"What Will We Ever Do?" by Marti Ronemus

Oh the hole left in our lives now that the football season is over. What will we do for action? Excitement? You think I'm going to say "bridge," right? Wrong.

Back in 1925 nine newspapers banded together to promote and produce the first National Spelling Bee. For edge-of-your-seat excitement, you need to watch some brilliant kid struggle with "gladiolus," last year's winning word. The National Spelling Bee is now shown on ESPN (they must be desperate in the Winter also!).

And speaking of spelling... I am always truly delighted to hear from our Faithful Readers, even when the emails start out, "You idiot!" Amazingly, never have I gotten more responses than when I misspelled "carpe diem." Mea culpa! I can ask for a cold beer in four languages, but can't spell in any of them!

So let us struggle together as we whack our way through the mysteries of bidding. It's gotta be easier than spelling.

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ Q 8 7
♥ K 10 8 7 6
♦ K 9
♣ 4 3 2

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	2♣	p
2♦	p	3♣	p
?

A: 3♥: We want to make a forward-going bid, that's for sure. We're heading for slam. We've got a Club fit, but we're going to show our Hearts first. Pard may well want to put it in No-trump, and this might help. If we wanted to cut the auction short, we could bid 5♣. Remember, when Pard opens 2♣ and then shows a suit, the partnership is committed to game. Usually.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ A Q J 10 4
♥ 3 2
♦ 5 4 3
♣ 10 8 6

Q: 2 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	2♣	p
?

A: 2♠: Unlike the last hand, we've got a Solid Gold Suit of our own, and interest in slam. We are promising a suit we'd be proud to have as trump. Now, there is some discussion about what makes a Solid Gold Suit. Some insist it has to hold the ace, others say three honors. Talk to Pard. However you spell it though, it spells Slam Going.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ 3 2
♥ 8 4 3
♦ J 4 3 2
♣ 10 6 5 4

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	2♣	p
2♦	p	2♠	p
?

A: 3♣: This is called a "double negative." Not only do you not have any real support for Pard's suit, but you are broke, broke, broke. By bidding Clubs, you are NOT promising a Club suit, but showing extreme weakness. Pard has been warned.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ K 8
♥ 9 5
♦ K 8 7 6 5 4
♣ 5 4 3

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	2♣	p
2♦	p	2 No-trump	p
?

A: 3 No-trump: Pard has 22-23 pts. We might possibly twitch thinking about slam, but we just don't have quite enough. If we had more honorettes, we might take a flyer, but we don't want to misspell this one. Let's just bid what we know we have.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

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

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	2♣	p
2♦	p	2 No-trump	p
?

A: 6 No-trump: Can you spell "slam?" Pard's got 22-24 pts. and not only do we have 11 pts, but two fab aces. You can mess around asking for aces, but for heaven's sake, the fewest points you can have is 33.

And now, let's spell ourselves to victory with our 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

Your results: out of Average:

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