Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - May 1, 2023 - Rebid

 Question:

W has 13 HCP and a flat hand so opens the bidding at 1C, E has 10 pts and bids 1 D. After W bids the Spade, should E have re-bid the D?

Vic:

My Answer: Rebidding the diamond suit promises SIX of them. So NO East should NOT rebid diamonds. Holding the East hand my rebid would have been 1NT which caps the value of the East hand at 10 HCPs. It also implies East has 2-3 card spade support (not a void or singleton) & a stopper in hearts (courtesy of the fact that a NT contract would put South on lead). My computer program tells me EW deserve to make 2NT.

Comment: A good partnership agreement for less experienced players is that rebidding a suit promises SIX cards - period - regardless of scenario. There are some exceptions to this rule, but they are in specific scenarios that only players with Life Master level skills would normally recognize.

Comment: The 1H Overcall by South was a reckless bid that promises a strong 5-card heart suit. In reality South has a weak 4-card heart suit. My computer program tells me that EW deserve to take 8 tricks in hearts. By bidding hearts, South created the opportunity for E/W to earn a higher score defending a heart contract than EW deserved to earn by winning the auction & playing the hand.

Ain't bridge a great game?

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - May 8, 2023 - Void

 Question:

West has 20 HCP and a void in S and opens 2C. The question here is whether or not you include the point count for the void when counting points for the opening bid.

Glenna:

  No you do not count points for a void when you open the bidding. If and when you find a fit, you count shortness. So W should open 2 ♣️ and E bids BUT West does NOT Jump!

That wastes a level of bidding so W bids 2 ♥️ and partner bids 2 ♠️. You do not need to jump after showing a great hand—you already said you have a great hand so don’t repeat yourself. Jumps tend to show weakness and going slowly shows a better hand. If you go slowly and show what you have, you would not bid slam off 2 cashing A’s. But, sometimes you get lucky and the opponents don’t cash both of them!

Glenna

Weekly Hand Analysis - Mark Olsky - May 8, 2023 - Bid

Question:  

Three spades went down 3.  How should the hand be bid?

Mark:

East has made a highly preemptive bid with a hand that just doesn't fit that. The only thing that fits is the vulnerability, but that's not enough reason to wildly throw a monkey wrench into the auction. 

  Let's look at what might be valid reasons to throw that monkey wrench.

  A. The bid is highly descriptive and you are genuinely making a constructive attempt to get to a good game. A hand that would fit that could have the 9 points we see here, but distributed as follows: 7 spades to the A,10.9.  Small doubletons in both red suits and the same KQ doubleton of clubs. If you catch partner even with as little as 1 spade, you'd have an 8 card major suit fit. The singleton might even be an honor. If the hand happens to belong to the opponents, your small minus could be a favorable score. 

  B. You think it's highly probable the opponents can make a game if given room to explore and find their likely spot. If that's true and you go down that same 3, even doubled, that is a favorable result compared to the vulnerable game, assuming the vulnerable game will be bid and made at other tables. (-500 vs. -600 or-620). 

  As you can see, and East should see, even just looking at those 13 cards, neither condition A nor B has a significant likelihood of materializing. Unless West is a wild bidder, there should be some value for them to enter the auction. That means, based on the auction so far, that the 2 sides have about the same strength. If partner has spade help for you, you can safely buy the hand at a level that won't hurt much and the opponents, if they compete, may have to a level where they will be set.  Another consideration is the singleton in partner's overcall suit. That normally bodes well for defense and poorly for offense.

  How should the auction go? The first 3 bids (1 C, 1 D, 1NT) are very reasonable. I tend to trust vulnerable opponents to bid rationally, so the 1NT should tell you that they are likely in a good place. In an experienced E-W partnership, both partners would know that E can't have a useful penalty double of 1NT. A double by E at that point would show both majors. W will be delighted to bid hearts.

  Here's my ideal sequence: P-1C-1D-1NT- Dbl-P-2H-3C-P(E has no extra values beyond what was shown by the double.) P- 3H, all pass. It's hard to know just how the play will go. Typical average play and defense will often make 3 hearts. 3 clubs, if it stays there, will usually go down 1. -100 is better than -110 or -140. 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Mark Olsky - May 1, 2023 -Game in 3NT?

 Question: 

West has 16 HCP, 3 – 4-card suits and has opened 1C. Responder has 8 HCP, and bids 1D. Declarer bids 1S and partner passes. Based on combined point count E/W could/should be in 3 NT? Should declarer have bid 1 NT over responder’s diamond bid?

Mark:

Let's focus on the most important part first. When is a bid absolutely forcing? The West hand, as far as East knows, is unlimited other than knowing that it's not big enough for an opening 2 club bid. There could be 21 points. Certainly 18 or 19 is in the picture. East must give West a chance to define the hand further. In this case, the choice is mainly between 1 NT (imperfect because of weak, short hearts) and 2 spades (imperfect because of only 3 spades). Perfect or not, when partner makes a bid that is 100% forcing, you must bid. That means you may have to come up with a bid that doesn't describe your hand well, but is better than other alternatives, since pass is not an alternative. 

  Now to why did West bid 1 spade rather than 1 heart. It is standard to bid up the line. Even if hearts were considerably weaker than the spades, you absolutely deny holding 4 hearts when bidding 1 spade, having opened 1 club and heard 1 D from partner. If a strong partnership had this auction, it would undergo scrutiny for possible irregular action, such as E-W possibly knowing something about each other's hands outside the auction as shown.

  On this hand, had both E and W bid normally, the auction would begin just as it did, 1C- 1D. Then W would bid 1 heart and E would have a perfectly comfortable 1NT bid. W should know that if E is minimum for the bidding so far(i.e. 6 or 7 points), the partnership should not be in game. If E is maximum (ie 9 or 10) you do want to be in game, probably 3NT. How to say that? W bids 2NT, invitational. E is allowed to pass this non- forcing bid, but can bid on with the appropriate hand since a conditional invitation was issued. What to do with the actual 8 point hand? Most good players would pass, unless they know their partner to be unusually timid or the defenders to be weaker players.  In this case, aggressive action by E-W will probably be undeservedly rewarded. A spade lead against an auction that (properly) doesn't mention spades is near certain from the South hand against 2 or 3NT. From that point on E-W will take 9 or 10 tricks. With a combined total of 24 high card points, E-W would theoretically be less likely than more to have game. West's strong intermediate clubs and East's fairly strong diamond spots might make them both feel lucky, but I don't recommend bidding game with a combined 24 points and with neither partner having a 5 card suit. If NT is played by West in this case. it becomes challenging to make 9 tricks. It can be done with perfect guessing, but most declarers, even good ones, are likely to take only 8 tricks from the W side.

Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - April 24, 2023 - Bidding Order

 

Question: East has 5 Hearts and 5 Spades.  Was the bidding order correct?

Vic:

Bidding the two majors in the order East (Overcaller) did, implies a two-suited hand with spades either longer than or the same length as hearts. Most likely, East would prove to have either 5-5 or 5-4 distribution. So yes, East deserves a gold star for bidding order. West (Advancer) also has a right to expect that East has a solid opening hand which East does.

Had Overcaller bid hearts first, followed by spades, they would have been promising longer hearts than spades (usually by one card) plus a stronger than standard opening hand (17+ HCPs). Bidding the higher ranking suit second is a "Reverse" from standard bidding protocol.

A commonly used convention called "Michaels Cue Bid" would enable Overcaller in this scenario to show their exact distribution on their first call. In the "Michaels" convention a cue bid of 2D over North's opening bid of 1D would promise exactly 5-5 distribution in the majors. Frequently, it also promises a hand that is either weaker or stronger than standard which is of course not the case in the above example.

Comment: Given that West has 3 hearts & only two spades, I am not sure why they would correct to spades. Even if East has only 4 hearts, a 4-3 fit is a stronger playing hand than a 5-2 fit. And if East proves to have 5 hearts, the heart suit enjoys a full fledged golden fit. I would encourage West to Pass 2H.

 Ain't bridge a great game?

 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Mark Olsky - April 24, 2023 - Redouble

 

Question: West has a take out double and North redoubles, is East required to respond to West's double?

Mark:

I'll start by answering the question as it was asked: Is the partner of a takeout doubler required to bid even if there is an intervening call that is not a pass (e.g. redouble as here). The answer is no. If East had nothing special to say about their hand, the RDBL has given the original doubler a chance to say something more and E would be off the hook. As it happens, East has plenty they want to say about the hand and they should not be swayed by North's bizarre RDBL (more on that shortly). East might think that making a free bid, since they are not REQUIRED to bid, is enough with this enormous hand. However, 2 clubs is not forcing and W is quite right to pass with a minimum takeout double. E should at least jump at the first opportunity, or make a cue bid of 2 D to begin a strong forcing sequence. It's true that W didn't absolutely promise 4 strong clubs with the takeout double. It might have been more major suit oriented with just tolerance for clubs. Still, the K and 2 small clubs would still make a heavy favorite to expect 7 club tricks. When E is given a reprieve with a second chance to bid after making an exceedingly weak bid of only 2 clubs, now knowing that partner had a minimum takeout double, I would just go to 5 clubs and my only fear would be that I'm missing a slam. 

  Back to North's bidding: A RDBL should show at least 10 points. South, with a great 19 should not consider anything less than game and should be exploring slam. Of course, 2 spades by S is strong and forcing, so when N passes, South might get the message that there was a misunderstanding. Still, S passing 3 clubs makes no sense unless they know that N is a completely unreliable bidder. At the very least, S should still bid 5 diamonds. The bidding by N-S is pretty irregular. If E-W recognize this, they should call the director.  The director would take action according to an assessment of N-S experience and capability. If they are novices, as I strongly suspect, the director should provide some teaching, perhaps after the game ends. Even intermediate players in N-S would have to be warned that their bidding is unacceptable. A more normal sequence after W makes the aggressive but acceptable takeout double , is a pre-emptive 3 diamonds by N which is only OK because their side is not vulnerable. After that, E-W should still reach 5 clubs, which, as expected, is destined to be made easily. South has such a good hand they may be tempted to double the vulnerable 5 clubs. A better decision would be to bid 5 diamonds, which goes down 2. E-W might not know that they can afford to double 5 diamonds and so may only get a score of +100. Ironically scoring 150 for 3 clubs making 5 is better than that. If E-W make the brave decision to double 5D, they still get only +300, which is a good sacrifice by N-S compared to going minus 600 or 750 if they doubled 5 clubs.

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - April 24, 2023 - 6 card suit

 

Question: When it comes to six card suits, should you always bid the six card suit again instead of showing another suit? In this example, North switches to clubs rather than bidding diamonds again.

Glenna:I would like to congratulate North on bidding ♣️ before rebidding ♦️!!!  Most players make the mistake of thinking showing a 6-card suit is the most important thing to do—NOT! Your rebid should show shape and value as closely as possible. If you rebid a 6-card suit, you are saying your hand is weak and your suit is the ONLY place the partnership can play.

  You want to bid your 2nd suit first!!!! as you can always go back with your next bid to rebid the 1st suit. Showing a 2nd suit helps partner tremendously. Look at the options that allows him: rebid his own suit, bids NT because he didn’t have your 2nd suit, bids 4th suit, or raises your 1st suit—WOW—talk about helping partner.

  The next time you are 6-4, try this method. You will be amazed at the results you see. 

Let me know if you find this works for you and good luck,

Glenna

Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - April 17, 2023 - 2nd bid

Question: South should have had a 2nd bid but passed.  Should South have gone to 3NT or was there a different bid?

Vic: Definitely, there is an element of risk involved. But I would like to think my second call holding the South hand would have been 3NT. 

I would NOT have passed.  Ain't bridge a great game?

Weekly Hand Analysis - Mark Olsky - April 17, 2023 - 2NT

 

Question:  South has 18  HCP and decides to bid 2NT on the second bid.  North bids 3NT.  Should South view this bid as a closeout bid or should South return to the strongest suit, hearts.

Mark:

The usual plan when holding 18 points is to open 1 of a suit and, after partner's response at the 1 level (including 1NT) bid 2NT to show that hand. However, things change when partner passes the 1 H bid and R hand opponent reopens the bidding. Now S knows that partner has 5 points maximum and therefore it's very unlikely there's a makeable game. Partner's maximum of 5 (minimum of 0) adds at most to 23 points, while the worst case scenario is that our 18 points are all the points for N-S. If N has 0 points, the chance of making even 1 NT is in doubt. If S is feeling really optimistic, the best bid is 1NT over 1 spade. That shows 18 to 21. (Remember, with 20 0r 21 partner is expected to have opened 2NT, but with a nice 5 card heart suit, we are likely to open 1H.) 

  REMEMBER THIS: Opener bidding 1 NT over interference when partner has shown a bust by failing to act over 1 of a suit GUARANTEES 18+ points. Even 21 points is not out of the question, so the jump to 2 NT must be something really special, maybe a solid, running 6 card heart suit and 2 more sure tricks on the side, barely short of requirements for an opening bid of 2 clubs. Given that, North's raise to 3NT is a bit ambitious, but it's reasonable. North is responding to what S SHOULD have based on the bidding so far. Also, while N might want to consider raising hearts at the 3 or 4 level with 3 card support for partner's suit, I tend to agree with trying for 9 tricks instead of 10.

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - April 10, 2023 - Keep the auction going?

 

Question:  West refrains from bidding because South bids his spades and he has only two hearts based on East's bid.  With 10 HCP should he have bid another suit to keep the auction going?

Glenna:

The person who has the opponent’s suit stopped should ALWAYS bid NT. West should be so happy to bid 2 NT. Partner can pass or bid 3, but the person with a stopper bids NT!!

  Think people should know a hard and fast Rule:

     We LOVE the majors and bid them when we can

     When we can’t bid a Major, we bid NT if at all possible

     When we have nothing else, we bid the minor

When partner opens the bidding and we have 6 or more points, we MUST Bid! People expect their opponents and partners to bid with points. When someone has points and doesn’t bid, the director can be called so they can tell people it’s unethical to pass with points!!!

Hope this helps,

Glenna

 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - April 10, 2023- Responding to a preempt

 

Question: East responds to a South heart preempt by bidding spades.  West passes assuming East is also preempting.  Should West have responded to East's spade bid?

Vic:

West is dead wrong to assume East is also preempting. In fact, West should assume that 2S by East shows at least an opening hand & a much better spade suit than East actually has. Either way, West is too weak to bid & should Pass. 

Given that both sides are vulnerable, it is my opinion that all four bids cross the line from aggressive to reckless. That is especially true for South rebid of 3H. 

Playing in 3H, South deserves to go down one. Doubled, that would give EW a better score than they could have made playing in a spade contract. 

Ain’t bridge a great game?

Weekly Hand Analysis - Mark Olsky - April 10, 2023 - Bidding minors

 

Question: When East opens in a minor suit, diamonds, it does not guarantee 5 diamonds.  Should West respond in another suit to keep the auction going so that East can indicate whether East has enough diamonds to proceed?

Mark:

West does face a bit of a dilemma.

Back to the theme of the past 2 weeks: Partner has opened the bidding and you have an opening hand; OK, not a great opening hand. You could decide not to bid or force to game, but you must at least show an invitational hand, which a 2 D bid definitely does not. A 2D bid actually denies the actual hand. It says "Partner, I do not have a game forcing OR invitational hand, but I do have some diamond support. You do have a stopper in the overcall suit, you might downgrade the hand to invitational status. You can make the most direct invitational bid of 2NT, which many strong players would do. You would prefer that if partner has the A or K of hearts, that NT be bid from the E side, as that makes for a stronger stopper if a heart is led from the South, not North. On the actual hand, it doesn't matter, as N would lead the king, handing E-W a double stopper and 2 sure tricks in hearts. If not 2NT or 3NT, W has no other good call than 2 clubs. That's not entirely desirable, since you normally should have 5 or more clubs for that bid. Still, partner is required to keep the bidding open and you've announced at least a game invitational hand. East might be tempted to raise to 3 clubs, but really should bid 2NT over 2 clubs. Now W, with a secondary heart stopper should bid 3NT. 

  3NT is a pretty good contract and happens to make easily, possibly with an overtrick.. Looking at the E-W cards only, and knowing that S overcalled 1 Heart, you want to be in 3NT, even though it might be difficult to make against some layout of the N-S cards. If the only games you bid are the ones that are 100% safe, you may score the occasional coward's reward, but far more often will get a poor score compared to more enterprising bidders. One call that some players might consider by W is to pass 1 heart. That may sound weak, but actually, in the style of most pairs, it is close to forcing. Partner will usually make a reopening double and now you can bid 2 or 3 NT. If W doubles 1 heart, it is forcing, but it also promises 4 spades. It could be done on less than a game- invitational hand and 5 or more spades. I mention that only to make the point that most reasonable call by the actual W hand will deny 4 (or more) , which is correct on this hand.

  Incidentally, E is perfectly correct to pass 2 Diamonds. If W has the hand that 2D shows, this is as high as you want to be.