would be a limit raise or better in spades. This is a cue bid of one of their implied suits showing a spade raise. But it's not over yet! RHO bids 5 clubs and I bid 6 spades! Really, I think it is their hand and I would bid on to 6 spades if they go to 6 clubs. More to come...! LHO bids 7 clubs! It goes p p and NOW WHAT. Should I double? It is match points and I am on lead. I think I have won the board. If I double they may run to 7D and pard is on lead. He might then lead a spade and seven might make. I pass and lead the A of hearts. It holds, down at least one.
The whole hand is:

...............K8742
...............9
...............JT98
...............932
void.......................AQ
T63.......................QJ52
AKQ75..................6432
AK874...................QJ5
................JT9653
................AK874
................void
................T6

I go on and cash the HK and give pard his ruff. We later win a diamond for down 4. We score 75% on the board and I am happy with the result. Any comments?

As always I appreciate your comments. Happy Bridging, SPADEWOOD.

No Trump Summary

No Trump Summary, based on previous blogs.
HCP count Action
12-14 Open of a suit and rebid 1NT
15-18 Open 1NT
19-20 Open 1 of a suit and jump tp 2NT(or raise 1NT resp to 3NT)
21-22 Open 2NT
23-24 Open 2C(artifical) and rebid 2NT over 2D response
25-26 Open 3NT
27-28 Open 2C(artificial) and rebid 3NT over 2D response.

I've never seen a 29 HCP hand but if I did I'd open 4NT. Not Blackwood I hope.
All the above is bid with balanced hands suitable for NT play.
These No Trump ranges form the basis of a conservative Standard system designed to maximize plus scores in a MATCH POINT scoring game. Further details will follow.

I appreciate your comments. Happy bridging. SPADEWOOD

More On NT Bidding

These comments on NT bidding apply to MATCH POINTS only. At IMPs or rubber bridge different odds apply for bidding games. Openings and overcalls are more conservative.

With a balanced minimum hand of say 12-14 hcp you must open with 1 of a suit and rebid 1NT. This puts you right back in the 25+ hcp determination to bid game. For NT games, raise to game with 13 hcp and PASS, yes PASS with 11hcp. Raise to 2NT with 12 hcp to invite game. Opener bids 3NT with 13-14 and passes with a dog.(12 hcp) Some maintain you can rebid 1NT with 11-14 with good effect, since you have the invitational 2NT raise to invite 3NT. The problem with opening with balanced 11 hcp hands is that it will often turn into a minus score. The opponents can overcall easily and can push you to a high level. Further if they push on to higher contracts your partner will be tempted to double expecting a better hand. I suggest sticking to 12 hcp with balanced hands, but venturing bids with weaker hands that are unbalanced, with points in the long suits. In any case you should hold 2 defensive tricks to open in any position.

With a stronger balanced hand say, 15-18 open 1NT as previously stated. With 19-20 hcp open 1 of a suit and jump rebid to 2NT over a suit response. Over a 1NT response jump to game(3NT) with 19-20hcp. Pard should have 6 hcp or more for his response and game should be safe. The question is always asked, "Is the 2NT jump rebid forcing?" Yes it is, thats why I play the 15-18 NT so my jumps to 2NT have some authority. The only reason to shade a response to a one level opening is having a long suit and 4-5 hcp. In these cases game is still a good shot and there are methods to sign off at the 3 level if desired.

One other bid in this sequence is the jump rebid to 3NT after 1 of a suit and a one level response. say, 1c p 1h p, 3NT ap. The 3NT rebid shows likely 9 tricks with a long solid minor suit. It also shows a singleton or void in pards suit. The 3NT bid says pass if holding a sure stopper in the suit and remove to the minor suit otherwise.

There are numerous rebids and responses to openings to be considered. I will start covering them in my next blog. I always appreciate your comments.

Happy Bridging, SPADEWOOD