Question:
You are East and you need a second bid. You do not have 6 hearts.
Do you bid hearts anyway?
Vic:
COMMENT: Your first goal in any auction is to describe your hand to partner. By opening 1H in 1st seat East has told partner they have at least 5 hearts & 13 - 21 points. So far so good. Rebidding hearts would promise at least 6 of them. That would be a lie. And lying about length happens to be a very bad lie that can get you in lots of trouble. So NO, you do NOT bid hearts anyway.
QUESTION: Why lie about your hand if you have a good choice that continues to tell the truth? Is the East hand balanced or two-suited? Big Hint: It is two-suited. Assuming EW are playing Two Over One & East is not worried about being passed out short of game, a good second call by East would be 3C. A second call of 3C describes a two-suited hand with clubs either equal in length or shorter than hearts (more often than not 5-5 or 5-4). However, if in the bidding scheme EW are using (Standard American maybe) 3C would NOT be forcing, it is absolutely NOT a good choice.
ALTERNATIVE CHOICE: Another good choice for East would be a second call of 3NT which they have a right to believe will end the auction. A second call of 3NT implies a balanced hand which given that East holds two doubletons is a lie. But East has a high honor in both doubletons, so this is not an especially onerous lie. A hand with two doubletons each of which has a high honor (A or K) is often referred to as semi-balanced. Given that the 2D call by West should promise at least 11 points & East holds 17 HCPs, the partnership has plenty of points to be in game.
I
certainly hope the complete auction in the above hand got EW to a final
contract of 3NT. Given the location of the missing honors, it looks as if it
could actually make 6NT.
No comments:
Post a Comment