Interesting Hand 19

Went to the Lake District for a week in a hotel with bridge in the evening. Two hands of interest both involving a long suit in response.

Hand 1. Playing teams, and vulnerable, I opened 1,(playing 5 card majors). What would you respond holding

AK 7 AKQ98742 83

If you bid s, I would then bid s (if I could below game)

Hand 2. Playing pairs, partner opened 1 which was overcalled 1 by my RHO. What would you bid holding

853 AKQ9865 4 AK

If partner is able, then s are re-bid later in the auction

Interesting hand 19 answers

Hand 1.

Very tempting to make an immediate jump to 3D - probably what I would have done in reality but thinking about it, I think it is more sensible to make a temporizing bid of 2D to see what partner's unforced rebid is. With luck there are 10 tricks in my hand - 9 if an opponent holds 4 diamonds to the jack which given that I have 8 is statistically a fairly small chance. All I really want to know is can partner cover my heart and club losers. Depending upon answers I am looking for a NT slam.

So 1H 2D

3C 4NT

??

No aces I bid 5S telling partner to bid 5NT - he's got to have the two missing kings if he has no aces. One ace I bid 6NT. 2 aces I bid 5NT hoping he can tell me he has 2 kings. With one king, I bid 6NT. With 2 - 7NT. Of course I could have made an immediate bid of 4NT but you can't then finish in 5NT if you don't get the answer you want.

Hand 2. I think I would look at my 3 spade losers and lack of fit for partner's diamonds and just punt 4 hearts and hope for the best.

In the first hand I would first respond 2 diamonds, which is forcing. Ultimately I would be working towards a slam, in diamonds or NT, depending on further bids from partner -almost certainly a slam is on so long as there aren't two club losers in each hand.
In the second one, with an opponent overcalling, I would make the forcing jump overcall of 3 hearts. With 8 hearts it would certainly be the trump suit, game or slam depending on other bids from partner and opponents.

Hand one. I would respond 2D (no point in rushing the bidding since I hope to get a helpful continuation) and there is a chance of 7NT if partner has the right controls. Since AKQ to 8 is 94% solid I`m counting the hand as worth ten tricks in its own right.. As you say the rebid is 3C this is a substantial opener and I will bid 4NT (or 4C if playing minor suit Blackwood), If one step then 7NT if second step 5D and 3rd step then pot 6NT. Opposite a minimum reverse, stats show 7NT 70% and 6NT 25%

Hand 2 I would just bid 4H. Stats show 4H is 80% and 6H 24% opposite a minimum opener. bidding 1D (1S) 3H 4D 5H is`nt really sound as that relies essentially on opener holding ace of diamonds

Hand one. I would respond 2 diamonds. If you then bid 3 clubs I am going to bid 4 clubs - minor suit Blackwood - depending on your reply I will play in either 5 diamonds, 6 diamonds or 7 NT(I have to gamble the diamonds are going to break)

Hand two. I will bid 2 spades which as you have opened a minor has to be looking for a no trump cover from you - again I am sure there has to a slam - if only your LHO opponent supports spades I am then much happier about pushing on

The key to both these is getting your partner to understand that you are strong and not just pre-empting. It’s not unlike when RHO opens 1 of a suit and you bid 3 of another, that might be a pre-empt or it might be an intermediate jump overcall, depending on what the suits in question are, and what your partnership understanding is about overcalls. A lot of people will misunderstand!

On hand 1 I’d bid just 2D for the time being, and if you bid 3C (a reverse) I’d go straight to 4NT. Depending on the replies you could end up in 5D, 6D, 6NT or 7NT.

On hand 2 I’d bid 3H which with my partner is a stronger response than either 2H or 4H and shows both strength and length. If partner then rebids 4D I would bid 4H – I can’t bid NT without a stop in spades when the opposition have overcalled it. If partner bids 5D I will leave it. The difficulty in progressing beyond game (in either hearts or diamonds) is in finding out each other’s spade holding, and I can’t see an obvious way to do this. You might easily have two or even three spade losers. However if partner – who because of the overcall can also see the problem - has an ace or void in spades then they could take the initiative with a cue bid of 4S over my 4H, which would encourage me to bid Blackwood. Or partner could just take a punt on slam, I’ve shown him my strength.

Why would I bid at the 2 level on Hand 1 but the three level on Hand 2? For me the difference is in Hand 1 there is no interference so bidding at the lowest level gives us more time/space, and also that my extra suit length means at the end of the auction it is more likely to be me calling the shots. Whereas in 2, because of the overcall, I need to show my strength straight away otherwise we might get crowded out.

Hand 1: I'd respond only 2D to see what partner re-bids. Over partner's 3C, I'd try 4NT (RKCB). With 1 key card response I'd risk 5D (passing), 2 key cards - 6D, 3 key cards - 7NT. Not ideal but...

Hand 2: Stop-3H (showing strength and limiting opposition's bid). If partner bids 4D I'd risk 4H.

Hand 1.I'd bid 3 diamonds because 4 D is pre-emptive. On hand 2 I'd bid 3 hearts for the same reason

What actually happened

Hand 1. Partner did bid 3D, so I bid 4C (not asking for aces note), partner then bid 4H (why I asked later). A slam must be on so I bid 4NT, to which partner bid 6D. I got the message, and passed. 12 tricks make only losing Ace hearts, and this proved to be a flat board at teams.

My hand was

3 KJ10986 AK 975 62

and partners was: AK 7 AKQ98742 83

Hand 2 I decided to double (for take out), partner bid 2D, so I bid 2 S a directional asking bid. Partner then bid 3NT. So I asked for aces, and then bid 6H the first time the suit had been mentioned. Partner passed and we made 12 tricks, a good score with very few pairs bidding the slam!

Partners hand was

J10 KQ6 AKJ62 97

and mine was: 853 AKQ9865 4 AK

Held my breath when the A held the first trick, until a was returned, in case the overcall was based on a 6 card suit, and opponents get a ruff!

These hands are about trusting partner's bids, especially hand 2, where the trump suit is first bid at the six level