How Many?

This post is a continuation of yesterday's post. Please read that one first:
A Tough Rebid

Here is your hand:

♠AJT865
♥A5
♦K3
♣AT5

The auction proceeded as follows:

Partner	RHO	You!	LHO
1♦	Pass	1♠	Pass
2♦	Pass	3♣	Pass
3♠	Pass	???

Question is: How many ♠ does Partner have?

Knowing this, what will you bid?

Show Answer

Partner should have three ♠

They can't have four ♠ -- they would have supported you right away.

They should have more than two ♠. You are not showing a six card suit.

So since Partner has ♠ support do you think you have enough for slam?

I think you should take a chance on this one. You've got a nice hand.

First of all you have SIX trump.

Next you have the nice fitting K♦ card for Partner's suit.

Plus you have shortness in Partner's suit so you can trump a ♦ to set them up if you need to.

Also you have ACES!!! Aces are HUGE!

So bid 6♠.

A Tough Rebid

Here is your hand:

♠AJT865
♥A5
♦K3
♣AT5

Your Partner is Dealer and opens the bidding 1♦. Your RHO says Pass. I think everyone would now bid 1♠. LHO Passes. Partner bids 2♦. Your RHO Passes again.

What is your bid? You are playing match points.

The auction proceeds as follows:

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

Question is: What will you bid now?

Show Answer

The problem here is that you really don't know where the contract should be placed.

3NT could be right
4♠ could be right
5♦ is not right at match points so let's rule this one out
6♦ could be right
6♠ could be right
6NT could be right
So now you need a little more information from Partner.

However you have to remember to make a FORCING bid. You've got to make Partner bid again.

If you bid:
2♠ -- Partner is supposed to PASS
3♠ -- Partner is allowed to PASS
4♠ -- Partner is probably going to PASS -- you have just placed the contract

So that rules out rebidding some number of ♠

If you bid:
2NT -- Partner is allowed to PASS
3NT -- Partner is probably going to PASS -- you have just placed the contract

So that rules out rebidding some number of NT

If you bid:
3♦ -- Partner is allowed to PASS
4♦ -- Is this a forcing bid? Does Partner know it is a forcing bid???
5♦ -- Partner is probably going to PASS -- you have just placed the contract

So that rules out rebidding some number of ♦. Besides, Partner might only have five ♦. We might not even have a fit.

So we are left with two other suits. The round suits.

2♥ is a forcing bid. That has potential.

But Partner has not yet denied having a four card ♥ suit. If they had bid 2♥ that would have been a reverse bid showing extra values. So the problem with bidding 2♥ is that Partner might not get that you were just forcing them to bid and you don't really have the suit you were bidding. They might raise you. If you then go back to ♦ or ♠ they might put you back to ♥.

So that's probably not the best bid here.

That pretty much leads us to the best bid. 3♣.

I LOVE that bid. Note that Partner COULD have bid 2♣ and choose not to. They probably won't get too excited about your ♣ bid. However if they do decide to go crazy and leap to 7♣ guess what you can do?

That's right. Bid 7♦. You can put them back to their suit.

But, again, they shouldn't go crazy.

If you decide to bid 3♣ Partner will now bid 3♠.

How many ♠ do you think Partner has?

What will you bid now?

...to be continued

A Minor Dilema

Here is your hand:

♠-
♥Q7
♦QJT853
♣KT963

Your RHO is Dealer and starts with a Pass. You (hopefully!) decide to Pass. (Not a good pre-empt and not a good opening hand.) Your LHO then opens the bidding 1♠. Partner overcalls 1NT. Your RHO Passes again.

What is your bid? You are playing match points.

The auction proceeds as follows:

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

Question is: What will you bid now?

Show Answer

It would be nice if you had a bid to show Partner you have 11 cards in the minor suits. You probably don't.

However you do know that you have at least a ♦ fit. Plus maybe a ♣ fit.

In any case this is match points -- you either want to be in 3NT or 6 of a minor. 5 of a minor will not score well at matchpoints. Plus you might have too many losers right off the top.

I know you have only 8 HCP but you have a lovely source of tricks in at least one of your minor suits -- maybe both.

Partner is showing values in the ♠ suit. Those values will not help you in 6 of a minor.

I think the best bid is 3NT here.

Note that if you relayed to force Partner to bid 3♣ and then bid 3♦ this is showing a weak hand. Partner is not allowed to bid again. Your hand is too strong for that bid. If Partner has a high ♦ card (or two) you could take 5 or 6 tricks from that suit alone.

Bidding 3NT gets you either a 7.5 or a 9 out of 9 possible match points depending on how well you played the hand.

If you decided to force to 5 of a minor you would lose the first three tricks and only get 0.5 matchpoints.

Playing in 3♦ gets you 4.5 out of 9. So average.