Test Your Bridge Skills #35

Best Answer: 4♦

Your partner's 2♦ bid is a game-forcing, artificial bid which means you can't pass before reaching game. Your 2♣ rebid limits the hand to 12-17 points (with 18+ points, you would rebid 3♣ or make a jump shift).

If partner bids 3♠, they must have at least 6 cards in Spades because your 3♣ bid denied having 3 cards in Spades (if you had 3 cards, you would've bid 2♠). Therefore, you can't have 4 cards in Spades, or else you would've supported Spades on your second bid.

You have a relatively strong hand with good distribution, Spade support, several controls, a singleton diamond, and a long useful Club suit. Slam may be possible if partner has the right cards. To invite partner to bid slam, you should bid 4♦, which shows a diamond control and a slam invite in Spades. This bid also shows a maximum hand (with a minimum, you would pass 2♥) and likely two cards in Spades.

A possible hand could be as below:

You can see that 6♠ is a great contract, given your strong hand and Spade support, coupled with partner's hand that has a long Club suit and appreciates your Diamond control. Your bid of 4♦ signals a slam invitation in Spades, but if you had bid 4♠ instead, partner would likely Pass, not expecting any additional values in your hand.

Note:

1. Partner's 2♦ bid is a 4th suit forcing bid, indicating an artificial game-forcing hand.
2. Your 2♣ bid shows 12-17 points and can be passed if partner has 6-7 points and longer Clubs than Hearts, with no chance for game.
3. After you showed 5-5 and partner's bidding Spades again, showing 6+ cards, your 4♦ bid is showing agreement with Spades and a control in Diamond.

Hand 3

Sitting West, after leading ♥6 against 2NT, your partner plays ♥J, declarer wins with ♥A and plays ♣Q, which is covered with ♣A on dummy. Dummy plays a 2nd club, which your partner wins with ♣K. Partner then plays ♦7 and you win with ♦K. What's your next move?

Best Answer: ♦

Sitting West, after leading ♥6 against 2NT, your partner plays ♥J, declarer wins with ♥A and plays ♣Q, which is covered with ♣A on dummy. Dummy plays a 2nd club, which your partner wins with ♣K. Partner then plays ♦7 and you win with ♦K. What's your next move?

Let's analyze partner's hand, it's important to pay attention to the cards they play and the bidding that's taken place.

At trick 1, partner played the ♥J, which lost to the ♥A. Based on this, it's safe to assume that the ♥10 isn't with partner. As third hand typically plays the lowest card from a touching sequence, it's likely that partner would've played the ♥10 if they had it. Therefore, the ♥10 must be with the declarer, and partner likely holds the ♥K to justify their overcall.

Then, what's the meaning of the ♦7 that partner led? If it's a low card, it means that they're encouraging you to continue with that suit. If it's a high card, they're likely asking for a switch and denying values in the suit.

Partner had bid Hearts and Clubs earlier, we've seen them with only the ♥KJXXX and the ♣K. However, you can count on them having at least 12 points, as opponents stopped in part score, means they don't have 25 points in total, and partner bid twice while vulnerable.

Also, declarer most likely has entry to their hand via the ♠Q to make their Clubs, as they wouldn't have bid 2NT with only 7 points. Therefore, partner must have points in Diamonds, and you should continue with that suit. Partner will be able to win 3 Diamond tricks (including the ♦10) plus their ♥K, securing the defense.

Notes:

• Tips for defense:
  - Count tricks and partner's points,
  - Consider partner's distribution based on the opponent's bidding,
  - Think carefully about the meaning of the lead and where the setting trick may come from,
  - Timing is also crucial in defense, so be sure to play your tricks in the right order.
• Keep in mind that 3rd hand typically plays high if the 1st and 2nd hands played low. However, with a touching sequence of high cards, 3rd hand should play the lowest card from that sequence.
• Note that the dummy completes the sequence, so if your partner has ♥KJ and the dummy has the ♥Q, your partner should play the ♥J if dummy played low (and the ♥K if dummy played the ♥Q). If your partner had ♥KJ10 and the dummy played low, they should follow with the ♥10. If the dummy didn't have the ♥Q, then your partner should've played the ♥K.

Hand 4

Sitting South, you play 6♦. West leads the ♠K. How will you play the hand?

Best Answer: ♥AKQ (discard ♠) and ♣AK

Sitting South, you play 6♦. West leads the ♠K. How will you play the hand?

After the Spade lead, you have two immediate losers. Therefore, you can't afford to lose the hand to the opponents. If you play Diamond or Spade, the opponents will get their ♦A and ♠Q, and you'll be one down. Playing any other lead allows you to play ♦K at trick 2, but not after the Spade lead, which removed your ♠A and exposed your immediate Spade loser.

To avoid going down, you need to play ♥AKQ with no delay and discard the Spade for dummy before losing to the ♦A, hoping that the opponent can't ruff the third Heart. Only after discarding the Spade, you can play Diamonds. However, playing three rounds of Hearts creates a new problem: one of the opponents has no more Hearts. If you play the ♦K now, the opponents will take the ♦A, and if the same opponent has the fourth Heart, they could play it, and their partner can set you by ruffing with the ♦9.

Before playing the ♦K, play the ♣AK and discard the Heart loser for your hand. Only then, play the ♦K. When the opponents win with the ♦A and continue with Hearts, ruffing with the ♦9, you can now overruff and claim 12 tricks, losing only to the ♦A.

Notes:

1. Always look for ways to improve your chances of making the contract and identify possible danger situations that could set you. After playing ♥AKQ and discarding Spade, your chances of making were already high. If the same opponent with the ♦A didn't have the fourth Heart or if they had the ♦9, you would always make the con-tract. But in the above hand, you go down if the opponents play the fourth Heart. So, improve your chance by discarding the Heart before playing the ♦K.
2. Sometimes overcoming one problem creates a new one, and you need to find a solution to the new problem too. Playing ♥AKQ created a new danger of a Heart ruff as dummy doesn't have a high trump to ruff with.
3. A loser is an immediate loser if it's exposed, and you lose it the moment opponents get the hand. If your immediate losers are greater than the tricks you can afford to lose, then you need to find a way to get rid of the loser(s) before you lose the hand; otherwise, you're almost sure to go down. It might be risky, like in this hand, as playing ♥AKQ has a risk that opponents will ruff Heart, but there's no option but to take that risk.
4. The final contract is a little optimistic. Also, note that 4♣ denied Spade control, which is why 4♥ must have Spade control in South's hands. Otherwise, with two Spade losers, South should've signed off with 5♦.
5. When using the inverted minors bidding system, it's important to have a clear agreement with your partner. Generally, a respond of 2♣/♦ shows 10+ points with a fit but no 4+ cards in a major, and is forcing to at least one round to start showing stoppers. A respond of 3♣/♦ shows a weaker hand with 6-9 points and fit, and changes the bids of 2 and 3 levels. Some players agree that a 3-level minor support shows a maximum of 6 points and they bid 1NT first with 6-9 points before showing the support later.