Bidding Question

Here is your hand:

♠9
♥KQJ
♦AQJ984
♣AK8

There is a Pass on your right. You decide to open the bidding 1♦ and the auction proceeds as follows:

RHO	You!	LHO	Partner
Pass	1♦	1♠	1NT
Pass	???

Question is: What will you bid now?

Show Answer

This is a VERY difficult bid.

Quite a few options come to mind.

At the table, this hand choose to bid 2♦. No one bid after that.

Another option would be 3♦. No one is going to bid after that one either.

This hand needs to either BID a game (or slam) OR make a GAME FORCING bid.

So options are:
3NT -- it is Matchpoints afterall and this should make
5♦ -- safe, but it is Matchpoints and that might not get you many
6♦ -- no idea whether or not this will make but worth a shot
3♣ -- This puts a game force on the auction so you will eventually get to game

So if you bid a game or made a game forcing bid -- good job!

P.S. You actually can make 6♦ if you bid it. It depends on the ♦ finesse but that works.

So bidding 6♦ gets you 9 out of a possible 9 Matchpoints! Woo Hoo!
Bidding 3NT would get you 8 out of a possible 9 Matchpoints! Nice!
Bidding 5♦ gets you 6.5 out of a possible 9 Matchpoints! Not Bad.
Bidding 2♦ or 3♦ gets you 3 out of a possible 9 Matchpoints. Next time you'll be more aggressive.