Bid with Barry by Barry Rigal

A mixture of bidding problems. Three problems in balancing seat / competitive auctions, and two rebid problems. The rule in most competitive auctions is that when your side has a fit you should be aggressive - but you do not want to compete for more tricks than your total number of trumps. That is what The Law (of total tricks) says; and it is generally right.

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ Q 10 9 8 5
♥ 10
♦ A K J
♣ A Q 8 2

Q: 1 - What do you bid as South?

South	West	North	East
1♠	2♥	p	p
?

A: Double, for take-out. When playing negative doubles you should always strain to re-open with a double when three-suited and short in the opponent’s suit. If you bid three clubs you might lose a big diamond fit, and if you pass, you might miss an enormous penalty when partner has a trump stack.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ K 5 4
♥ Q 10 8
♦ A K 6 2
♣ A K 5

Q: 2 - What do you bid as South?

South	West	North	East
1♦	1♠	p	p
?

A: 1NT: Shows 18-19 balanced. This sequence shows more (not less) than a strong no-trump. If you had 12-14 balanced here you would let the opponents play the hand – so you must have a better not a worse hand than a one no-trump opening.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ 5
♥ K Q 6 4
♦ K Q 10 7 6 4
♣ A 2

Q: 3 - What do you bid as South?

South	West	North	East
-	p	1♠	p
2♦	p	2♥	p
?

A: 4NT. All you need to find out is whether partner has one, two or three aces, and you can decide whether to play a Small or Grand Slam. Your club loser should be discardable on partner’s spades, or he can pitch his clubs on your diamonds.
Of course raising to three hearts might be forcing for you – in which case you may prefer to do this to set hearts as trumps. Equally, if playing two over one, you should confirm with your partner that you would normally bid two no-trumps here with a quantitative hand. So the jump really is Blackwood.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ A 2
♥ K Q 10 9 5 3
♦ Q 6 4 2
♣ 7

Q: 4 - What do you bid as South?

South	West	North	East
1♥	p	1♠	p
?

A: Rebid 2♥. With a minimum hand and 6-4 shape, particularly with a chunky six-card suit, it is normally right to rebid the long suit. But with extras, or a good four-card suit, especially a major, bid the shorter suit at your second turn.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ J 9 3
♥ A Q 9
♦ K 3 2
♣ J 9 8 3

Q: 5 - What do you bid as South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♣	1♥
?

A: 2NT (11-12 HCP). A negative double here should promise four spades. Although the hand might play better in clubs, the best way to get your invitational values and heart stops across is by bidding no-trump now – partner can always retreat to three clubs himself.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Overall Results

Your results: out of Average:

What next? You may enjoy playing our prepared hands series.
More informations on our website: www.VuBridge.com

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