Here is your hand:
♠AKQJT7
♥AKQ
♦6
♣KJ9
Playing matchpoints and you are vulnerable.
You have a VERY strong hand. You decide to open the bidding 2♣. The opponents are silent. Your Partner raises to 3♣. You have agreed that that shows a GOOD five card suit with two of the top three honours.
What is your call?
Show Answer
Count your tricks.
You have SIX ♠ tricks.
You have THREE ♥ tricks.
You have FIVE ♣ tricks. (Partner has a five card suit to the AQ remember?)
You have 12 tricks. Why not bid 4NT (asking for Aces) right away?
If Partner shows two Aces you can safely bid 7NT. You will have one additional trick in ♦ and more importantly the control of the ♦ suit.
If Partner shows one Ace only you can safely bid 6♠. You should be able to play in that suit even if Partner does not have any ♠. Your suit is good enough. But do NOT bid 6NT if Partner has only one Ace -- you might not have control of the ♦ suit!
In this case Partner shows two Aces and you can safely bid the grand. You are unbalanced and might prefer to play in a trump contract but if you can count 13 tricks go for the NT. The extra 10 points is very important at matchpoints.
you made it very easy by assuming that P has a very strong five care club suit plus possibly an additional AD.
ReplyDeleteThis bidding does not need an expert bridge player. Please assume P answered in likely Diamond suit (showing 5-card suit 6-9 HCP)
All the hand questions on this blog are based on real hands played by real bridge players that are novices.
DeleteOn this exact hand Partner bid 3 Clubs to show a good club suit (which they had) and this hand bid their spade suit -- 3 Spades. Their Partner raised to 4 Spades and the bidding stopped there. So the Partnership landed in 4 Spades when they had at least a small slam for sure.
This blog is not designed for expert bridge players. This blog is designed for novice players who sometimes need a little reminder that they need to bid their slams.