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Is what I have: nothing to contribute!

 Not much in hand: nothing to say!

That’s the story about our bidding question for today. When your partner doubles the opponents at their first turn to speak, it usually means they are asking you to bid. Does it this time and what should you say?

 

An honour in each suit does not seem to count for much. West’s 1 promises at least a 5-card suit. How are you feeling? Are you running and if so where? Teams is the game.

There seems to be two types of hands that our partner could have and there are two places to run.

There is a good reason to bid the suit partner is less likely to hold, as crazy as that might seem:

Leon Meier “2 : Partner's double is take-out of spades. We are not very happy about that. Partner is more likely to have hearts than clubs so we are more likely to have a heart fit.

Something important to note is that there was no redouble by the 1 opener so partner is very likely to have a huge hand here, and despite a heart fit being more likely than club fit, partner is more likely to go crazy and leap to game if we bid 2: so I'll bid 2.”

Nigel Kearney “2: The double is a take-out double of spades. Normally, I would bid a four card heart suit in response, even if I had five clubs as well, but here I just want to slow partner down and 2 does that a bit more effectively.”

Pam Livingston “2: Partner's double is take-out of spades.  It is unusual to not bid a four card heart suit here but I don't want to give my partner the least bit of encouragement to bid higher.”

Three good bridge minds with but a single thought of slowing partner down. Others head for their four-card suit, with no great enthusiasm:

Bruce Anderson “2: I am playing the double as a take-out of spades with greater strength than an immediate take out double. We may be in serious trouble if partner has a balanced hand without 4 hearts. Then pass could be the best action, but it is hard to imagine INT is going down, and it may well be making overtricks.

 West seems to be semi-balanced; hopefully East has only 2 or 3 hearts and was not strong enough to bid a minor. If so, we may avoid being penalized. So, 2 it is, with trepidation.”

 

Peter Newell “ 2: Double is take-out of spades and/or a strong hand too good for other actions. 2 is obvious given initial assumption is that it is take-out of spades.  Given I have a 1 count, I expect that partner is strong and will likely bid 2/2NT or possibly 3 of a minor...

 

Michael Cornell “2: Partner’s x is for take- out of  but that is not what he probably has here!

Anyway, I am not fielding partner’s bid so I bid 2. I might not win the board but I will win the post-mortem.”

and a warm welcome to our new Panellist:

 

Wayne Burrows “2: As I understand it, standard for partner's double is take-out of spades. That is a little suspicious here though as we have only two spades. There was no spade raise from East, but some put less constructive raises in 1NT particularly when playing a forcing no- trump, and opener did not rebid spades which would normally happen if West had six spades. Therefore, it seems very likely that partner is off-shape with extra strength. 

2 now looks normal - bid our longest and best suit and it is a major. Perhaps a case could be made for 2 as it keeps the bidding a level lower if partner does have a strong hand with long diamonds or hearts (as South would likely raise hearts if we bid them first). Against that, the risk with 2 is that if partner does have a “normalish” take-out double, then there is some chance of hitting a doubleton club. I might double for example with 2452 or 3442 shapes and the right strength.”

 

We are starting to hear about the other type of hand our partner might have for their double…and with West indicating that they have no more than 5 spades, chances are that our partner has at least 4 spades and may be looking to penalise with a very strong hand. If that is true, then it is getting less likely that our partner has 4 hearts.
Let’s face it, we do not want to bid anything! It is possible we could incur a penalty too if we bid. Taking their chances therefore are:

 

Kris Wooles “ Pass: partner’s double is prima facie penalties which I’m not going to mess with despite my very poor hand. Same position would apply for this hand if it were a direct penalty double of 1NT.”

 

Andy Braithwaite “Pass: This is always a difficult situation as the double can be take-out or values. Here my spade shortage and the lack of a 2 rebid makes it clear the double is penalty style. So, I pass and pray!

 

There is also the slim chance that East may run from the double if you do pass. I referred at the start to your jack and the 10’s which might be helpful in  defence. Maybe find out!

It seems that bidding 2 will lead us to a minus score if indeed our partner has hearts and maybe also when they do not! The same is true of the 2 bid. So, well done, I think, to our two panellists who sat out the double. They alone could be recording a plus score:

 

 

From South’s point of view, a high heart seems the most sensible lead. East wins the third round to play Q which South might duck. Dummy is now of little use to East but South is short of exit cards. However, North’s 10’s become significant though South does best to win the first diamond playing North for 10. Now, the defence should manage two tricks in spades, hearts and diamonds and the K….but it’s tight.

 

At the table, North did as Michael Cornell suggested winning the post-mortem but not the board by bidding 2 and seeing their partner drift off to no-trumps and record a minus score. Not an easy area but one to appreciate what partner might have for their double of 1NT in this position. 

The other point about the actual deal and South hand is that South had the option of passing 1NT and seeing if they could beat it. With their only suit being the one in which opener had 5 cards, doubling was likely to create more trouble for their side, as indeed happened, than for their opponents. Would East really place 20 of the missing 21 hcp with South? Probably not. 

 

Tomorrow, something a little easier for our JIN Club members.

 

Richard Solomon

 

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