Hand of the day #247
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff This deal comes from the world championships h...
This conundrum was written by Barbara Seagram's and was originally published in the book Beginning Bridge - you can find out all about it further down the page.
Responding With 13-15 Points
What happens if you pick up a hand worth an opening bid and hear partner open the bidding before you have a chance to do the same? Actually, that’s great news! Partner has at least 13 points and you have 13 points. With 26 points in the combined hands, that is usually enough for game! Now you know that your side has enough for game and it is your responsibility to make sure that you get there. While you still have to answer the question of what game contract you should play in, there is now the possibility that you can make a slam.
When you have a hand in this point range, your first choice is to bid a new suit. You will do this even if you have support for partner’s major. Since a raise to the two-level shows 6-9 points and a limit raise to the three-level shows 10-12, it probably seems logical that a jump to the four- level (1♥-4♥) should show the next higher range, 13-15. However, while that bid does get you to game quickly, it does not allow your partnership much room to explore for slam, since it uses up all the bidding space. The
direct jump to game is more useful for another purpose — we use it to try to take away the opponents’ bidding space on a weak hand with a lot of trumps.
Instead of jumping to game, you should simply make a descriptive bid: bid your longest suit first (at the two-level if necessary). Remember that when responder bids a new suit, it is completely forcing — opener must bid again. Your plan, when you have support, is to jump to game in opener’s suit next round. The auction will go something like this:
| Partner | You |
|---|---|
| 1♥ | 2♣ |
| 2♦ | 4♥ |
or
| Partner | You |
|---|---|
| 1♥ | 1♠ |
| 2♣ | 4♥ |
REMEMBER THIS!
The sequences 1♠-4♠ and 1♥-4♥ are reserved for responding hands in the 6-9 point range with at least five trumps. Some players call this a ‘weak freak’.
Barbara Seagram's Beginning Bridge
Both of these auctions show a responding hand with 13-15 points and at least three- card trump support. They also tell partner something about your side suit. In the first example, partner knows you have some clubs along with good support for hearts. In the second example, he knows that you have some spades.
With two five-card suits, bid the higher ranking first, planning to bid the other one next. For example, suppose you have:
♠KJ654 ♥AJ762 ♦K3 ♣7
Partner opens 1♦ and your hand is in the 13-15 range (did you remember that the diamond doubleton is not an asset?) You respond 1♠, which is forcing. Now partner bids 2♦ and you can bid 2♥. This bid is also forcing — a new suit bid by responder is always forcing.
With two or three four-card suits, bid the cheapest first.
♠QJ63 ♥K1072 ♦AK3 ♣42
Partner opens 1♦ and your hand is in the 13-15 range. You bid 1♥; perhaps partner can raise hearts or rebid 1♠, showing four of that suit.
Your final choice is to make an immediate bid of 2NT. Since this response takes up so much bidding space, we need it to provide a lot of information. In order to respond 2NT, you need 13-15 HCP, no four-card or longer major, no support for partner’s major, stoppers in the unbid suits and a balanced hand. ‘What is a stopper?’ you may ask. A stopper is a high card that will prevent the opponents from taking all of the tricks in their long suit. An ace is clearly a stopper, since it will take the first trick when the opponents play that suit. A king-queen combination is also a stopper. The opponents may take the ace on the first round, but after that you will win the next trick in the suit. For bidding purposes, we consider any of the following holdings to be stoppers:
A Kx Qxx Jxxx
(The little x’s mean any small card in that suit: Kx could be K3 or K8, and so on.)
As you can see, the response of 2NT shows a very specific hand.
"Stopper”
A likely winner in a suit that will prevent the opponents from taking lots of tricks in the suit right away.
Let's try it!
1. You hold:
♠AJ93 ♥AJ ♦KQ1032 ♣32.
Partner opens:
a) 1♣
b) 1♦
c) 1♥
d) 1♠
What do you respond in each case?
In each of the first three cases, you bid 1♠, your longest suit. Example (d) is a peculiar case: the only time you don’t bid spades is when partner bids them! Although you have four-card support, you are too strong to bid 3♠, so your first move should be 2♣. You will raise to game in spades next round.
2. Partner opens 1♦. What do you respond with each of the following hands?
a) ♠K107 ♥AQ3 ♦KJ4 ♣6532
b) ♠K107 ♥AQ3 ♦K96 ♣J532
a) You have no four-card major, but no club stopper either. Even though this is a balanced hand, you have to start with 2♣, not 2NT.
b) This hand is perfect for a 2NT response.
It doesn't matter whether you know a heart from a spade right now - by the time you finish this book you'll be able to enjoy a social game of bridge with your friends. This book, for complete beginners, is based on the material that Barbara uses in her own classes to introduce new players to the game every year. Every aspect of the game of bridge is covered - bidding, declarer play, defensive cardplay and scoring - with user-friendly tips, stories and quizzes to help you have fun while you learn.
