Question 4

Hi Heidi,

We encountered a number of challenging hands (to us) in bidding lately. Please provide us some insight:

With the following hand, should N open with 1♦ (so he can rebid 2♣) or should he just bid 1♣ as it is very solid, and treat like there are only 3 ♦ or 4 very bad ♦?

In response (to N's 1♦ or 1♣), should S bid its bad 4-card ♠ or what is the alternative?

What if S bid 2NT, is that 11-12 HCP balanced hand or 13+ HCP and game forcing?

Do you have any notes on "responding to minor openings"?

First up here are some posts on responding to a minor opening bid:
Responding to 1 Diamond
Responding to 1 Club with 6-9 Points
Responding to 1 Diamond with 6-9 Points
or for just some quick little questions check out the side bar under "Bidding - Responding to 1 of a Minor"

No one vulnerable, E is dealer:

	North ♠T4 ♥Q5 ♦KJ84 ♣AKQJ7
West ♠J82 ♥JT73 ♦Q72 ♣T62		East ♠AKQ7 ♥9642 ♦963 ♣93
	South ♠9653 ♥AK8 ♦AT5 ♣854

Heidi's Answer

So the first question I will deal with is should North open 1♣ or 1♦?

If North opens 1♣ they are close but not quite strong enough to rebid 2♦ (a reverse showing 17+ HCP). (Some people might not care they are a bit weak for a reverse. That's up to them.)

So do they lie about their shape by opening up 1♦ and rebidding 2♣?

Perhaps just open 1♣ and rebid 2♣ since the suit is very good.

Hmmmm. A good question. I personally don't like opening 1♦ and rebidding 2♣ with longer ♣ than ♦. Many, many good players do it and think that is the best way to go. So it is more of a style thing. I try to avoid it when I can and so I very seldom do this.

What would I open the hand? Probably 1NT. This shows my 15 to 17 HCP and balanced(ish) shape.

It is not a perfect bid. But neither is opening up 1♣ and rebidding either 2♣ or 2♦. Or opening up 1♦ and rebidding 2♣. None of these show your extra strength. (Nor do they deny extra strength though!)

They all have their bad points.

So choose whichever bid you like best. None are perfect but none are wrong either.

Let's see where the auction will take us with each option.

Option 1: Heidi's favourite -- opening 1NT

N	E	S	W
	Pass	Pass	Pass
1NT	Pass	3NT	Pass
Pass	Pass

South will ignore their four card major since they are 4-3-3-3. No ruffing in that Dummy so why play in a major suit fit?

They don't have a fit anyhow so will land in 3NT regardless of whether or not South bids Stayman.

Option 2: North opens 1♣ and rebids 2♣.

N	E	S	W
	Pass	Pass	Pass
1♣	Pass	1♠	Pass
2♣	Pass	2NT	Pass
3NT	Pass	Pass	Pass

South SHOULD bid their four card major -- lousy as it is.

Option 3: North opens 1♦ and rebids 2♣.

N	E	S	W
	Pass	Pass	Pass
1♦	Pass	1♠	Pass
2♣	Pass	2NT	Pass
3NT	Pass	Pass	Pass

South SHOULD bid their four card major -- lousy as it is.

Option 4: North opens 1 of a minor (any one) and South ignores their four card major.

N	E	S	W
	Pass	Pass	Pass
1♣ or 1♦	Pass	2NT	Pass
3NT	Pass	Pass	Pass

If South ignores their four card major they still need to jump to 2NT to show a balanced 11 or 12 HCP.

Conclusion

So you see that in the end it won't matter. All roads lead to 3NT.

As it turns out on this hand it is probably best that South plays the NT. West is unlikely to lead a ♠ and Declarer can take 12 tricks if they guess who has the Q♦.

If North plays 3NT East will probably lead a ♠ and the defenders can hold Declarer to 9 tricks if they defend properly.

Question 3

Hi Heidi,

We encountered a number of challenging hands (to us) in bidding lately. Please provide us some insight:

How can NS bid slam with this hand?

EW vulnerable, N is dealer:

	North ♠93 ♥AJ9852 ♦ ♣AKQT2
West ♠T62 ♥K4 ♦T983 ♣9764		East ♠K85 ♥T6 ♦KQ7652 ♣85
	South ♠AQJ74 ♥Q73 ♦AJ4 ♣J3

Heidi's Answer

With a bad suit and vulnerable I don't think East will come into the bidding. Therefore it will be a free run for N/S.

N	E	S	W
1♥	Pass	1♠	Pass
???

First question is WHAT will North rebid?

2♥ is WAY too weak. This is a VERY strong hand distributionally.

3♥ totally ignores that ♣ suit.

2♣ can be passed so again is WAY too weak a bid.

3♣ forces to game. Are they strong enough if they don't find a fit with Partner???

I'd rather be down 5 in a slam then at the 2 level making 4 overtricks so I would choose to rebid 3♣ and hope I have a fit somewhere. This puts a game force on the auction. Now Partner can support my ♥ suit.

N	E	S	W
1♥	Pass	1♠	Pass
3♣	Pass	3♥	Pass
???

Now what does North bid? No point in bidding Blackwood because you have a void AND a useless doubleton.

Does North just leap to 6♥ and hope their Partner has the ♠ controlled and a high trump?

Sure an optimistic (or crazy!) North would.

I can cuebid so I would bid 4♣. That says I have first round control of the ♣ suit and am interested in a slam.

Now my Partner (who has only shown six points in the auction and has MUCH more!) will cuebid their first round control in ♦.

This does not help me at all. I have potentially overbid my hand by quite a bit so will sign off in 4♥. Hopefully Partner will realize I need a ♠ control.

Now my Partner should cuebid their first round control in ♠. They have MUCH more than they said they did so they should continue on.

If I know my Partner has the two pointy suit Aces all I need from them is the King and Queen of trump.

I ask for them by bidding 5NT.

To find out what this 5NT bid means check out this link:
Grand Slam Force

They bid 6♥ which denies having both. We have arrived.

6♥ is a good spot to be. You need the ♥ finesse to work to take all the tricks so I don't want to be any higher.

So knowing how to cuebid the auction could proceed as follows:

N	E	S	W
1♥	Pass	1♠	Pass
3♣	Pass	3♥	Pass
4♣	Pass	4♦	Pass
4♥	Pass	4♠	Pass
5NT	Pass	6♥	Pass
Pass	Pass

What if you don't know how to cuebid?

If North rebids 3♣ to show about a twenty point hand, South should now take the partnership to slam. They 15 HCP and a Partner who jump shifted!

How will they investigate slam without cuebidding?

Maybe they will ask for Aces? Maybe they will just leap there? Who knows. But IF North jump shifts South should drive them to a slam.

It won't be as scientific but you don't get any extra matchpoints for bidding well.

What if North only rebids 2♣ or 2♥? They only have 14 HCP!

Yes, North only has 14 HCP but you are confusing points with tricks. North has lots and lots of tricks.

That's like saying this hand:
♠AKQJT98765432
♥
♦
♣

only has 10 HCP and therefore shouldn't open the bidding. While this is true -- the hand does "only" have 10 HCP -- it totally underestimates the number of tricks this hand will take if ♠ are trump.

So because of the distributional stength in the North hand I think North has to be the one to take aggressive action. They have a VERY strong hand. South has a nice hand also but opposite a minimum opener they should not be thinking of slam.

However they can survive over a 2 level rebid by North. South has a fit for ♥ and an opening hand. South will now bid 4♥.

Now North needs to go further. Since South bid the ♠ suit, North can take a chance and bid 6♥. Even if they bid 4NT with the void and useless doubleton they will survive because South has both Aces. They can ask for Kings but the partnership is missing three Kings. They will stop in 6♥. All is good. (To be fair if they just leap to 7♥ they will make since the ♥ finesse does work. But I don't think you should be there.)

Opener's Rebid over 1C-1D-1H-1S

The following question pertains to the auction:

S	W	N	E
1♣	Pass	1♦	Pass
1♥	Pass	1♠	Pass
???

The Question

How would Opener bid if they don't have 4 ♠ (then they could bid 2♠), or control in ♠ (then they could bid 1NT) but just a weak balanced opening hand, like 2♠-4♥-3♦-4♣? I would have bid 1NT, but this will show Partner that I have space control?

The Answer

Yes. This does tend to show a ♠ control. However things might work out if you don't have a ♠ control. The Opponents aren't overcalling 1♠ so neither of them have a good five card ♠ suit. So you might be fine without a stopper -- even if Partner leaps to 3NT.

However, you do have other options. Since you have three ♦ in your hand you can always support Partner's ♦ suit. Note that this would deny wanting to play in NT for whatever reason (unbalanced hand? lack of a fourth suit stopper?) because you would pretty much always want to do that first.

So with three card ♦ support you can always show delayed support for Partner's first suit. That is a safer option compared to bidding 1NT without a fourth suit stopper.

A MUCH worse hand would be hands like these:

Worse Hand 1:
♠832
♥KQ65
♦K7
♣A973

Worse Hand 2:
♠764
♥AT92
♦AK
♣Q652

Worse Hand 3:
♠T63
♥AQ52
♦A9
♣QT86

Why are these hands SOOOO bad to rebid? Because you have all your options taken away.

You don't have four ♠ so you can't support Partner's alleged ♠ suit.

You don't have three ♦ so you can't show delayed support.

You can't rebid your ♣ suit because you only have four.

You can't bid 1NT because you don't have a stopper.

However you MUST BID. You cannot "Pass" 1♠ thinking you can always play in your 4-3 fit because Responder does NOT have to have ♠! Plus they are unlimited and could have an opening hand or more! You've got to bid.

So here I'd probably just act confident and bid 1NT without the stopper. What else can you do? It's not the best situation by far but again the Opponents aren't overcalling 1♠ so neither of them have a good five card ♠ suit. So you might be fine without a stopper -- even if Partner leaps to 3NT.

I will say that these situations rarely come up. When they do, you tend to get away with them. Maybe Partner does have four ♠? Maybe Partner has the stopper or help in the suit? Maybe the suit splits? Remember, when you play duplicate, everyone is in this same lousy situation.