The Nuclear Weapon
Ray calls the weak two diamond bid the nuclear weapon. Here is a hand where it did cause a lot of problems for South’s. You are not vulnerable versus vulnerable and East on your left opens 2♦ . Your hand is
| South | |
| ♠ | AJ9 |
| ♥ | Q84 |
| ♦ | 10872 |
| ♣ | Q102 |
Partner sitting North doubles. What do you do? At this vulnerability passing may be tempting. Ray Jotcham found that bid. Back to that later. I just didn’t think fourTH ten was good enough. Some brave souls bid 3 of a major but with only nine points and three trumps I thought this was too rich. I decided to bid my better major and bid 2 spades. Partner raised to 3♠ and with a maximum it was time to bid game. But which game. I bid 3NT. If partner had short diamonds or five spades she would go back to spades and if not I hoped that my diamond “stopper” might hold off. If all else failed I was prepared to apologize to my teammates.
The whole hand was:
| Dealer:
Vul: |
North | ||||
| ♠ | K865 | ||||
| ♥ | A532 | ||||
| ♦ | K9 | ||||
| ♣ | AK9 | ||||
| West |  |
East | |||
| ♠ | 1073 | ♠ | Q42 | ||
| ♥ | J10 | ♥ | K976 | ||
| ♦ | AQJ653 | ♦ | 4 | ||
| ♣ | 74 | ♣ | J8532 | ||
| South | |||||
| ♠ | AJ9 | ||||
| ♥ | Q84 | ||||
| ♦ | 10872 | ||||
| ♣ | Q103 | ||||
So you see passing works out best producing 500-800. 3NT is a fine spot producing 430. Four hearts makes but four spades does not because the defense can make the heart king, a diamond, a diamond ruff and the spade ten holds up as a trump trick. I wonder how each bid would rate on a bidding panel.
If you passed you desrve 100., at least on the day. I think most pairs did find their way to 3NT although our opponents did stumble and we won imps on the deal.
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Bridge-related
This hand is demonstrative of why bridge is such an interesting game. There is NO right answer to this bidding dillema. At the table you have about 5-10 seconds to work out your call, lest you take too long and inadvertently bar partner. My bid would have been 3D, forcing and asking pard about a diamond stopper. We’d end up where you did, played from North. But if North held 4-5 in the majors we’d have played game in a 5-3 fit.
My team mate Samantha thought that pass was a standout and I am coming more over to that side. The problem with 3D is that you do only have nine high card points. It;s what I call a “big” bid. Just because partner made a takeout double doesn’t mean that she has a 16 count or whatever. You have a flat hand and the only good part of your hand is the concentration of values in the majors. The reason game is possible is partner has extra and bid over 2S.
I think 3D is a clear overbid — partner would have made the same double without the CK, or maybe even with less, so you can’t force to game. I like pass, but I’m not sure I would have had the intestinal fortitude to make that call at the table. You rate to pick up 200-500, much is a good trade at IMPs against probably not getting to the right game; East hasn’t raised diamonds, either. I’ll live with the occasional -180 — remember, Terence Reese used to say that if they never make a doubled contract against you, you’re not doubling enough.
If playing standard or 2/1 you are correct Ray. “The world” makes takeout doubles of weak two bids with opening hands. But playing Advanced American this is not allowed. Partner must have either a shapely 15+ HCP or a 2-bid hand with good spades or 18+ with a good minor. Example of the spade hand: AKQ9752, 4, A98, 65.