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 "It's the Law!" Opening Bids by Marti Ronemus

Here are some laws currently on the books. See what you think.

Iowa: Since 1913, it's been against the law to warm your car up. Why? Lawmakers felt that cars warming up unattended were too easy to steal.

South Carolina: If you're under 18, since 1940, you can be arrested for playing pinball.

Michigan: If you are unwed and cohabiting, there's a $1000 fine and a year in jail waiting for you. There have been repeated failed attempts to repeal this law. Really.

Texas: While Texas lawmakers have very generous policies for owning, carrying and shooting firearms, since 1973 it's been illegal to own more than six "obscene devices." One's mind is boggled.

Finally, in the Bridge World: It SHOULD be illegal to make bad opening bids. While there are no fines or jail terms, bad openers certainly earn us scorn and bad scores. Let's see what we can do about this.

Today you are the opening bidder and will need to decide whether to pass or open and WHAT to open. Seems simple, right? (You should know better by now.)

Question 1

  Your Hand
♠ A 2
♥ 9 6 5 4 3
♦ A Q J 10
♣ A 2 		 
Q: 1 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
?--


 Your choice:
A: 1♥: I can hear you moaning "How can I open a suit that looks like that?!" Listen, Binky, you aren't saying you have GOOD Hearts, you're saying you have FIVE Hearts.

What else can you do? You can't open the Diamonds... you'll never be able to persuade Pard you've got a five-card major. You can't bid No-trump with two doubletons and nine cards in two suits.

Your result so far:
Open Question

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Question 2

  Your Hand
♠ A K 10 4
♥ 5 4 3
♦ K 9 8 4
♣ J 4 		 
Q: 2 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
?--


 Your choice:
A: Pass: Passing does indeed leave us on the edge of the law, but sometimes ya just gotta do it. We can't really stretch the points to open, we've got scattered honors, and that ♣J isn't doing anyone any good. Rats.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 3

  Your Hand
♠ A K 10 4
♥ 5 4 3
♦ K 9 8 4
♣ J 4 		 
Q: 3 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
--PassPass
?


 Your choice:
A: 1♠: We need to talk about this one. It's the same hand we just looked at but this time, we're in third seat. With this scenario, the points are probably scattered around the table OR West is gigantic. While opening four-card majors puts us in danger of arrest (in the USA, anyway), this is an exception.

Pard is a passed hand, so we don't have to worry about him going crazy. If he raises our Spades with only three pieces, ho hum at a low level. Also, our Spades aren't that bad, AND! Most importantly, like Godzilla going through Tokyo, we've eaten the whole first level of bidding.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 4

  Your Hand
♠ 6 5 4 3 2
♥ A K Q J 10
♦ 2
♣ K 8 		 
Q: 4 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
?--


 Your choice:
A: 1♠: Gotta be the Spades. A little saying: "Five-five, take a dive." Bid the higher ranking suit first. It's that simple. Quality is not what you look at. A very hard concept for less experienced players is to remember that we bid our overall shape and point count, not where our points are ... initially.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 5

  Your Hand
♠ K J 4 3
♥ K J 2
♦ K J 4
♣ 4 3 2 		 
Q: 5 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
?--


 Your choice:
A: Pass: We can discuss this one all day. I am a firm believer in opening all 12 point hands. EXCEPT 4-3-3-3 with no quick tricks. If you opened it 1♣, give yourself credit. This is one of those things that come down to a question of style. Talk to your Pard about it.

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

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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