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The Least of All Evils.

It’s lovely having a decent hand but it has brought you a few problems. Three great suits, over half the high-card points in the pack but you are struggling to find an opening bid.

Too much for the one level. A gaping hole if treated as balanced. Rebid issues if you Game Force. You are playing Pairs. What's your opening bid?

We have a 2-way vote from the Panel with everyone starting with the same suit but at different levels and different meanings. We have the 1 brigade who should survive if someone can utter a bid after their low start:

Stephen Blackstock “1: The alternatives of 2NT and 2, rebidding 2NT, do not appeal, as too likely to result in a silly no trump contract when partner has nothing substantial in diamonds or wrong siding what would otherwise be a fair contract. It’s not likely that 1 will end the auction, but of course it might. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing but probably will be!”

Michael Cornell “1: Easy. It won’t be passed out! To start with, we respond very lightly, and especially over our2+ . and especially with a major. Furthermore, there are still 18HCP and 12 diamonds out there. So, someone will have a bid.

Opening 1 makes the auction much easier but if partner responds with a major, I think we have to commit to the 5 level. 6 is a huge contract opposite something like Jxxxx ,xxxxxx Kx !”

I am not quite sure whether Michael is pleading for an opponent whose 8 count has a 2353 shape to come to his rescue. I am sure if that player is in the pass-out seat, wise advice would be to pass the 1 bid.

Nigel Kearney “1: If there's no further bidding, I am not too worried. The days of needing 6 HCP to respond are long gone. Nearly all 5 HCP hands and most 4 HCP hands should bid, especially over 1. Whether or not partner bids, I will be better placed than if it started 2-2-2NT.”

Bruce Anderson “1:  whatever system I am playing. Opening 2, showing a hand that is too good to open at the one level, means that there is no way to describe the hand over a negative response; rebidding 2NT might work, but it might not.             

Some may opt to open 1 on the basis that if partner cannot bid, and the opponents don’t compete, at least we are playing in a major, and it is Pairs. But an opening bid of 1 is unlikely to be passed out.

Kris Wooles “1: (big) tongue in cheek and I know Richard that you will cry foul (Kris favours a strong club style system) but seriously I’d still bid 1 in a natural system. I had a similar hand a few years ago and partner responded 1 after which I drove optimistically and foolishly to 6 and went 2 down. Sometimes it is not a good idea to try and catch up even with your juicy 22 HCP.”

No, I did not ghost-write Kris’s answer but I might have done! I think the best answer I can give to partner as they tabled their dummy in this lowly contract is that I miscounted my points by a king!

I am also not sure how well the auction will continue after partner’s 1 response with their 4-count. We have already heard of Mike Cornell virtually committing to the 5-level and now Kris Wooles going even higher. There is a dividing line where really you has to let partner know that you are very strong. This hand has no singleton king to reduce it to 19 effective points. This hand is really, seriously good, despite having no 5 card or longer suit.

And so to those who go one level higher:

Michael Ware “2: 2...2NT Happy to upgrade to 23-24 balanced. Great controls and I have an amazing hand if we have major fit. Opening 1 is OK in theory, but not when everyone passes. Even if partner does respond, it is hard to catch up.

Or to slow yourself down.

Matt Brown “2: preparing to rebid 2NT. This is going to get us to game more often when partner might be passing a 1 opening. At face value, it seems like this gives partner less room to show slam interest/co-operate but over a 1 opening and a 4 splinter partner has no room anyway and we still have more than expected. I hope Peter Newell does not simply say “strong club”

No, Matt. He says strong 2!”

Peter Newell “2: If partner bids 2, I’ll bid 2NT 23-24.  All the choices are ugly.  I’m not prepared to open at the 1 level as there is too much risk of being passed out, particularly if I open 1.  If partner can respond to 1, it may work out pretty well, but at Pairs the opposition will be happy to pass me out in 1 if able.

2NT is a possibility, but the hand is too good in many scenarios. Partner with a 4- card major and no points, 4 of a major is a reasonable game, and we might languish 2NT when we should be in game, or not in a NT contract from time to time.  The bidding is rather cramped over 2NT opening.  2 wins for me as most of the time we belong in game, and we have a reasonable chance to get to the right game.  There is more room over 2. So, from time to time, partner will be able to bid something other than 2 or 3, which will be helpful.”

I am not in the 1 camp as you may have gathered but neither am I in the 2 and rebid 2NT one either. I did hold this hand and did open 2 and partner did produce the expected 2 response and then…

 

You may wonder (I did) why East did not make a lead-directing double of  2. Irrespective, my little white lie was to pretend I held 5 spades. They were 4 quite good ones! Thereafter, the auction proceeded with support and three 4-level cue-bids. Had North extras, they could have bid something other than 4. However, they had done their dash and game was reached and made in some comfort (perhaps less comfortably had West selected a diamond). 3NT was by no means certain, especially after J lead. However, taking a second -round heart finesse of J into the “safe” East hand would have been well rewarded.

So, who would have bid over 1? North has no major and no shape and no great reason except perhaps to head to no-trumps or make it harder for East should they want to bid. Presumably, had North bid 1, South would make a game-forcing jump which would test North’s desire to say “enough!”.

Silence is Golden

Had North passed 1, East had the chance to put Peter Newell’s theory into practice. At Pairs and with no major and with no overcall from partner, let them play in 1.

One board lay-out does not prove anything. You might ask yourself how strong and forcing your 1 opening is. And talking of decent hands…

A Very Decent Dummy

Ever felt your partner overbid a bit too much when, well, you really did not have much of a hand. “Show a little restraint, partner, please next time.”

 Well, they did not. They asked you to bid with a take-out double. You duly bid with your solitary jack….and within a few milliseconds, you were in game.

Mind you, they did have a reasonable hand!

 

West led Q. A took the first trick with the ace, East following with 2.

Your questions for tomorrow are how and why did 4 fail?

Richard Solomon

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