Control Cue-Bids by Matthias Huberschwiller

In this quiz we will study control bids.

When a trump suit is known and you have hopes for a slam, you need to make sure that you don’t have two immediate losers in one suit.

A "control" is a holding that guarantees that you won’t lose two tricks in a suit.

There are two types of controls: Honours (Ace or King) and Shortness (singleton or void).

To ask for aces, you and your partner need to control the three suits outside trumps.

You should bid your controls "up the line".

For instance, say Spades are trumps and you are the 1st to bid a control after partner bid 3♠:

If you control the Clubs and another (higher ranked) suit you must start by bidding 4♣. On the other hand, if you bid 4♦ or 4♥ (bypassing 4♣), you say "I have Diamond (or Heart) control and I DO NOT HAVE CLUB CONTROL. Now if partner doesn't control Clubs either, he will simply return to 4♠, showing there's no hopes for slam.

To announce a control, you need to bid the suit that you control between three and four of your trump suit. You deny the control in every suit that you skip.

Let’s see some examples in this quiz, you’ll also have the occasion of applying control bids in the series that you will play.

Question 1

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

Q: 1 - Your partner showed a fit by jumping to the three-level, he shows 15-17 points and has probably a singleton (because he did not open 1NT).

What do you bid as South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♣	Pass
1♠	Pass	3♠	Pass
?

A: 4 ♦ – You have enough points to try playing a slam and you have a fit in a major.
Before bidding RKCB, you need to ensure that your side has all the controls (Clubs, Diamonds and Hearts). You have a control in Diamonds and Hearts, but not in Clubs.

So you need to announce your first control, and as you don’t have a club control, you bid 4♦ - Remember: bid your controls "up the line". Your partner can act accordingly and decide whether to go or not for the slam.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ A 6
♥ K Q 10 4 2
♦ A J 2
♣ 7 6 3

Q: 2 - What do you bid as South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	Pass
1♥	Pass	3♥	Pass
?

A: 3 ♠ – You have hopes for slam, but before checking for aces, you need to ensure that your side has a club control.

Therefore, you bid your first control. Careful! As hearts are trumps, control showing bids start at the three-level, so you bid 3♠.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ A Q 6
♥ J 6 5 4 2
♦ 7
♣ A K Q 10

Q: 3 - What do you bid as South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	Pass
1♥	Pass	3♥	Pass
?

A: 4NT – You have a control in both Spades and Clubs thanks to your honours, and also in Diamonds with your singleton.

Having controls in all suits outside trumps there's no need to cue-bid. Your trump quality is not a problem as you’ll find about it thanks to Roman Key Card Blackwood.

Repeat: When you bypass the control cue-bids you tell partner that you have controls in all suits.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

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

Q: 4 - What do you bid as South?

South	West	North	East
1♣	Pass	1♠	Pass
3♠	Pass	4♦	Pass
?

A: 4♠ - Your partner has shown a Diamond control. He has skipped Clubs, denying a control in that suit.

Danger! As you don’t have Club control either, your opponents can take Ace-King of Clubs from the lead. This means that the slam is impossible. You need to stop at 4♠, there is no reason to go any further.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

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

Q: 5 - What do you bid as South?

South	West	North	East
1♦	Pass	1♠	Pass
3♠	Pass	4♣	Pass
?

A: 4♦ – Your partner has shown a club control, so he hopes to play a slam but does not have all the controls.

As you have a Diamond control, but no Heart control, you cue-bid 4♦ to show what control you have. Then it will be up to partner to decide whether to go further or stop at 4♠.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 6

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

Q: 6 - What do you bid as South?

South	West	North	East
1♦	Pass	1♠	Pass
3♠	Pass	4♣	Pass
?

A: 4NT – This time you have both missing controls, so you can pass to the next step and ask for Aces.

Your result so far:

Open Question

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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