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The Wise Bid.

There are times when, in the bidding, you tell the opponents as little as possible about your hand and other times when you need to reveal all, or quite a lot! If you know which suit and which level you want to play, then don’t tell them any more. However, that is not always the case.

Take this pair of hands:

 

The auction starts as follows with the opposition silent:

                                                                              North                        South

                                                                                1                              1

                                                                               2NT                              ?

Playing Acol where a 1NT rebid shows 15-17 hcp, the jump to 2NT should virtually be forcing to game assuming South has a genuine 1 call, that is with at least 6hcp. (Very occasionally, South may have called on a little less hcp.) 2NT shows a balanced 18-19 count. As you can see, that does not always mean that you have all suits “covered” with a high card but there is no better bid to describe the North hand above.

South would not initially be very enthusiastic about bidding to a game but knows opposite 18-19 hcp, there should be some chance of making a game. The question, therefore, seems to be which game, 3NT or perhaps on some days, 4.

South’s hand is not balanced and indeed after the bidding so far, has what could prove a dangerous club singleton if the partnership is to finish in 3NT. The best way for South to express some doubt about an unbid suit and at the same time offer a choice of games, is to bid one’s second suit, diamonds. It might just be a 4-card suit suggesting strongly that they have five spades. However, what it does do is tell partner that there could be a weakness in either hearts (no worries, there, as North opened that suit) or clubs.

That 3 bid should act as a real wake-up call for North about clubs as there would be a strong chance that the partnership has no club hold for playing no-trumps… not guaranteed but the message is there loud and clear!

Thus, even though the North hand is relatively flat, they should either offer spades as a possible contract (by bidding 3) or even jump to game, 4. South can hardly realise that 15 of North’s 18 high-card points are in the two suits bid by their partner.

North should not bother to show a 5^th heart by bidding 3 as it is very unlikely their partner has three card heart support (no 3 bid from South). Even on a rare occasion when South has only 4 spades, 4 should be a playable contract. If South had a flat hand with only 4 spades and 4 diamonds, they would raise to 3NT assuming they had no slam ambitions. “Tell them nothing” in that case. With this South hand, South has an important warning to issue to partner. It is more important to warn partner than worry about giving the opponents extra information.

If North only bids 3, South should raise to game. South knows the partnership must be in some game and their partner chose to bid 3 rather than 3NT. You get the added bonus of being declarer!

So, you are declarer in 4 and receive the lead of Q followed by J from West. What’s your plan? You not only need to ensure 10 tricks but, as you are playing Pairs, would like to make as many overtricks as you can without endangering your contract. So, start planning…. and we will play out the board on Sunday….

If you know where to go, go there straightway
Don't give any unneccesary information away.
But show a new suit to partner if there's a warning to tell.
Don't worry that the opponents may be listening as well.

Richard Solomon

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