"First Trip" by Marti Ronemus

Our little daily tidbits of knowledge are designed to not only make us smarter, but better conversationalists. Today's tidbit might be a little tricky to drop into the small talk, but here it is anyway.

In 1943 Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann accidentally exposed himself to a new chemical which turned out to be what we now know as LSD. He was astonished at the "uninterrupted stream of fantastical images." He had a wonderful time! So much so, that two days later he tried it again, on purpose, and had the mother of all BAD trips.

There are times when the only explanation for our Pard's bids and play is a Bad Trip. But caution: He well may be thinking the same about us.

Let's see what we can do with today's puzzles.

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ J 3 2
♥ K 9 8
♦ K 10 8 4
♣ A 7 5

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	1♠
?

A: 3♦: Honestly. Talk about a bad trip. We have some decisions. We can certainly eliminate Pass. No-trump isn't an option because of our lack of a stopper. We're trapped into raising Diamonds or cuebidding the opponent's suit to show a fit and 10-plus points. We have no quarrel with the cuebid, but we just aren't that excited about the future of this hand. We like 3♦, mildly preemptive and forward going, showing a nice fit.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

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

Q: 2 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	3♠
?

A: 4♥: We HATE preempts... unless we are the one doing them! We can't do much but raise Pard to game.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

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

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	p
1♥	1♠	2♦	3♠
?

A: 5♦: Once again, those wretches are trying to rob us. Our singleton Spade has become valuable, and our Hearts will certainly provide a place for Pard to DUMP losers. It's a wee bit but heck, we paid to play. And we are members of the Clint Eastwood School of Bidding.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ A Q 10 5
♥ Q 8 7 2
♦ A 9
♣ 4 3 2

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	Dbl
Redouble	3♦	p	p
?

A: 4♥: Pard passed, as he's supposed to over our Redouble. We promise another bid. West's 3♦ is weak, showing a bad hand with a BIG suit. Will we make more by doubling and setting him? We would have to set by four tricks doubled to exceed our vulnerable game score. We pick 4♥.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ A K Q 8 7 6
♥
♦ A 5 3 2
♣ A 7 6

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
1♠	p	2♠	p
?

A: 3♦: This is a Help Suit Game Try. We've already agreed on a trump suit, and this bid tells Pard we have an intermediate hand and a suit with three-ish losers. We essentially are saying, "Yes, I know you only have 6-9 pts, But do you have help in Diamonds for me?

We're going to play this hand so we get to see what happens next. Let's hope it's a GOOD trip!

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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