Creme-Filled Donut Day by Marti Ronemus

I hate to start your week with terrible, terrible news, but today is Crème-Filled Donut Day, dedicated to the scrumptious, calorie and trans-fat loaded lump of lusciousness. I have entrusted my car keys to a friend to prevent me from heading for the nearest donut store, and suggest you do the same. I'll try to distract you with five bidding questions and a hand to keep you busy. Let's fight this temptation together.

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ J 2
♥ J 8 7 5 4 3
♦ 8 7 4
♣ 8 4

Q: 1 - As South, what should you do?

South	West	North	East
-	1♠	1 no-trumps	pass
?

*We are playing transfers today.

A: 2♦: If ever there were a hand designed for transfers, this is it. Once Pard bids 2♥, you will drop dead by not bidding again. This hand is truly a "Crummy (gulp--stop thinking about donuts) Dummy," a hand that is worthless unless its long suit is trumps.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ A 5 4
♥ J 9 6 5
♦ Q 10 3
♣ K 8 5

Q: 2 - South has a decision to make. What's your thought?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1 no-trumps
?

A: 3 No-trumps: Were you tempted (no, no, stop thinking about donuts!) to use Stayman? Let's think it through. Why do we use trump suits? So we can TRUMP declarer's losers in dummy. There's a saying, "No shortness, no Stayman." With a flat hand like this, we just show our points.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

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

Q: 3 - And South says...

South	West	North	East
-	1♣	1♠	pass
?

A: 3♠: Yes, yes, I know. You only have 6 pts. BUT! You are in a competitive auction and you need to follow the Law of Total tricks and bid to the level of trumps in your combined hands. If your partner were not an overcall and if this were NOT a competitive auction, you'd just bid 2♠. Your bid is preemptive and make life tough on Them. Remember that raising your partner's suit in a competitive auction is the weakest response you can give, regardless of level. Repeat twice.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

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

Q: 4 - Your bid as South?

South	West	North	East
-	1♣	1♠	pass
?

A: 2♣: Pard's overcall promises 7-ish to 17-ish points and a Darn Good five-card suit. Last hand, same bidding, we didn't care if Pard had 7 or 17, as we had a minimum hand. This time, we care. With our 12 HCP and our nine-card trumps fit, we are hoping for action. By cue-bidding the opponent's suit, we are saying/asking the following: We have a trump fit. I have a minimum of 10 points. On your next bid, I want you to limit your point count. Forcing for one round, this bid is as good as a donut. Well, almost as good....

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ 3
♥ Q 10 9 7 5
♦ 10 6 2
♣ A K J 3

Q: 5 - As South, what should your rebid be?

South	West	North	East
pass	pass	1♠	pass
?

A: 2♥: You are a passed hand, BUT a very nice passed hand. You could bid 1 No-trumps, but why not tell partner you're better than that? Maybe he'll be on a sugar-high, and bid on. You're about to play this hand, so pray he hasn't had too many crème-filleds.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Play this Hand

Now that you've bid five hands, let's see how your play goes.

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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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