Its all about the Bidding (Saturday)
It’s actually Sunday but I had a busy day yesterday. Today I bid with Francine and then played with the ladies. Cora, Krista and Katie.
Do you like this bidding?
| North
♠ 1075 ♥ A432 ♦ AJ1096 ♣ A |
 |
| South
♠ KJ3 ♥ KQ ♦ 52 ♣ QJ9752 |
East was dealer with North-South vulnerable and passed. East-West remained quiet throughout the auction. South opened 1♣ . What do you think North should bid? I personally don’t like bypassing diamonds with an opening bid. You will have a chance to bid hearts later. Might as well describe your shape. At our table North bid 1♥ . South bid 2♣ . What should North do? Do you play 2♦ is forcing one round? What is 3♦ ? Notice how nicely the auction works if you just bid 1♦ in the first place. Over 2♣ you bid 2♥ . If you play as I do that a new suit by responder is forcing for one round than a jump to 3♦ should have a specific meaning. Perhaps it should be invitational with 5/5 in the reds. Francine and I played it shows clubs support and is game forcing. Anyway, South bid 3NT and that was a good spot. I am interested in what you think of the auction. But nobody will convince me that you should bid 1♥instead of 1♦ .
This deal inspired some discussion.
| South
♠ A ♥ K742 ♦ KQJ7 ♣ Q1083 |
With nobody vulnerable partner opened 2♠ in second chair. Your weak two-bids are decent. Do you bid? If you do what is your plan? You may well have enough for game but if partner doesn’t have something good outside the spade suit than you are probably going to have to play spades. The top spade is a good card but the other cards may or may not help. You could bid 2NT and ask for a feature. If partner bids 3♠ denying one pass? You could ask for shortness. If partner has club shortness you would bid the game but otherwise play in partscore. Or you could just bid 4♠. Francine and I had a similar situation in our bidding practice session. I decided to ask for shortness and she made the innovative bid of 4♠ with no shortness but a maximum and that worked out well. (Probably that should be part of the system or maybe 3NT should show that hand).
At the table South bid 3NT. This was not a success.
| North
♠ KQ10832 ♥ Q86 ♦ 108 ♣ 64 |
|
| South
♠ A ♥ K742 ♦ KQJ7 ♣ Q1083 |
If spades break then you might get to dummy on a heart or possible a diamond if West holds it and ducks when you lead to the ten. But this is not a good contract and things did not work perfectly.
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Bridge-related
I prefer bidding 1D myself, but there is something to be said for making the reverse sequence show an even stronger hand, at least if the major is hearts (lowest major).
if Opener rebids 1NT and might have a 4-card major (hopefully the case), the auction will be:
1C-P-1D-P-
1NT-P-2H?
Here, 2H is not clearly natural, as Responder would likely do this as a preparation for a forcing club raise or diamond rebid. 2S in this sequence is more reliably real, but hearts, the cheapest unbid suit, not as much.
So, Opener makes some call. He won’t (or should not) just raise hearts simply because he has four hearts, as this preempts Responder out of both minor-bid options. In fact, I think it would be somewhat better to have a semi-forced 2S than for Opener to say ANYTHING he thinks useful, unless the other calls are very specific as to definition.
This, then, tends to make discovery of the heart fit delayed, and it is at least delayed until the three-level, whereas 1C-P-1H-P-2H is a much better start when there is a heart fit.