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 "Khrushchev Barred from Disneyland" No-trump Auctions by Marti Ronemus

The year is 1959 and Soviet Premier Khrushchev is visiting the US. He wants to go to Disneyland, but because of security concerns, he is barred. Remember what a fuss that was? And then he has a little tantrum, banging his shoe on the dais. What kind of behavior is that for a leader? Hmmm.

Fortunately, we never see bad behavior like that at the bridge table. (Said tongue in cheek.)

Let's show off our good manners and good bidding as we deal with No-trump auctions.

Question 1

  Your Hand
♠ A J 9 3
♥ A 2
♦ K J 8 4
♣ K 3 2 		 
Q: 1 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
1 No-trumpp2♣*p
2♠p3♦***p
?

*Stayman: "Do you have a four-card major?"
***Forcing! He's got four Hearts (if he had Spades, that's where we'd be) and probably five Diamonds.

 Your choice:
A: 4♦: The only bid I can't make a case for is Pass. Pard is highly distributional, red, red, red. He has a hand big enough to shove us to a game in Diamonds. What about asking for Aces using Gerber 4♣? It isn't up to us. We limited our hand with our opening bid. We need to tell Pard about our outstanding Diamond support and leave it to him. Remember, the partner of the limiter (us!) is in charge.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 2

  Your Hand
♠ Q 6 5
♥ A 9 6
♦ K Q 9 8
♣ A J 5 		 
Q: 2 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
1 No-trumpp2♦*P
2♥p2 No-trumpp
?

*Transfer to Hearts

 Your choice:
A: 3♥: Let's think this through calmly. Pard has shown a hand with 8-9 pts. He invited with 2 No-trump. He only has five Hearts. If he had six, he'd invite with 3♥ rather than 2 No-trump. We've got 16 pts. BUT we have what Eddie Kantar calls The Death Hand, 4-3-3-3. We don't have a suit that will run. Our best best is to return to our known eight-card fit in Hearts by bidding 3♥.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 3

  Your Hand
♠ Q 6 5
♥ A 9
♦ K Q 9 8
♣ A J 5 2 		 
Q: 3 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
1 No-trumpp2♦*P
2♥p2 No-trumpp
?

*Transfer to Hearts

 Your choice:
A: Pass: Gee, this looks a lot like the last hand... and it is. EXCEPT!! We're holding only two Hearts, and with Pard's five, that's only seven. We have no eight-card fit, so we're passing. We're flat and have nowhere to go.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 4

  Your Hand
♠ Q 7 6
♥ A 9 8
♦ K Q 9 8
♣ A J 7 		 
Q: 4 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
1 No-trumpp2♥*p
2♠p3 No-trumpp
?

*Transfer to Spades

 Your choice:
A: 4♠: Pard has shown a hand with game-going values plus exactly five Spades. His No-trump bid protects us in case we only have two Spades. We know we have an eight-card fit, so we correct to Spades. Let's think a little further: We've got such a flat hand. Why not just leave it in 3 No-trump? Because Pard may be very distributional. Hands play better in a suit ... if you've got one, and we do.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 5

  Your Hand
♠ K Q 3 2
♥ K J 5 2
♦ A 7 4
♣ K 8 		 
Q: 5 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
1 No-trumpp2♣p
2♥p3 No-trumpp
?

*Stayman: "Do you have a four-card major?"

 Your choice:
A: 4♠: When Pard asks if we have a four-card major, we dutifully bid ours, up the line. Interestingly, after our Heart bid, Pard bids 3 No-trump. What does that tell us? He's got four Spades, and three or less Hearts. Otherwise, why would he have bid Stayman? We need to correct to 4♠.

And now, let's take our shoe and go pound a 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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Overall Results

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