"Halloween" by Marti Ronemus

Do you have your costume? Have you prepared with bowls of candy to hand out? What a great holiday! No responsibility to cook meals! And chocolate. Did I mention the chocolate? POUNDS of it!

And an excuse to threaten people! (What... you don't think "Trick or Treat" is a threat?)

So today's bidding challenge may well include threats. Are you prepared?

(By the way... Today is also "Haunted Refrigerator Night." I am NOT making that up!)

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ 3 2
♥ A Q J 6
♦ 10 9 3
♣ A Q 10 5

Q: 1 - Your communication with Pard is threatened by your RHO's Take-Out Double. As South, what should you do?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	dbl
?

A: Redouble: A redouble means so much. First, it tends to show interest in possibly penalizing the opponents. It also shows an intermediate or better hand (10-plus points). Opener is expected to initially pass, forcing the opponents to bid, which is perfect. If They bid Hearts or Clubs, we penalty double and defend. If West bids Diamonds, we can take it from there. Redoubles and the follow-up bids can be complicated, but just think it through slowly. They are HUGELY threatening to the opponents. Happy Halloween!

Your result so far:

Open Question

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Question 2

Your Hand
♠ 3 2
♥ A Q J 6
♦ 10 9 3
♣ A Q 10 5

Q: 2 - Same hand, but this time we are threatened by a Weak Jump Overcall. Will They get away with it? As South...

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	2♠
?

A: Double: What a perfect bid, our friend the Negative Double. We can't bid Hearts outright because that would show five. We don't want to bid the Clubs, because at this point, we're more interested in finding a Heart fit. And we love BOGOs (Buy One, Get One free).

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ Q 3
♥ K Q 10 6 3
♦ Q J 8 5
♣ 10 5

Q: 3 - Well, they're still trying to threaten our auction. What now, South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	dbl
?

A: 1♥: You've got the points for a Redouble (10-plus) but should still bid Hearts. A Redouble might allow the opponents to bid and raise Spades and we won't be able to bid our Hearts and maybe show Diamond support later. We can show our strength later by bidding again. Remember, a Redouble implies interest in penalizing, and we don't want that if they are in a Spade partscore. Better to bid our suit.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ A J 9
♥ J 4
♦ Q 10 9 7
♣ J 10 7 5

Q: 4 - How about this time? South again.

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	dbl
?

A: 1 No-trump: Perfect bid. Natural, showing a balanced 6-9/10 pts. and promises a stopper in the unbid suits. This is NOT forcing, even for you folks who play 1 No-trump forcing over an opening major.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ 8 4 2
♥ 6 2
♦ J 5
♣ A K Q 9 3 2

Q: 5 - Another Halloween "threat" is the pre-empt. How will you handle this?

South	West	North	East
-	3♦	dbl	pass
?

A: 5♣: Such pressure! For Pard to double a three-level pre-empt, he's gotta have a nice hand, leaning primarily toward the majors. Sadly, he doesn't have a five-card major or he would have bid it. A leap to five of a minor shows our long, powerful suit. Pard is providing the points, we are providing the suit.

Now, we are going to play this hand, but as defenders. Can the contract be set? Put your costume on and let's see if we can collect some candy.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Play this Hand

Now that you've bid five hands, let's see how your play goes.

Overall Results

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What next? You may enjoy playing our prepared hands series.
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