"Mad for Plaid Day" by Marti Ronemus

Have you ever really thought about plaid? (Me neither.) BUT!! There's history here. "Back in the Day" the royalty and wealthy had beautiful garments woven and dyed especially for them. The peons, serfs et al ... their garments were made from left-over hunks of thread, thusly their garments were multi-colored. At that time, it was a sign of poverty. Some people eventually raised multi-color to an art form (think Scotland) and now the sad history of plaid has been forgotten.

SO!! Is your bridge game made up of a snippet of this and a snippet of that? OR!! Is it a beautifully organized and designed medley of bids and techniques? Let's see how you handle these five bids and the hand to follow. Then we'll know!

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ A Q 7
♥ J 8 7 5 4
♦ K 4 3
♣ A 8

Q: 1 - As South, what should you bid? Does East's Take Out Double influence you at all?

South	West	North	East
-	-	2♥	Dbl
?

A: 4♥: Bridge is a game of tricks, not points. When your Pard preempts, you figure them for 5-1/2 tricks and add what you have. This hand, the Take Out Double actually helps you make your decision. You've got an enormous trump fit, but there is such a thing as being trump rich. We've got two quick tricks, and our trumps, and are kind of on the fence whether to go to game or not. BUT! East's promised Spades are IN FRONT of your ♠A Q. This extra Spade trick helps you make up your mind to go to game.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ K Q J 10 9 8
♥ J 9
♦ A
♣ K J 6 2

Q: 2 - You're South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	Pass
1♠	Pass	2♦	Pass
?

A: 4♠: You've watched people dueling it out at the table, haven't you? Each determined their own suit should prevail. They obviously don't know that the first person to LIMIT THEIR HAND is the one to back down. When North bid 2♦, he said he had six-plus Diamonds and a minimum opening hand. Now the decision is ours. We have an independent suit, and... looking at our Clubs, wouldn't it be nice to have the lead come into our hand? Game it is, and we pick the weave... Spades.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

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

Q: 3 - South's got a tough one here. What do you think?

South	West	North	East
1♥	2♣	2♦	Pass
?

A: 2 No-trump: Here's our thinking. Pard has promised 10-plus points and at least five Diamonds. It's very likely we've got the points for game. BUT!! West is behind us with the points. We've only got one Club stopper. Our hand is a wee bit quacky... many snippets of yarn rather than a solid weave. Let's invite and throw it into Pard's lap.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

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

Q: 4 - South?:

South	West	North	East
-	Pass	Pass	1♦
?

A: 4♠: The key here is that you are opposite a passed Pard. You could Double and then bid Spades, but the hand isn't quite big enough. Why not just bid what we know we can make? Pard's Pass makes slam very unlikely. Pick your kilt out.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

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

Q: 5 - What should South do?

South	West	North	East
1♦	1♠	Dbl	Pass
?

**Negative double showing four Hearts and four Clubs. Points are unlimited. Forcing!

A: 2 No-trump: We've got 18 HCP, but they aren't all working honors. We don't know if Pard has 6 pts or 16. Let's make an invitational bid, and let Pard decide what the fabric should look like.

Ready for your hand?

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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What next? You may enjoy playing our prepared hands series.
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