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It’s Fri    Day: for Junior, Intermediate and Novice players …and others.

The Difficult Area of High Level Bidding.

It’s difficult for experienced players. So, it is very challenging for those newish to the game. Take a look at this situation with neither side vulnerable:

 

Your partner’s jump to 3 is pre-emptive. It shows a 7-card suit and less points than an opening hand, usually in the 6-10 hcp range. What should you now do, having passed originally?

It would seem that your side does not have enough high cards to make game in spades…and the shape of your hand is very poor in that you are unable to use your trumps to ruff losers in your partner’s hand.

However, just because you are unlikely to make game does not mean that you should not bid it. On the contrary, by raising to 4, you are making it much harder for your opponents to find their best contract. Since they have so few spades and quite a lot of high-card points, they are very likely to make game somewhere. Also, your side is not vulnerable and probably can afford to go down by one or two tricks, even doubled. Let’s look at all four hands and see what might happen if you raise to 4:

 

East has a strong hand but how confident would they be of defeating 4 if they doubled and is that a penalty/ values type double (probably) or a take-out double?

Even if East did double, would West bid 5, which looking at their hand, is by no means certain of making or would they hope to penalise 4 by passing the double?

As it happens, because both North and South have 3 diamonds each, West can make 5, losing just a spade and the A (rather fortuitously)..+450 with West’s losing club being discarded on the 13^th diamond. Meanwhile, there should be 3 diamond and 2 club tricks for the defence against 4, giving the defence +300 if doubled.

4 was not always doubled, probably where North raised directly to game. What, then, would have happened had North passed 3? East would not pass and would double and that would be a take-out double, for certain. The bidding would then proceed:

West                    North                         East                South

                              Pass                            1                   3

Pass                      Pass                              x                    Pass

4                         4                               ?

East is now less likely to pass and more likely to double for penalties as they have only a 3-card heart suit. West still has a choice, a difficult one, though there is a greater expectation of a big heart fit. They may well bid 5.

Difficult decisions for all (except the pre-emptor, South, who having bid 3, should never bid again.) In such situations, it pays to bid as high as you want to bid as quickly as you can (hence, North’s immediate raise to 4) and let the opposition decide what to do.

There is one more saying which does apply here. If West decides to bid 5, then North should not bid 5. In such competitive auctions, “the 5 level belongs to the opposition” meaning if they elect to play at the 5 level, let them. They might go down (guesswork was involved to bid this in the first place) or your own 5-level sacrifice (5x) might be too expensive as here, -500.

As we say so often, there are always exceptions to every bridge rule. That’s why this area is so difficult even for experienced players. Yet, follow the guidelines and you will be right most of the time.

“Bid as high as you want to go as quickly as you can.”

“A pre-emptor only bids their hand once.”

“The 5-level is for the opposition”.

Good luck!

Richard Solomon

The latest round of the Trans Tasman Challenge takes place at 8.00pm tonight, Friday, NZ time. You can kibbitz the 16 board matches by following this link (there is a 30 minute time lag). 2023 Trans-Tasman Challenge (aj92.com.au)   

 

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