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Daily Bridge in New Zealand

Onwards and Upwards?

You have 18 hcp and a decent 6 card suit and your partner opened the bidding at the 1 level. With opening bids seemingly getting weaker and weaker, should we give up at the Game level? After all, we have no fit established. Yet, we do have a decent hand. There’s minimum openings and then there are “sub-minimum” ones unless you find a fit.

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K 10 8
6
A Q 10 9 5 2
A K Q
West North East South
      1 
Pass 2  Pass 2 
Pass 3  Pass 3 NT
Pass ?    

You could not bid 3Diamond-small as that would not be forcing. Any advance on 3NT?

“Enough” say:

Nigel Kearney “Pass: Partner couldn't give preference to diamonds or bid hearts a third time. Even 4NT may not be safe, e.g. Spade-smallAxx Heart-smallAQ10xxx Diamond-smallxClub-small Jxx.”

Bruce Anderson  " Pass: Partner has length in hearts and something in spades. He/she will not have a 5332 shape with 3 diamonds, including the king. And with 6 hearts and 3 diamonds, I would have heard 3Diamond-small over my 3Club-small, even with 3 small diamonds.  The only forward going bid is 4Diamond-small hoping to hear 5Diamond-small, indicating Kx; then I could bid a slam hoping I am not off two aces and that the diamonds break.  I prefer not to do that."

But others put their toe into the water once more:

Matt Brown “4NT: Just a quantitative invite to slam. Partner’s minimum could be Spade-smallQJx Heart-smallAKJxxxDiamond-small xxClub-small xx, or it could be Spade-smallAQx Heart-smallAxxxxx Diamond-smallKx Club-smallxx. He should know to value highly any diamond honours he has, or if his hearts are solid enough and I doubt 4NT is ever going down.”

Let’s hope Nigel never has to put his dummy down in 4NT for Matthew!A diamond rebid is the way forward for our other panellists:

Kris Wooles” 4Diamond-small: No rush and it’s unclear where we might end up and without some sort of fit in Diamond-small’s,it might not be very far.  However a slam in Diamond-small’s may definitely be on the “cards”. 

Michael Cornell  " 4Diamond-small  must make 1 try even though this could be a total misfit. Still room for partner to have Diamond-smallKx .

Over this 4M is a cue,4NT to play so I await developments. Over4Major, I will Key Card.

 

 

Peter Newell  “4Diamond-small: I feel I need to make one more try as my diamonds and playing strength are so good.  Partner’s failure to bid 3Diamond-small suggests that he probably doesn’t fit which isn’t encouraging (though it may be that he just thought 3NT looked right) – but xx, or singleton jack would likely make slam good.  If partner really has a poor hand with no fit, he will bid 4NT to play.”

Stephen Blackstock  “4Diamond-small: We have enough to try but not force to a slam that would be remote if my short hearts are opposite something similar in diamonds. 4NT (natural) is plausible but seems to have no advantages while understating the diamond intermediates. I will bid 4NT (still natural!) over 4Heart-small and pass 4NT.

If, as it appears, we are playing basic Acol, it would perhaps have been more practical to begin with a strong 3Diamond-small jump-shift. True, they don’t come up often but are valuable when they do – a lot more so than a weak jump that pre-empts a strong partner and says “happy days, we are too high already!” when he is not.”

So, it seems the key to making a slam will be partner’s diamond holding. A singleton in your partner’s long suit is not a great holding. Your partner had a singleton your long suit, too, and quite a useful one, too. It was not the day for South to get too excited about that card as, you, North, were not the only one at the table to hold a six-card diamond suit!

 

South Deals
Both Vul
K 10 8
6
A Q 10 9 5 2
A K Q
J 9 7 4
Q J 7
J 10 9 8 6 5
 
N
W   E
S
 
3 2
K 8 5 2
J 8 7 6 4 3
7
 
A Q 6 5
A 10 9 4 3
K
4 3 2
West North East South
      1 
Pass 2  Pass 2 
Pass 3  Pass 3 NT
Pass ?    
 

For those who passed a 4NT invitation or who signed off in 4NT after your 4Diamond-small advance, making your contract would not prove hard as there were three top tricks in three suits along with the Heart-smallA. However, that Diamond-smallK was a potentially rather useful card and others reached higher in no-trumps where if they could avoid a heart lead and secured 4 spade tricks, then slam could be made. Not so 6Diamond-small.

With no particular diamond support from partner and your own singleton, it might be the time to not bid too aggressively. Maybe one invite but no more and hopefully partner did not get too excited with their Diamond-smallK. It is true that the diamond break may be more friendly most days though partner’s bidding up to that 3NT point had suggested a rather ill-fitting minimum.

 Are you watching?


North Deals
E-W Vul
7
7 3
A Q 10 6 3
K Q 5 4 2
A 9 5 4
8 5
J 8 7 5
A J 3
 
N
W   E
S
   


West North East South
you dummy    
  1  4  4 
Dbl All pass    

After partner’s vulnerable leap, you felt you should double South’s 4Spade-small bid. You lead Heart-small8 to your partner’s Heart-smallA and declarer’s Heart-small10 . Partner returns Heart-small2 to declarer’s Heart-smallK. Next comes Spade-small10 from South. You know this is the bottom of a sequence… but a sequence of how many cards? What to do?

Richard Solomon

 

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