Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - September 13, 2021 - Second suit first

 

Question:  Did North/South stop too soon in their bidding?

Glenna:

I see a continuous thread of bidding by our players that I would like to help improve. That thread is that most players do not show their hand pattern correctly to their partners. Here is a guideline that I hope to get across to all players. When you are 5-5, 5-4, 6-5, 6-4, you should bid your 2nd suit BEFORE you rebid your 1st suit. The reason for that is ALL NEW SUITS BY RESPONDER are FORCING!!!!!  Opener MUST bid again so responder can always rebid his 1st suit if he has 6 of them.

  The hand for this week shows how this guideline works.

               W                          N                           E                            S

                                             1 ♦️ `    P                            1 ♠️

               P                            1 NT      2 ♣️     2 ♥️

               P                            3 ♥️     P                            4 ♥️

 

You are in a wonderful contract making 5 or 6 depending on whether or not you play the ♥️ J and let it ride. Otherwise you lose a ♥️ and a ♠️. Knock out the ♠️ A and you can pitch your ♦️ losers!

  An advanced concept for you to remember is that 4-4 fits are the most desired because you can set up a longer side suit for pitches. Hope this helps and I would be happy to have more hands like this because people have trouble handling them.

See You At The Tables,

Glenna