More Bridge Stories from our last match
I thought that Sondra Blank made a very nice bid on this hand. Let’s see what you think. Sondra held
AQ 
Q742 
Q64 
10972
Isabelle opened 1 and Sondra bid 1NT(forcing). West overcalled 2 and Isabelle bid 2 . What should Sondra do? Taking the inference that West had a lot of high cards in club and that Isabelle was quite likely to be short in them she realized the value of her major suit cards and just bid the game. Had she simply made a game try then Isabelle who had a minimum might not have bid it. Here was Isabelle’s hand.
K10832 AJ86 K92 9
Now let’s look at Isabelle’s rebid. While she does have a minimum her club singleton suggests that Sondra might well have a heart fit. At out table North passed 2
. What should South do now with her 10 points. She doesn’t really have a club stopper. I suppose she might bid hearts but instead she took the “safe” route with 2 and that is where they played it losing a game swing. So Sondra and Isabelle combined to get to this good game. While game is not a guarantee as long as the major don’t split to badly you are a favorite.
Here is a hand that Colin and I didn’t get right and I confess I bid it like a dumkopf but I am interested in some thoughts (not so much about my dumb bidding but about how you think these things should be handled over forcing club).
I opened 1 in third and Colin made a negative 1 bid. North a passed hand bid 2 and we really hadn’t discussed this situation. Here is my hand
AK106 A3 10 AQ10843
What do bids mean now? Should 3 be forcing one round? Or do you have to jump or cuebid to create a force? Is a double a three suited takeout? I wasn’t sure and I managed to talk myself out of bidding at all (that is the dumbkopf part. Suppose I do bid 3 like a mensch (I am exercising my inner Jewish here) and it goes 3 pass pass would you bid 3. If you do you are a winner since partner will easily summon up 4. (We ended ingeniously in 4 which won in imps because 5 doubled at the other table was only 1 down). Colin and I did discuss this all and agreed to think about it but I think 3 here should show a good suit but not be forcing over the negative. Colin held
QJ96 52 7643 975
(This hand bid 1 over an opening natural club bid and 4 was not far behind.) I would be happy to here from strong clubbers about there thoughts.
Subscribe to our feed
Bridge-related
Double, 2 places to play including the other major.
I agree that 3 clubs can’t be forcing since responder could have a bust and not want to keep the auction alive. If responder has made a semi-positive (like 1c*-(1h)-x*-(2h)-? where *=5-8 any…now it is a big help for constructive bidding to make 3 level free bids by opener game-forcing. With a bunch of clubs and a minimum, opener can pass, knowing responder with 5 pts won’t let the auction die in 2h. Then over responder’s 2nd action (likely another double if balanced) opener can bid clubs non-forcing.
Thanks for the help. I think the idea that double shows two places to play in a good one and that an overcall by opener over a negative response is nonforcing. So overcaller has to jump or cuebid or double to force responder with the former two being game forces.