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VALUING VOIDS .

As well as valuing 4 points for each ace, three for each king, two for a queen and one for a jack, we learn that we can add on extra points for our hand when we have a one or two card suit…or even no cards in a suit!

Word of Warning

We can add five points for no cards, three for one card and one for two cards in a suit. However, these points can only be added when we have an agreed trump fit. Until we find a fit, we should not add these points on to our high card points.

Once, we have found a fit, we can bid to quite a high level on a relatively low number of high card points. Such hands can turn out to be a battle between the two partnerships where both partnerships establish a fit.

Prepare for “lift-off”

Let’s look at the following deal through the eyes of South. With both sides vulnerable, you hold:

 

The bidding starts:

West              North            East                South

Pass                Pass                1                   1

2                   3                4                  ?

After two passes and 1 opened on your right, you make a natural overcall. Your style is Weak Jump overcalls and your hand just a little too strong to make a jump bid. So, 1 it is.

However, by the time the bidding gets back to you, we are three levels higher! Your partner’s 3 bid is invitational to game showing around 10-12 points (remember as well that they are a passed hand..i.e. could not open the bidding.). Despite this, East bids on to 4, obviously with a good hand of their own. Give East about 15/16 points and West around 6-9 and add that to about 10/11 for your partner…and it looks like the total will add up to more than 40.

What’s happening? Someone around the table, maybe more than one player, is adding on extra points for 0,1 or 2 card suits, now that both sides have found a potential trump fit.

What to bid over 4?

Well, we have 11 hcp and a one card diamond suit. As we have a trump fit, that means 14 hcp, 3 for the singleton. Our partner has about 10/11. That gives us enough for game. So, we bid 4, either because we have enough for game, or because we think the opponents might make 4. (As you get more experienced, you can start making logical assumptions about suits which would not be your trump suit. Take the heart suit here. The opposition must have at least an 8-card heart fit. Even if East can open 1 with only a 4 card suit, the odds here suggest strongly they have at least 5 hearts, as they would only open 1 with only  4 hearts when they have 4 spades as well (very unlikely here because of our spade fit) or precisely 4 hearts and 3 cards in every other suit.

Thus, East has at least 5 hearts and West will have 4. We have 3. Therefore, we know almost certainly that our partner has at most one heart. Great counting!

If only the bidding would end there!

"Please shut them up!"

West              North            East                South

Pass                Pass                1                  1

2                   3                 4                  4

Pass                Pass                5                  ?

This board has become very competitive. Can the opponents make 5? Can we make 5? We do not know.

What we might know is a little saying. Bridge is full of helpful (we hope they are helpful!) little sayings…. and there is a useful one to learn in this area of high- level competitive bidding.

“The 5 level belongs to the opposition.” What this means is that where the bidding is very competitive and reaches the 5 level, that you should let the opposition play the board (unless you have very extreme shape). In theory, both sides have gone just beyond the limit of what they can make…and therefore, to get a plus score, we should not keep bidding.  

We can choose whether we want to double 5… and we might have 2 tricks and hope that our partner’s supposed 10ish points might produce a trick, although we must wonder how many of those points are tied up in what we know will be either a singleton or even void heart.

So, let’s be positive and double (our partner could still bid 5 though that is unlikely if we double 5… and we are very soon on lead to 5 x. It’s our lead… and let’s start off with the A and look at dummy:

 

There is nothing too frightening in dummy. However, at trick 1, East ruffed. That is not good news for the defence… no spade trick. Declarer plays the K which you win with your partner discarding a low club (we play a low card is not encouraging). No surprise about the heart void in partner’s hand.

We have won our first trick. We need two more. What do we lead to trick 3?

We will find out on Sunday whether our decision to double and defend 5 was correct.

Richard Solomon

 

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