Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - April 3, 2023 - Avoiding a pass

 

Question:  South has a great hand and just wishing that North does not pass.  Could there be anything else South could have done to make sure North made a bid so South could continue the auction?

Vic:

North has 4 HCPs (all of them unsupported "Quacks"). Why on earth would South want to continue the auction? 

Does South have a right to be disappointed that North proved to have less than 6 points? Of course.  Be that the case, should South regret that they did not have the chance to continue bidding?  Of course NOT! 

North/South deserve to make 3D for a score of +110. Had North made the very poor decision to bid, here is how I anticipate the auction unfolding. 

1D - Pass - 1H - Pass - 1S - Pass - 1NT or 2C - Pass - 3NT - Pass - Pass - Pass 

North/South deserve to go down one in 3NT for a score of - 50 (assuming they do not get DBLed for penalty). End of story.

 Gold Star Award to North for telling partner they had less than 6 points by passing. The two most dangerous lies you can make in bridge are to overvalue or undervalue your hand.

Weekly Hand Analysis - Mark Olsky - April 3, 2023 - Double after 1NT

 

Question:  What does a double after a 1NT bid indicate?

Mark:

The standard meaning, if you haven't made a clear other agreement with your partner (which would then have to be Alerted), is equal strength or better to the opponent's NT range. (i.e If, for example, the opponents are playing a 12 to 15 NT range, you could double with 13.) I'm not saying that makes it a good idea, but it would fit the standard meaning. In this case, I assume that N bid 1NT with 15 to 17, so E, with 7 high card points promised at least 15. This is not only a problem for the current hand, but could plant distrust in your partner for many future hands. If W trusts E, looking at 6 points and expecting your partner to have at least 15, shouldn't you double 3NT? I would double 2NT. Even if you have an unusual convention that says you have a heart diamond 2 suiter, this is the wrong hand for it. The hand is too weak and the suits aren't nearly good enough. 

  One problem with bidding over a 1NT and, (of course) 2NT is that the opening bid is very descriptive. The opener's partner knows if you've just stepped into a bad spot. Experienced players will start doubling when it's in their best interest, which is quite frequent. In this case, the perpetrator of the unwise double might escape a full disaster because of the very favorable vulnerability, but the damage to partnership confidence, as noted above, has a future cost.

  Here's a bit of practical advice about bidding over the opponents' NT opening; especially when opponents are using the common  15-17. Just Don't. By this I don't mean the popular DONT convention, which helps you describe a number of hands. However, unless you have lots of experience and a solid partnership, it's easy to get burned even when your hand can be described to a T. Suppose you have a 20 point hand and your right hand opponent opens 1NT. It feels strange to pass, but where would you hope to get. It's rare to have a game when the opponents open 1NT.  I would favor a specialized purpose convention for the double of 1NT. There are several such conventions. My own favorite is to show a single good suit and a decent hand in general. Partner is expected to bid 2 clubs, which you pass if that is your suit, or you bid your suit next. 

  Just an aside about South's 2NT invitational raise instead of 3NT. You know that you have at least 25 points in the partnership. Most players would bid game directly rather than just invite. If game is made at most tables, you get a terrible result. Imagine that the opening NT bidder is the kind of player that makes really shaky bids (Kind of like the current East). Now you underbid and you might start a chain reaction of shaky bids.

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - April 3, 2023 - Play it safe?

 

Question:  North had 11 HCP but decided to play it safe on the 2nd bid of clubs.  I assume North thought there was no way to get a game in a minor.  However South obtained 11 tricks.  When should you play it safe in a minor?

Glenna:

  I think N would have bid 5 ♣️ if south had opened 1 ♣️. When S opens 1 ♦️, it mades a C game harder to bid. N loves ♣️ and has the A ♥️ so bidding 5 is easier with a different opening.

Hope this helps,

Glenna

 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - March 27, 2023 - 1NT

 

Question:  West starts with 1NT.  East has 7 points and a five card diamond suit.  Did East make a good bid by passing?  West made 8 tricks.

Vic:

Before answering your question, I feel compelled to advise you that Pass is not a "bid'. Pass is a "call". Naughty, naughty, naughty the Bridge Word Police would chant. 

The term "call" refers to any auction signal you can make using the bidding box.  

The term "bid" specifically refers to one of the rungs on the bidding ladder. That is, one of the five "strains" at one of the seven levels (1H - 3S - 6NT - whatever). 

All bids are also calls. But not all calls are bids. Double & Redouble are other examples of calls that are not bids. 

As for your question, it begs a two word answer that commonly applies to many questions asked about bridge. "It depends." 

Audrey Grant teaches that you should include length points in the initial evaluation of your hand. I would expect an Audrey Grant disciple to add one length point to the East hand. That would make it an 8 point hand in which case I would expect them to bid 2NT. 

Holding the East hand, I would expect a player who does not include length points in the initial evaluation of their hand to Pass.

 

 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - March 27, 2023 - Preempt

 Question:  

A preempt is usually good for one bid.  However, both South and North have strong major suits.  Should both of them continue bidding?

Glenna:

  N was correct to open 1 ♥️ and I think E was correct to Pass. South has the 1st tough call and can bid 1 ♠️ but never bid again or he can tell partner his hand is good for nothing except ♠️ and jump to 2 ♠️. That shuts W out of any noise and they probably get it for 2 ♠️.  The problem with 1 ♠️ is that gave W an opportunity to bid even though he didn’t have a  valid reason to bid 2 ♦️(a horrible suit). The 1st  “rule of bridge” Is to “get out” on a misfit and STOP bidding, 2 ♠️ would have been great.

So the main point of this hand—stop bidding when you know you’re on a misfit!!!! Neither N or S should keep bidding. 2 ♠️ takes care of NS and should win the board. Although, if W doesn’t know how to bid and keeps bidding, double him!

Glenna

 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Mark Olsky - March 27, 2023 - Stopped bidding too soon

 

Question:

Another case of bidding that probably stopped too soon. While there are potential transportation problems this hand looks like E/W should probably be in 3 NT. What does one of our gurus think?

Mark:

This is one of the most common challenges for less experienced players and, in fact, a continuation of a theme from last week. 

Your partner has opened the bidding and you have a full opening hand. You must not drop the ball until you reach game. That means you make forcing bids or bid game. Both partners have to be on the same page. Forcing means FORCING. 

However tempted you might be to pass, if your partner has made a forcing bid, you bid. If there doesn't seem to be a bid that describes your hand accurately, you do the best you can with the "smallest lie.". That may mean bidding a short suit when you normally promise more, raising partner with a doubleton, etc. 

The forcing partner should remember that the one being forced may have made an awkward bid. In this case, 2 hearts is not only not forcing, it's not invitational. It promises no more than 10 points (some would say 9) and a 5 or 6 card suit. By that I don't mean you aren't promising more; you are promising that you definitely have less. Even if you were to bid 3 hearts, you haven't fulfilled your responsibility, because you are still promising less than an opening bid, but very close to one (like 11 points including length points). 

The opening bidder is allowed to pass without extras or support for the hearts. In this case, West should bid 4H over 3H, even though 3 H is a mistake. 4H by East at the first chance is acceptable. It will either end the bidding or lead to 6 hearts by East, which is not a sure thing as far as E-W have a right to know. From their point of view, an unlucky position of the club ace, combined with a lucky lead(from their point of view) of a club would get a quick 2 club tricks for the defense. As the actual hand is dealt, 6 hearts will make from either hand, as will 6NT. If the A of clubs isn't taken at trick 1, 13 tricks will be made without even needing the spade finesse. 

The slam is about 60% likely based on the E-W cards alone. 40% of the time at least 1 of the red suits will break badly and then you can't make a slam. If you show the E-W cards alone to an 10 experts and ask what contract they would wish to be in, they would likely split the vote 50-50 between game or slam. Everyone would want to play it from the W side, whether NoTrump or Hearts. That way N-S are unable to take the first 2 tricks no matter what. Even in a very strong field, I estimate that only about 10% will bid a slam on the E-W cards. 100% will at least get to a game. Those who take 13 tricks will score well. Those who take 13 tricks in NT, even if just in game, will have a near top. It takes aggressive bidding to get to slam, and you shouldn't feel you did anything wrong if you don't bid it but make 12 or 13 tricks.

Weekly Hand Analysis - Mark Olsky - March 20, 2023 - 3NT

 

Question: 

Both E and W have hands with 13 HCP, they wind up in 3 C but probably should have been in 3 NT. Should E have bid 3 NT even though D were not bid?

Mark:

First, let's talk about the ideal contract with these 2 hands, assuming we don't get to peek at N-S, which lets us see that 6 clubs is made easily. 3NT is likely to make, probably with overtricks, which means that at duplicate it likely will score better than 5 clubs, whether 5 clubs makes 5 or 6. Since it is unlikely that 6 clubs will be bid at more than 1 or 2 tables, and more often none, the relatively safer contract of 3NT is the practical ideal. Note that against some possible N-S distributions,(Not the actual one) a spade lead could render 3NT unmakeable while 5 clubs would be pretty safe. That's worth considering if you are playing an IMP team game. 

  Now let's address the bidding on the West hand: Your partner has opened the bidding and you have 13 high- card points. You should be aware of the following: 

                1. It is probable (Somewhere between 60% and 100%) that your side can make game.

                2. You know this and your partner doesn't. As far as your partner knows, you can't make more than 7 or 8 tricks, even though you had enough to respond in the first round and both opponents look ready to fall asleep.

                3. All, or nearly all, pairs in your direction will bid game. You could get an OK result even if the hand is unlucky and the game can't be made.

                4. It is totally your responsibility to see to it that you bid game or keep making FORCING bids until game is reached.

 

  If instead of 13 points you have 11 or 12 points, you should make bids that are invitational but don't bid or force to game unless partner invites with a bid that shows extras. You must also be tuned in to whether partner is making a minimum, invitational or FORCING bid.

  Back to the hand at hand. I'm still talking to W. You responded correctly 1 S over partner's opening bid. Some players prefer to promise 5 cards with a 1S bid, but what you did is fine, as long as both partners agree. Your partner's 2 club bid now is unlimited, could be made on 21 points, so it is 100% FORCING! There is nothing weaker you can say than 3 clubs, no matter how cheerfully you place that bid on the table. 3 C could show as little as 5 or 6 points and 3 clubs. This is very likely to become the final contract. It's understandable that all your alternatives other than 3 clubs seem to be problematic. Failing to raise clubs, by bidding diamonds or NT seems to deny your enthusiasm for partner's 2nd suit. Showing that enthusiasm by jumping to 4 clubs has 2 problems, in that it bypasses 3NT, which could well be the best contract and, positive as it is, isn't 100% FORCING. In a partnership without a little advanced methodology, I'm afraid the best alternative for W is to just jump to 3NT (over 2 clubs) and risk the possibility of missing a superior club contract. At least you don't miss game. In partnerships with more advancement, W can bid 2 D over 2C, which is "4th suit FORCING." You neither promise nor deny strong diamonds, but you force partner to bid at least once more, while showing invitational or game values. Some experts play "4th suit" as always forcing to game; others treat it as highly invitational.

  Now look at East's point of view after W bid 3 clubs as shown. The weakest hand within the range of W's 3 club bid is if you replaced the AK of diamonds with Jx. I'm giving you a gift of that J. It could be 4 small ones. If E is very optimistic and aggressive, they could consider an invitational action, realizing that they could be wading into minus territory. I still don't think E should consider 3NT. 3D if you play "4th suit" as merely invitational is an option. Remember that people who play "4th suit artificial and forcing" aren't necessarily showing length or strength in the suit bid. They are just saying to partner "Tell me more." I don't think most readers of this series are ready for it, but if you have a regular partner and you are both ready for it, read up on "4th suit forcing" and start to incorporate it. It's a real handicap if your partnership isn't ready for that tool, but don't start using the tool before it's time.

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - March 20, 2023 - Slam

 

Question: 

E has 16 hcp and 7 H, partner has 11 hcp and 4 more H. How and when should these players re-value their hands in search of slam?

Glenna:

East opens 1 ♥️ and W should make a limit raise of 3 ♥️ showing 4 ♥️ and 11 or 12 points, (You would NEVER make a 2/1 with a 3-card suit.). East will get excited and ask for A’s and with the response will bid 6 ♥️.

  Look at the play of the hand, it’s a piece if cake, you have only 1 loser after you discard your loser and make 6!!! A fun hand to play.

Hope this helps,

Glenna

 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - March 20, 2023 - Overcall

 

Question:  West opens and North has 18 HCP but no 5 card suits.  Should North overcall anyway?

Vic:

Absolutely, I would overcall, holding the North hand. The primary goal would be to describe my hand to partner in as much detail as possible. 

My overcall option of choice would be either DBL (Advancer should treat it as Takeout) or 1NT (standard agreement would be 15-18 points). Difficult to pick a favorite between those two options, but DBL might be safer. 

It is reasonable to assume that West has at least 13 points. That means neither Responder (East) nor Advancer (South) can be very strong at all. Best North can hope for is that South has at length in at least one of the three unbid suits.  

If East subsequently bids, South should Pass & so should North. If East Passes & South bids, but does not jump, North should Pass. 

The bid shown above by North of 1D is a very poor choice of overcalls. It falsely promises at least five diamonds & fails to communicate additional details of distribution or point count. North should probably feel lucky that West got them off the hook by rebidding their clubs.

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - March 13, 2023 - Slam bidding

 

Question:

W has 17 hcp and opens 1D, responder has 18 hcp bids a jump-shift to 2S. W sensing slam looks for aces and kings and bids 6S. E had difficulty with this hand and went down 2. Would it have been better in 6NT played from the W? And who takes it there, W or E ?

Glenna:

Opener

Open can jump shift into a 4-card suit BECAUSE he has already bid his best suit. 

Responder

 I repeat myself many times and I still can’t make people understand, but I will try again. We go SLOWLY with GOOD HANDS and we go FAST with bad hands. How anyone can bypass a beautiful 5-card minor and JUMP to  show a 4-card Major is beyond me. With that kind of bidding you will never achieve good results. 1st of all, don’t jump at your 1st bid as you are taking up valuable bidding room and to jump to a 4-card suit is terrible. Jumps should always be 5, 6 or 7 cards!

  When partner opens 1 ♦️ and you have a beautiful hand, you instantly know game is available but is there a slam. So you simply bid 2 ♣️ which shows 5 ♣️ and at least 11 points and is 1,000% forcing! Partner will bid 2 NT and you know bid 3 ♠️. He will bid 4 and you will ask for Ace’s. Now you can decide to bid a safe 6 ♠️ or an aggressive 6NT. 6 NT scores the better, BUT you don’t know yet how solid partner’s red suits are and might go down on the opening lead. I would bid 6 ♠️ and make it.

  Please stop showing the wrong shape for your hands. Bridge is difficult enough when you bid correctly. Good Luck and hope this helps.

Glenna 

 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - March 13, 2023 - Transfer or Stayman

 

Question:

E opens 1 NT and responder has 12 HCP with both majors and bids Stayman. Declarer has no 4-card majors and declines a suit by bidding 2D. Responder, having a 5-card S suit bids 3S. Opener, assuming it is a bid showing suit preference, passes. Should responder have bid the transfer or Stayman?

Vic:

All the calls by both partners were correct until the auction ending Pass by Opener. Opener incorrectly interpreted the meaning of Responder 3S which is a game forcing bid. 

Responder bid of 3S promises exactly 5 spades & a game forcing hand. It also tells Opener that Responder has exactly 4 hearts which is the reason they bid Stayman first ("Stayman with Four"). 

Opener should next go to game in spades (with a 5-3 spade fit) or game in NT (with only a 5-2 spade fit). For the hand in question the proper bid would have been 4S.

Weekly Hand Analysis - Mark Olsky - March 13, 2023 - Long suit bidding

 

Question: 

This hand went off the bidding rails. E opens 1D holding 14 hcp and 8D, responder bids 1H and opener jumps to 3D. After that things go a bit haywire with the bid winding up at 3NT going down 3. How should you bid a long suit when it is not a pre-emptive bid?

 Mark:

This is a pretty unlucky hand. Sometimes you don't do much wrong and get a bad result anyway. 

First of all, kudos for not opening that hand 3, 4 or 5 diamonds. This hand has too much outside the diamonds to do that and miss a better contract. 1 D is exactly the right opening bid with this hand. If W has so much as 1 diamond, giving the partnership a total of 9, 3NT would probably have a play. You should always worry about a possible misfit when your partner responds in the suit where you have a singleton or void, but overall your results will be better if you aren't a fearful bidder. Some experts would bid the hand just as shown here. Some would bid 3 diamonds over 1 H, but then 4D over 3H, ending the auction and likely going down, but less than other East players with this hand. Some would bid only 2 diamonds over the 1H response, which is quite restrained. This time you are rewarded with a probable positive +90. On other hands a 2D bid will result in +150, but because 5D or 3NT can be made, 150 will prove to be a poor result, as other bidders will be rewarded for their aggressiveness.

  The bottom line is this: 8 card suits are rare and it's difficult for everyone, experts and journeymen alike, to make the right choices. When your holding, combined with partner's, makes it your hand to reach a good game or slam, pre-empting early can derail your own path to the best contract. If it's your opponents' hand for a good game or slam, pre-empting to the maximum affordable level will make it harder for them to get a good result and therefore maximize your chance for a good result. What do you do as dealer with an 8 card suit? If you have 5 to 10 HCP, most or all in your suit, pre-empt. If you have 14 or more points, more than half of them outside your suit as in this case, open 1 and go slow. You won't always be right, but you'll be going with the odds. 

Incidentally, I'm a little surprised at the result of down 3 in 3NT. I don't think you can make it, but most lines lead to down 1 or 2. Many players who see a hopeless contract get discouraged and then distracted. I've had many top or near top boards after getting to an unlucky game or slam, going down but not as badly as my counterparts at other tables. They had exactly the same bad luck as me, but gave up on playing carefully after realizing they were going down. 

  1 final tip on finding yourself in a hopeless contract. Don't help your opponents find the right defense by making comments during the play that alert them to the troubles you are facing.