"All Good Things Must End" by Marti Ronemus

This week in 1983, M.A.S.H. aired its last episode with a viewing audience of 125 million people. After 11 years of having our Monday nights defined by the exploits of quirky, compassionate, flawed people who usually managed to Do the Right Thing, many of us found ourselves at a loss. Who could resist Jamie Farr's attempts to prove himself crazy by wearing dresses. Remember the still in the Swamp Tent? I still miss them all, and thank heavens for re-runs.

Let's switch our attention to some bridge challenges. Today we're going to look at responding to your Pard's Negative Doubles. It will help get our minds off our loss. Sniff.

Question 1

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

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
1♦	1♠	Dbl	P
?

A: 1 No-trump: Pard's Negative Double sez: I have four Hearts and 8-plus points. Bid accordingly. We certainly don't want to be in Diamonds, do we. Honestly. We have a minimum hand. We're figuring Pard for 8, plus our 13 comes to 21. Pard will now know that we can only bid 1 No-trump over 8 pts, and we have Spade stoppers. It's up to him now.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ K J 7
♥ 7 5
♦ A K 9 4 3
♣ A K

Q: 2 - South:

South	West	North	East
1♦	1♠	Dbl	P
?

A: 3 No-trump: At first, it looks like Jamie is wearing the same old dress he wore last hand, but when we look closer we see he has accessorized nicely with some additional points. Even if Pard has the minimum of 8 pts, we can make game. If he's got more, he'll know what to do.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

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

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
1♣	1♥	Dbl	p
?

A: 3♠: This hand has 17-ish points in favor of Spades. Pard's bid promised four Spades and 8 plus points. We have an invitational hand, and show it by bidding 3♠, same as we would if there were no intervening bid.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

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

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
1♣	1♥	Dbl	p
?

A: 4♠: We can squeeze 19-20 pts out of this hand. We need to place the contract in game and await further developments.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ A 2
♥ K Q 10 8 4
♦ 3 2
♣ K Q 10 9 7

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
1♥	2♣	Dbl	P
?

A: Pass: You may get an ugly look from Pard, until he sees the mayhem you are about to create. We know Pard is short in Hearts. This contract is going down. We don't have support for either of Pard's suits, so we envision our very own cross-ruff.

And now to our hand. Don't change that channel.

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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