"Nat'l Mustard Day" by Marti Ronemus

Mustard is a zippy condiment that comes in more varieties than we can imagine, with ingredients from every variety of booze, fruit (peach mustard? Yup), even flowers. The one common ingredient is the essence of the mustard plant. In a recipe the presence of mustard, whether detectable or not, adds an excitement and piquancy to the dish. Your mission to celebrate this little treat is to find a new version of mustard and experiment.

And so it goes with our bridge game. We are constantly experimenting and looking for ways to add zip to our game. We express our daring and audacity with our bidding, play and defense. So get out that spoon and let's spice up the place!

Question 1

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

Q: 1 - South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	2♣	2♠
?

A: 2 No-trump: Normally our response to Pard's zippy opening would be 2♦, waiting. With this minimum responder, a Pass over the intervening 2♠ bid would be valid also. BUT!! Why not bid 2 No-trump, showing our Spade stopper. That should be a big help to Pard.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ Q 8 4
♥ A 10 8 7 4
♦ 8 6 3
♣ Q J

Q: 2 - South?

South	West	North	East
-	2♠	Dbl	Pass
?

A: 4♥: Maybe a bit overly zesty, BUT! Pard's got to have a nice hand to make a bid that forces us to at least the three-level. While our honors (Clubs) don't seem to be working honors, Pard's strength cannot be in Spades (he's short) and we've got strength in Hearts. We might burn our mouth on this, but it's worth the try.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

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

Q: 3 - South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♠	Dbl
1 No-trump	Pass	3♠	Pass
?

A: Pass: With Pard showing 16-18 pts, a case could be made for taking Pard to game. What convinces us to lay off the mustard is that our hand is so very flat with no ruffing values AND! Pard is in front of the doubler, making his hand a little less valuable. Yes, he willingly bid 3♠, but it is a point to be factored into our decision.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

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

Q: 4 - South: What should you open with this hand?

A: 2♣: Give yourself credit for either answer. This extra-zippy hand is only going to come up once this year, but you want to be ready for it. Some play 2♣-3 No-trump to show 25-27. Some show an opening bid of 3 No-trump shows 25-26. Others have other arrangements. Talk it over with Pard and decide what's your brand of mustard.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

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

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	Pass	Pass	1♥
?

A: 4♠: This hand is slathered with the yellow stuff. With the opening lead likely to be a Heart, we've got eight-ish tricks in our hand. We need almost nothing from Pard to make game. He's a passed hand, so just bid it. While a case can be made for doubling first, it's very unlikely we have a slam. Since we know exactly where we want to be, let's not give away any unneeded info.

And now, let's play a hand and see whether our zippy audacity is rewarded or not.

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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