Your Bid Again!

Here's a hand that came up today.

You hold this hand:
♠A8
♥54
♦AT863
♣KJ94

You are Dealer and get to open the bidding. What is your bid?

1♦. Perfect.

Now your LHO overcalls 1♥. Partner bids 1♠. RHO bids 2♥. Back to you. What will you bid now?

Now originally after your 1♦ opening bid you would have responded 2♣ to most bids Partner could make. But you can no longer do that. Those pesky opponents are bidding! Now if you were to bid your ♣ suit you would have to respond 3♣. Is that your bid?

Bidding 3♣ right now shows five ♦ and four ♣ (which you have) BUT it also shows a BIG hand (which you don't have). This is just like the opponents didn't bid and you opened 1♦ and rebid 3♣. So that's out. What other bids can you think of?

How about 2NT? What about that bid?

This is wrong for many reasons. This shows a balanced hand, at least one stopper in the opponents suit (♥) and about 18 or 19 HCP. None of which you have.

Hmmmm. What bid is left?

That's right. Pass. Good bid. Remember 2♥ will get Passed around to Partner who still can bid. If you are missing a game or have a fit somewhere Partner will make another bid. Right now if you make ANY bid other than Pass (or raising Partner to 2♠) you are showing a big hand.

Your Bid

Here's a hand that came up the other day.

You hold this hand:
♠KQ752
♥QJ
♦A6
♣JT98

Your RHO is Dealer and they open with 1♠. What is your bid?

I know. Right now you are thinking "But I was going to open 1♠!"

But you didn't get to. RHO bid first.

What is your bid? Do you tell Partner about your ♠ suit?

NO! Most of the time when you have the enemies suit you just Pass and hope they get into trouble.

On this hand if you Pass, everyone else does also. Your RHO gets to play in 1♠. If you bid YOU get into trouble! You have no good place to play.

Responding to Partner

Here's a hand that came up the other day.

You hold this hand:
♠A9865
♥A54
♦3
♣AQT5

Partner is Dealer and Passes. Your RHO Passes. It is your turn to bid. What is your bid?

You open the bidding 1♠ and LHO Passes. Partner now responds 2♥. Is this a forcing bid? What is Partner showing? If your RHO Passes, what is your bid?

This is NOT a forcing bid. Partner is a Passed hand. Normally it would be a forcing bid because Partner could have an opening hand or better. But Partner started off with a Pass. Partner does not have an opening hand.

Partner is showing that they have at least 10 HCP and at least five ♥.

You have 14 HCP and 3 Dummy points. You have a fit for Partner's ♥. They should have at least a five card suit. Partner is also showing 10 HCP. Together with your 17 points you have enough for game. Your bid should be 4♥.