Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - February 1, 2021- Bidding with and without an overcall

 

Question: How should this have been bid?

Vic:

Answer: It depends. 

Auction: assuming West does not overcall 

1NT - Pass - 2H (transfer) - Pass - 2S - Pass - 3NT (promises exactly 5 spades & game going points) - Pass - Pass - Pass 

Auction: assuming West does overcall 

1NT - 2H - ? 

Comment: The 2H overcall is a reasonable option that looks like it deserves to go down two. Even if DBLed, down two will give EW a better score than if NS bid & make game. 

Comment: How the auction would proceed subsequent to 2H overcall depends on the partnership agreement for how to deal with interfering bids. I would expect experienced partners (using Lebensohl) to reach game in NT. I would expect inexperienced partners with no common agreement to have a difficult time realizing a happy ending of the auction.

Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - January 25, 2021 - Stolen Jacoby Bids

 

Question: What do you when the opponent bids your Jacoby transfer bid?

Vic:

Assumption: The partners in question play both Stayman Convention & Jacoby Transfer bids over an Opening 1NT bid. This is an incredibly common agreement, even among very inexperienced players. 

Question (rephrased):  What do you do when partner opens 1NT & partner's LHO (Left Hand Opponent) makes an interfering bid? 

Answer: It depends. This two word answer is the initial answer to most bridge questions. 

What does it depend on? Your partnership agreement. 

     If you have not talked about the above scenario with partner & reached an agreement on how to deal with it, then neither one of you will be able to do anything other than guess at the meaning of any subsequent bids. 

Question: What is a good agreement?     

Answer: It depends.     What does it depend on?     The specific interfering bid. 

Scenario: The interfering bid is 2C. A very common & very simple agreement is called Stolen Bid Double (it has other names as well).

       DBL of a 2C overcall by responder tells opener that overcaller stole their bid. DBL in other words is Stayman. The remainder of the auction proceeds in normal fashion from there. Both Jacoby Transfer bids are still available & still "on".      

Scenario: The interfering bid was anything other than 2C (2D or 2H or 2S or whatever). A simple agreement in this scenario is to agree that all "Systems" are off. That is Stayman & Jacoby Transfer bids simply go away. All subsequent bids by either partner are natural (hearts means hearts - spades means spades - etc.) 

The most common agreement used by experienced players to cope with interfering bids over an Opening 1NT is called Lebensohl. It is a very sophisticated agreement, but also challenging to learn & master. Many less experienced partners agree to incorporate some, but not all, of the Lebensohl Convention calls. If you do find yourself contemplating anything beyond what is suggested above, you need to do some reading and/or solicit advice from an experienced player. 

USE STOLEN BID DBLS FOR INTERFERING BIDS OF 2C ONLY. No experienced player would use Stolen Bid DBL over any interfering bid other than 2C.

DBL of all other interfering bids should be reserved for penalty.

Hand Analysis - Glenna Shanahan - January 25, 2021 - Bidding after a Jacoby Transfer

 

Question: How do you determine how high to go after a Jacoby transfer?

Glenna:

When partner opens 1NT and you have 5+ cards in a major, you use Jacoby Transfers and your responses are very structured!!! So P opens 1NT and you bid 2 ♥️, (new rule you say spades)  and partner bids 2 ♠️. Your responses are:

               A. 2 NT shows a 5-card suits and 8 or 9 pts.

               B. 3NT shows a 5-card suit and 10-15 pts.

               C. 3 ♠️ shows 6 ♠️ and 8 or 9 pts,

               D. 4 ♠️ shows 6 ♠️ and 10-15 pts,

Anytime you have 16 or more points, you look for slam!

Hope this helps.

Glenna

 

Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - January 18, 2021 - Double or Open

 

Vic:

I see West is dealer. Apparently, the auction started out:  Pass - Pass - 1H? That is what I would open holding the East hand. 

Holding five spades, I believe South should subsequently overcall 1S. 

Holding four spades, I would suggest South overcall with DBL which partner should interpret as Takeout. In fact, if the spade Two was a club, the South hand would be a textbook Takeout DBL hand (opening points & 4-card tolerance in each of the unbid suits). 

Depending on how they count their points, some East will open 1NT instead of 1H. If that were to happen, holding the South hand I would Pass.

 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - January 18, 2021 - Choosing a final bid

 

Question: How do you decide between a suit and no trump on a final bid?

Glenna:

You ask a good question and one that everyone needs to understand. With this hand you know several things:

Partner has an opening hand, but not a NT and not a major suit

You have an opening hand as well and as responder (the Boss, the Chief whatever) you must get the hand to GAME! 

You have an opponent who has overcalled a suit and you have a stopper in that suit!

So, do not bid 3 ♦️ as that does not help partner at all and it denies a ♥️ stopper.

The guy with the stopper bids NT, so your correct bid is 3NT—not 3 ♦️!

They will take 3 ♥️ tricks and 1 ♠️ trick, but you are home free. Win the 3rd ♥️ and knock out the ♠️ A! That gives you 9 tricks.

When neither of you have a ♥️ stopper, you will settle in a suit!

We have an order or a hierarchy of where you want to end up! 

1  Major Suit Game with an 8-card fit in a major

                                                                                                                     2. NT  partscure or game with 3 suits stopped

                                                                                                                     3. NO Major and too weak or no stoppers in 2 suits, but LOVE having a 5-card minor, bid 2 or 3 NT depending on your points!.  5-card minors means NT so much easier to make!!!!

Hope this helps,                                                                                                                                                      

Glenna                                                                                                                                                                       

Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - Monday, January 11, 2021- Takeout Double

 

Vic:

North (Overcaller) should DBL first. Advancer should identify the DBL as Takeout which is forcing. That means, assuming East subsequently passes, Advancer must bid (even with no points at all).  North should then ignore whatever suit Advancer bids (I assume it will be diamonds) & bid their own heart suit next. Making a Takeout DBL, then ignoring Advancer's suit to bid a suit of your own (even though you know Advancer might not have any points at all) shows a big hand (at least 19 HCPs) & a solid suit. If North bids 3H, South should take them to game. If I were North, however, my second bid with that hand would be 4H. With even the tiniest bit of help from Advancer (the heart Queen for example) that hand should deserve 10 tricks in hearts. 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shanahan - Monday, January 11, 2021 - Looks like a Slam

 

Glenna:

  Sometimes people make 6 but there’ s really not a good (scientific) way to know it’s there. This hand isn’t so clear cut that 12 tricks are there for the taking. Sometimes we don’t bid 6, but say after that no way could we get too high. That is recognizing that while it makes 6, no one would ever bid it. Both E and W have 13 points so 6 should never be bid—it’s what I call a “Magic Hand”. If we lived in a perfect world where we knew EVERYThing: 

   W                       N                           E                            S

                              P                            1D                         1H

   1S                       2H                         2S                          3H

   4 D                     p                            4S                          p

   4N                      p                            5H                         p

   6S                       P                            P                            P

I would probably think some unwarranted communication had been passed. No one bids 6 with only 26 points between them—some people can’t get to game with 26 total points! A small slam needs 32 or 33 depending on whether it’s a suit or NT and a Grand Salam (all the tricks) needs at least 37 and a long suit. This hand is only worth GAME!

Glenna