Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - September 4, 2023 - Bidding minors

 

Question: When the bidding sticks you in a minor suit, is it advantageous to have a higher bid even though the result between a 1 and 2 level bid is small?  Or should you settle for a lower bid because you know you will never reach game?

Vic:

Answer: It depends. 

If you are playing a part score contract in Duplicate Bridge, it is to your advantage to be at the lowest possible level. You will not earn a higher score because you bid higher. You will simply be at a greater risk of not making your contract. 

 If you are playing a part score contract in Rubber Bridge, it is to your advantage to have bid to the level that you make. If you have not bid to the level you make, you will still earn points for any overtricks, but the overtrick points can not be counted towards "Game".

 The above is true for both major suit & minor suit contracts. 

 Hand in Question: East deserves to make 3D. 

 Assuming they do so, their Duplicate Bridge score would be 110 points, regardless of the fact they only bid to 1D. None of those points would count towards "Game", because in duplicate bridge "Game" must be earned in a single hand. 

 In Social Bridge scoring they would also earn 110 points total. However, because they only bid to 1D, they could count only 70 of those points towards game.

 By the Way: EW also deserve to make 4C (130 points). Shame on West for not rebidding their clubs at two level to tell partner they have six of them. By not doing so, they could have easily missed a lay down 3NT contract.

 By the Way: EW also deserve to make 2NT (120 points) as well as 3S (140 points). Diamonds was their lowest earning makeable contract.

 Ain't bridge a great game?