Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - May 30, 2022 - Terminology

 

Question: 

Here’s a question about whether or not to advance the bid when declarer has overcalled an opening bid. Responder has indicated that they do not have support for the declarer’s suit and does not have 4 S. Do we stop at 1 NT or look for something else due to weakness in C?

Vic:

First thing that needs to be addressed here is incorrect/careless use of bridge terminology. In a competitive auction there are 4 participants. Opener is the first player to bid (in this case East). Opener’s partner is Responder (in this case West). The first person to bid for opposing pair (assuming they both do not just Pass) is Overcaller (in this case South). South’s partner is Advancer (in this case North). Any questions about the auction should refer to the 4 players accordingly. 

There is no Declarer until the auction is over. Any one of the four players could prove to be Declarer. In the auction shown Overcaller/South has become Declarer. Declarers partner is Advancer not Responder.

 All of the above terms refer to a specific individual of the 4 players sharing the table. You need to be very cautious not to use these terms carelessly. It will only create confusion.

 Holding Responder's hand (West), I would Pass on my first turn to call to warn Opener that I have less than 6 points (gold star for West).

 Holding Advancer’s hand (North) I would also Pass on my first turn to call to warn Overcaller that I also have less than 6 points. Note: a singleton Queen is NOT worth 2 points.

 The first round of bidding would be: 1C  (1H)   Pass   (Pass).

 Holding the East hand my second call would a Takeout  DBL of 1H. That would be telling Responder: “I know you have less than 6 points, but I have a good hand & can support any of the three suits other than hearts.” Please bid whichever one of those three suits you are proudest of.

 West now has two options for their second call.  #1 -  Bid 1S which Opener should Pass. #2 - given their strong holding in hearts, they can Pass Opener’s Takeout DBL, converting it to a Penalty DBL.

 If I were West, I would choose the 2nd option. I would then lead my Club Jack (partners suit). East should win the club Queen then King then Ace then lead trump. Looks to me like EW deserve 3 club tricks + 2 spade tricks + 2 heart tricks. That would put NS down one (DBLed + Vul), giving EW a score of 200.

 It is not clear to me whether EW can make 1S or not.

 Pretty wild hand. Ain’t bridge a great game?