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 "Second Most Popular" by Marti Ronemus

Quick now... what's the second most popular Christmas song? Yup. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is second only to "White Christmas." We're going to hear it at least a thousand times over the next two weeks, so let's learn a little more.

The song was commissioned by Montgomery Ward. In 1939, they wanted a signature character for the freebie coloring book they gave to kids who came to see Santa. The story and character were such hits that they gave out 2.4 MILLION the first year!

Some debated names were Rollo, Reginald, Romeo and Rodney and thank goodness Rudolph won out. Initially, Gene Autry passed on the song, but his wife talked him into it... good thing, as the royalties were huge (for the day).

We can relate to being second-best, can't we? (Actually, a lot of times we'd be DELIGHTED to be second!) Often our acts of derring-do fail miserably. Competitive bidding presents us with many opportunities for failure. Let's look at a few.


Question 1

  Your Hand
♠ A K J 9 5 4
♥ Q 10 2
♦ K 3
♣ J 6 		 
Q: 1 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
--1♦Pass
1♠Pass2♣Pass
?


 Your choice:
A: 2♥: We have a bit of a problem with this hand. Pard's hand could be as much as a very nice 15-ish. Any rebid of Spades by us is limiting and non-forcing. We might want to be in a slam, we might want to be in No-trump... we need more information. We can get it by bidding the fourth suit. This can be played as a convention with gadgets, or it can just be common sense. Pard will know that if we HAD the 4th suit, we'd probably bid No-trump. He'll bid again and we'll find our best place.

Your result so far:
Open Question

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Question 2

  Your Hand
♠ 9
♥ Q 8 7
♦ A Q 9 7 4
♣ A K J 7 		 
Q: 2 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
1♦Pass1♥Pass
2♣Pass2 No-trumpPass
?


 Your choice:
A: 3♥: Pard's rebid of 2 No-trump shows 10-12 points and with our chubby 16-plus, we certainly have game. We can bid 3 No-trump and worry about the Spades, or we can give delayed support for Pard's Hearts just in case Pard holds five. Bidding 3♥ is forcing and we'll end up either in a Heart or No-trump game.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 3

  Your Hand
♠ 10 9 7
♥ 5
♦ A Q 9 5 4
♣ 8 6 5 2 		 
Q: 3 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
--1♥Dbl
?


 Your choice:
A: Pass: We would have bid 1 No-trump. Now though, we can't bid 2♦ as our hand is too weak. We can't redouble. Ditto. We can't bid Spades because of the Double. A pass is perfect. If Pard wants to take action, he can.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 4

  Your Hand
♠ 8
♥ J 7 6
♦ A 10 4 3
♣ A Q 10 5 2 		 
Q: 4 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
--1♠2♣
?


 Your choice:
A: Pass: Pard opened so it's very possible we belong in game. 2 No-trump doesn't show enough points. 3 No-trump is a possibility... Double would be for takeout. Pass seems to be the best option. Pard is bound to be short in Clubs so will reopen with a Double or take some action (he'll know we're marked with points). If he reopens with a double, we'll convert to penalty and have a great chance to watch these people drop to the bottom of the "most popular" list.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 5

  Your Hand
♠ A J 4 2
♥ 8 7
♦ 8 7 6 5
♣ A 6 5 		 
Q: 5 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
--2♣Pass
2♦Pass2♠Pass
3♠*Pass4♦**Pass
?

*Support, slam interest
**First-round control of Diamonds

 Your choice:
A: 5♣: We aren't in control of this down-hill race. We're not positive what Pard's hand looks like. We can't bid Spades, as that would be a shut-out. Let's go slow down this hill and show Pard our first-round Club control. He may be aiming toward a Grand Slam. Let's let him show his stuff.

And now it's time for a hand. Ready?

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.
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