Basic Responses"Disney No-No's" by Marti Ronemus

Admit it. You too are a sucker for a great Disney or Pixar movie. Show me someone who could resist "Toy Story" or "Up" and I'll show you a soul-less curmudgeon. Did you know, however, that there are three forbidden sequences in Disney movies? Impalement, beheading, and smoking. There's one memorable exception. Remember the scene in "Pinocchio" where our hero steals and smokes a cigar? He gets VERY sick, so it was left in as an object lesson.

In bridge we have sequences that are better forbidden, and you can be glad we at Vu-Bridge are with you to help avoid those messes. Today, we're going to look at some very basic bidding sequences, first responses. Although basic, if not handled correctly, the train can go off the track pretty quickly.

Question 1

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

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♣	Pass
?

A: 1♠: We like to bid four-card suits up the line, but with a minimum hand, we like to get right to the major. If we bid 1♦ and LHO (left hand opponent) bids 1♥, it may be hard to find our Spade fit, if indeed there is one.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

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

Q: 2 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♣	Pass
?

A: 1♦: Unlike last hand, we've got a nice intermediate hand. We can go slowly up the bidding ladder with confidence we will find the right contract. Keep in mind that the worse our hand, the faster we want to get where we are probably going. Make sense? If not, read it again.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

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

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♠	Pass
?

A: 2♦: There's no rush here. We are going to game. Relax and enjoy the movie previews. Our hand is very nice and we want to give Pard all the room in the world to fully describe his. We might possibly even have a slam. We won't miss our Heart fit if indeed there is one. Remember, the better the hand, the slower up the ladder we go until we find the perfect spot.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ K 10 8 3
♥ 3 2
♦ 3 2
♣ A 10 8 3 2

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	Pass
?

A: 1♠: 2♣ is tempting, but we don't have the money to buy the two-level. And 1 No-trump would be a mistake, as it would be denying a four-card major. Let's tell our Pard about our major and put him in the spotlight.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

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

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	Pass
?

A: 1 No-trump: We don't want to raise the Diamonds, in that it doesn't really describe our hand. While there's a 93% chance we've got an eight-card Diamond fit, we've also got stoppers in the other suits. 1 No-trump draws a much more accurate picture of our hand.

And now off to play a hand. No impalements or beheadings, we promise.

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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