"New Year's Resolution Week" by Marti Ronemus

Gee, a whole week in which to make--and break--New Year's Resolutions. Mine that fall by the wayside most quickly are those that have to do with calories and chocolate.

HOWEVER!! Back in 2007 I made a resolution that was life-changing. Well, BRIDGE life, anyway. I resolved to never take another finesse. They never worked for me anyway, so I decided to eschew them entirely. I started ignoring the obvious, the finesse, pretend they didn't exist, and look for other ways to solve my problem.

My declarer play improved at least 75%. Now, I am not suggesting you can play bridge without finesses--that resolution fell apart, like all the rest. What I am saying is that, if you look for another approach first, you will dazzle and amaze both partners and opponents.

Guess what our hand is about today? Meantime, warm up the year with these bidding questions.

Question 1

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

Q: 1 - As South?

South	West	North	East
1♥	Pass	2♣	Pass
3♣	Pass	3 No-trump	Pass
?

A: 4♥: First, let's talk about our 3♣ bid. Our hand is super distributional and we want to show Pard Club support. The auction will not be over. Now. No-trump is super unattractive with our shape, and the quality of our Heart suit requires us to pull Pard's bid and put it in a Heart game.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠
♥ K Q J 10 8
♦ A Q 9 4
♣ 10 7 3 2

Q: 2 - South again!

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♣
1♥	1♠	2♥	2♠
?

A: 3♦: Using the "show and tell" principle of describing our hand as honestly as possible, Pard needs to know that we are very distributional and have enough to bid at the three-level. We'd like to have another Diamond, but life ain't perfect, is it? This, by the way, is NOT Help Suit Game Try, because we are competitive bidders, not opener and responder.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ J 9 7 3 2
♥ A 7 4 3
♦ 8 4 3
♣ 4

Q: 3 - Again, as South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	Pass	1♦
Pass	4 No-trump**	Pass	5♥
?

**Plain vanilla Blackwood

A: Double: The double of an artificial bid is (usually) lead directing. Don't be shy about this. Some are wary because they think it gives too much info to the declarer. Nonsense! Others don't do it because they've fallen asleep at the switch. You want Pard to have this info to help set the contract. AND!! if you DON'T double, Pard will make a negative inference and won't lead that suit.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ 9 6 4
♥ A 8 5
♦ 10 8 6 5 3 2
♣ 7

Q: 4 - South?

South	West	North	East
-	1♣	1♥	1♠
2♥	2♠	3♦	4♠
?

A: 5♦: First, were you surprised when we bid 2♥ with only 4 HCP? Did you pay to play? Do you like to win? We are in a competitive auction here. Our singleton plus that fat juicy Ace in Pard's suit require us to compete. BUT!! After hearing about Pard's Diamonds. Wow. We expect Pard to be five-five. He's only got three cards in the other suits. We own this table, folks. And why not go to 5♥? Well, who doesn't like an eleven-card fit more than an eight? (P.S. If you would pass at any point in this hand, turn in your Clint Eastwood School of Bidding Membership Card.)

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ A K Q J 5
♥ K J 9 8 5
♦ 2
♣ A 7

Q: 5 - South: (tricky one!)

South	West	North	East
1♠	Pass	2♣	Pass
3♥*	Pass	3♠	Pass
?

*Strong two-suiter

A: 4 No-trump: This hand is too good to be true! Pard's Spade support opens the door to visions of a slam. Pard's two-level initial response and now Spade support? Wow. Now that trump has been agreed on, we need to explore slam. Since we have first- or second-round control of every suit in our hand, we can ask for aces. We could have bid 4♣ as a cue-bid showing a first round control, but if Pard has one ace, we're in slam anyway.

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

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!