"The Middle Child" by Marti Ronemus

Your Pard opens and you've got 10-12 pts. It's easy to respond with a minimum hand. We either raise Pard's suit (remember our Wonderbra Rule? Support with support), name a new suit at the one-level or make the Desperate 1 No-trump Response.

With 13-plus points, we get to game.

But what about The Middle Child? More than minimum, but not enough to game. Well, here are our choices. We can raise Pard's suit, leaping a level. Or we can name a new suit. That's not so hard, is it?

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ 3 2
♥ A Q J 9 3
♦ K 8
♣ 6 4 3 2

Q: 1 - As South, we say?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♠	pass
?

A: 2♥: Perfect! We have a shapely hand with a great suit of our own. Now, a little food for thought. When you bid 2♥ over 1♠ and you don't have 3 Spades, you always are promising a five-card suit. If you only had four Hearts, you'd have another four card suit of lower rank to bid first. If you don't believe me, lay some cards out and play around with them, remembering that we bid four-card suits up the line. Our bid is unlimited, promising at least 10 pts., so Pard is forced to bid again.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

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

Q: 2 - South says?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	pass
?

A: 3♥: You've got a lovely nine-card trump fit and 10-12 pts. That, my friends, is EXACTLY what the jump of your partner's suit says. You get to describe your hand perfectly, plus LIMIT it! Now the final contract is Pard's problem.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

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

Q: 3 - Notice this is the same hand, but the bidding is different. What now?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♠	pass
?

A: 2♣: In question 1, we said that if you bid 2♥ over 1♠, you always have five. This hand shows exactly what we mean. We are going to show our four-card suits up the line. We'll start with Clubs.

Are you worried that we'll miss a possible Heart fit? No problem. If Pard has four Hearts, that will be his next bid. And our bid is forcing.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

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

Q: 4 - What will you do with this one?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	pass
?

A: 2♦: If the Diamonds and Clubs were four-cards each, we'd bid the Clubs first. But The Diamonds are longer. Our bid is forcing, so we can await further developments.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ A Q 2
♥ 10 9 7 6
♦ J 4 3
♣ K Q 2

Q: 5 - One last chance! As South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	pass
?

A: 3♥: We are on the edge of a game bid. The reason we downgrade the hand a tiny bit is that it is as flat as a driveway. It fits the 10-12 pt. range. When our Pard hears our limit bid, showing a nice fit and a Middle Child Range, he'll know what to do.

And you are going to get to play this hand. You will be switching sides and will make the final decision. Ready?

Your result so far:

Open Question

Play this Hand

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

Play on ANY Device

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

Rate yourself:

0 - 40%	We applaud your effort. Review the subject and try again. You'll be surprised how much better you'll do. We're here for you!!
41 - 50%	Buy your mentor a cuppa and ask for clarification on the ones you got wrong. No mentor? Make finding one a priority!
51 - 60%	Nice improvement! One more review and you'll have this down solid!
61 - 80%	What a good job! All that's left is some fine tuning
Over 80%	Wow! It's time for you to become a mentor. Find someone who needs help and share your knowledge!