"Hero of Dead Letters" by Marti Ronemus

In the late 1800s, because of low literacy and rising immigration and migration, over 7,000,000 letters a year ended up in the Dead Letter Office, their last hope of delivery. Patti Lyle Collins was the uncontested Super Sleuth, solving almost 1000 puzzles every day. Her astounding knowledge of languages, geography, miscellaneous facts and intuition enabled her to make the most amazing leaps of logic.

For example, a letter addressed to "Rev. Wells, Johnstown TN" had the office stumped, as there was no such town in TN. Well, our Heroine Patti remembered reading that President Andrew Johnson once worked in a tailor shop in Greenville TN. Sure enough, that's where Rev. Wells lived and the letter arrived safely.

SO! Where is Patti when we need her? I would imagine she would have no trouble whatsoever interpreting the bids we see around the table, no?

Let's see if we can make Patti proud today as we work on our bidding.

Question 1

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

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	P
?

A: 2♥: Even though we have four Hearts giving us the ninth trump, we don't have the points to bid 3♥. And certainly not enough to bid 2♦.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

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

Q: 2 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	2♣
?

A: 3♥: Just as a review, raising Pard's suit in a competitive auction is the WEAKEST bid we can make and shows the number of trump we hold rather than the number of points. We've got the ninth trump and show it with our preemptive jump to 3♥.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ A K
♥ K 10 9 8
♦ Q 10 8 5 4
♣ 9 8

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	2♣
?

A: 3♣: We've got a great hand opposite a Pard who opened, and a fit. We start with a cuebid of the opponent's suit.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

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

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	2♣
?

A: 3♦: A jump into a new suit in competition is weak, weak, weak.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ A K
♥ 10 9 8
♦ A Q 10 9 8 5
♣ 9 8

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	2♣
?

A: 2♦: What else can you bid with this hand? You need to discuss with Partner if a new suit after an overcall is forcing or not. We say yes, for one round.

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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