Weekly Hand Analysis - Mark Olsky - February 13, 2023 -Double

 

Question: 

E has opened 1S and S passes holding with 5S and 14 HCP. The E/W bid goes down 1. Should S have bid a dbl instead of passing?

Mark:

After E opens 1 spade, what can S do? 

You are not quite strong enough to overcall 1 NT, even though it looks like the favorable position in the opponent's suit could convince some aggressive bidders to stretch and call it 15 points and bid 1NT. Even if W finds the very effective lead of a small heart and E correctly plays the 10(using the rule of 11*) the defenders cash 5 hearts and later get a club, so South still makes 7 tricks for 90 points, right? 

Not so fast. 

Look at the North hand. If your partner has overcalled 1 NT, you expect at least 25 points in the partnership and should bid 3NT, or at least 2NT if you are being ultra- cautious. 

Now S is headed for a minus score after the heart lead. The "problem" is that you have a partner who will probably believe you. Anything you call other than pass after East's opening spade bid is likely to mislead your partner. 

Double is definitely for takeout! When you double 1 of a major suit opening you guarantee 1 of 2 hands: a. 4 cards in the other major, rarely 3 good ones; b. a hand too strong for any other action, usually with a good, long minor suit, or a NT overcall with 19+ points. 

Looking at the South hand, you should predict that partner has 4 or more hearts. They will bid 2 hearts, maybe even 3 with 9 or more points and a decent 4 card suit. 

What will you do then? 

It's the dreaded rebid problem. Always try to project what your partner might do in response to your call and try to avoid a misunderstanding that gets you to the wrong level and/ or wrong suit. 

In this case, it feels a little unsatisfying to pass with such a nice hand, but it's the best action by far. 50 points may seem paltry, but it's likely to be a good result at duplicate. 

Incidentally, the same thing applies when you are all set to open 1 NT with a nice 16 points and suddenly the opponent in front of you opens 1NT. Pass is the best action when an opponent opens what you were about to open. They are likely to struggle in their contract. You don't want to take that struggle off them and put it on yourself. That isn't always the best policy, but much more often than not it is.

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - January 2, 2023 - Slam bidding

 

Question: 

W is holding 7S, 19 HCP and opens 4S. E is holding 11 HCP and since partner has bid game, passes.  The hand makes 7S. What would have been a better bidding sequence?

Glenna:

An opening bid of 4 ♥️ or ♠️ is a WEAK bid. It shows an 8-card suit and less than an opening hand!!!! This hand should be opened 1 ♠️ or some people might even open it two ♣️. Partner was totally correct to pass 4 ♠️.  

Hope this sentence makes sense to the players and helps them realize when a hand is weak or strong:  Opener jumps to game after a 1-level response from partner shows a GREAT Hand!!! 

Responder has a great hand after partner opens, he makes 1 or even 2 new suit forcing bids and then bids game, he showing an opening hand. 

****We move slowly with good hands (to determine if we have slam) and we go quickly with weak hands (almost a preemptive type bid).

Hope this helps,

Glenna

 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - January 2, 2023 - Take out double

 

Question: 

W has 16 HCP and opens 1 D, E responds 1 H and S overcalls 2C. Declarer,  then bids 4H and S bids 4S to give partner a choice of suit. W doubles and N passes. N/S went down 4 giving E/W 800 pts. 

This hand has several questions so here goes: First of all, would it have been better for S to bid a T/O dbl instead of the C overcall? With the bids as shown, should N have bid 5D over the penalty dbl?

Vic:

North has 3 HCPs, all of them "Quacks", & no distributional feature of any interest. At no point during the auction should North have bid anything. Gold star award to North for their three Passes. 

 Opener (West) promised a minimum of 12-13 HCPs. Responder (East) promised a minimum of 6 HCPs. South is holding 15 HCPs. Clearly, North must have a very weak hand. It is reasonable, in fact, for South to expect that partner (North) may have no HCPs at all. Looks like NS are going to be defending. South would love an opening club lead. I have no problem with South overcalling 2C for lead directing purposes. Other than that, South should be passing, just like partner.

 Closing Comment: A classic example of overbidding that allows opponents (via a penalty DBL) to make a better score than they could have made by winning the contract & playing the hand.

 Ain't bridge a great game?

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - January 30, 2023 -Overcall

 

Question: 

West has opened a weak 2S. N and E have passes and S is holding a hand with 19 HCP and overcalls 3C E makes a defensive bid of 3S. N had assumed that S overcalled holding 5C bid 4C over East’s bid. The hand makes 4C but in hindsight it appears it could have made more points for N/S. What is the best way for S to give a better picture of their holding?

Glenna:

Weekly Hand Analysis - Mark Olsky - December 26, 2022 - Reverse

 

Question:  The South hand shows 5 hearts and 4 spades.  If you bid the hearts first and then the spades you are showing a reverse implying the South hand has 17 or more HCPs which the South had does not have.  In order to avoid a reverse do you bid the spades first even though you have four of them?  If you do that are you misleading your partner?

Mark:

This hand can be awkward for partnerships that are not prepared for it. One popular tool is the Flannery convention (Usually 2 diamonds, artificial) that shows exactly this hand. Many players don't find a weak 2 diamonds useful as a pre-emptive bid, so they use it to plug the hole under discussion. If you don't use that, partner would be wise to respond 1 spade with 4, even with a better minor suit. In that case, opener doesn't promise a strong hand raising 1 spade to 2. Also, if playing 2/1 game force, if partner responds 2 of a minor to your 1 H opening, 2 spades by opener is not considered a reverse by most players, with the possible exception of those who play Flannery.

  I strongly recommend against opening 1 spade with that hand. Partner will assume (and should assume) spades equal to, and usually longer than hearts, so with 3-3 in the majors, a very common holding, should always put you in spades. If I'm playing with a partner where I'm so worried about a potential misunderstanding about a reverse, I'd pass that hand (Even taking a pass-out in 4th seat!) rather than open 1 spade. I'm not advocating a pass, just in preference to opening 1 spade.

Let me add a bit more. Even if the top cards in spades and hearts were reversed, i.e the spades were A,K,10, 9 and the hearts were 10, 9,7,3,2 (5 weak cards) I would still open 1 heart. You might find an occasional experienced player that would open 1 spade with that modification, but the majority of experienced, solid players still value length over strength and maintain disciplined consistency. I disagree with the 2 spade bid and the pass of 2 spades by North. North should carry on to game with the strength that the 2 spade bid implied. I would choose between a pass of 1NT or 2 hearts, which typically shows a 6 card suit, but with this suit quality, it's tempting. Passing 1 NT is normally the best. In this case, 1 NT is likely down 1. However, East is likely to lead the club J, W could well be tempted to play a third round of clubs, thinking that partner might be long in that suit. That would allow N to make 8 tricks for a top board. (5 hearts, ace of diamonds and the 2 established clubs.

 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - December 26, 2022 - Bid

 

Question:  Should you ever decide to push the opponents higher even though you do not have the HCP to do more?

Vic:

YES - absolutely there are scenarios where you should. Doing so is called "Defensive Bidding". Good defensive bidding is a pathway to good bridge scores. 

Answering your question was the easy part. The more challenging part involves learning the various scenarios (there are many), then recognizing & daring to implement them in the heat of battle. 

The "Law of Total Trump" advises you should not be hesitant to bid up to the level of your total number of trump, regardless of vulnerability. South in the above hand knows their side holds 9 spades. South should not hesitate ON THEIR FIRST CALL to raise North to 3S. This is despite the fact they hold only 6 HCPs. 

Since South could have shown a Limit Raise or better by cue bidding 3D, North should not take 3S as a strong bid. It is a bid that promises 4-card spade support & less than a Limit Raise. In this case it is quite a bit less than a Limit Raise. 

To compete over 3S in no trump, East is now faced with bidding 3NT. Will they or won't they? Should they or shouldn't they? Will they make it or go down? 

East could also DBL 3S for penalty. Will they or won't they? Should they or shouldn't they? Will it work or backfire? 

Will jumping to 3S result in a better score for EW than allowing EW to play in 2NT or a worse score? It depends on many factors. But, the Law of Total Trump advises that MOST of the time EW will deserve a better score for following "The Law". 

Ain't bridge a great game?

Weekly Hand Analysis - Mark Olsky - January 30, 2023 - Preempts

 

Question:  When you have two preempts, should the responder defer to the opener or should the opener defer to the responder?