"St. Patrick's Day" Big Decisions by Marti Ronemus

I'm very tired today and don't have a lot of time for bridge, folks, so let's get to it. I'm half-Irish, which means yesterday I was ALL Irish, and it was a busy day. It involved visiting many watering holes, enjoying Bailey's Irish Cream, elixir of Guinness and the wearin' o' the green. Oh, and putting on my "Kiss me, I'm Irish" pin.

A couple quick facts (you know I never let you down): St. Patrick lived from 385--461. AND!! He did NOT drive the snakes out of Ireland. There were never any to begin with.

Enough! If you want to know more, look it up in Wikipedia. C'mon, let's go. I need a nap!

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ 3
♥ A K Q 9 4 3
♦ A 8
♣ A Q 5 2

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
1♥	p	1♠	p
?

A: 3♣: We need to do something dramatic, to force the auction forward. There is no Heart bid that cannot be passed. (Rebids of old suits are rarely forcing.) We want to show both our enormous point count and fabulous shape. Let's show our Clubs, but we're going to have to skip a level. A jump shift is forcing to game. We can rebid the Hearts later. Let's carry this auction forward and see what happens next.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ A 10 9 4 2
♥ 10 5
♦ J 6 5 4
♣ K 6

Q: 2 - NORTH!! We are the partner of the person who just bid.

South	West	North	East
1♥	p	1♠	p
3♣	p	?

A: 3 NT: Well, darn it, we can't pass. We can't name the 4th suit or repeat the Spades. We have a (small) stopper in Diamonds, so we go for 3 NT.

We're going to play this hand in a couple minutes. Wait till you see what happens THEN!!

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ K 10 9 8 7 6
♥ A K 8
♦ K Q 3
♣ 5

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
1♠	p	2♠	p
?

A: 4♠: We need to re-evaluate our hand in favor of Spades. Once Pard supports our suit, we've got: a nine-card trump fit, a singleton and working honors. Our trump suit is a wee bit weak, but hey... we kissed the Blarney stone and are ready for action.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

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

Q: 4 - South:

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

A: 4 No-trump: Normally, when we do not have control over all four suits, we don't use Blackwood. Rather, we cue-bid controls. For less experienced players, it's a little more hit-and-miss. Pard opened the bidding, and thusly must have 12-ish pts. We've got slam points, or darn close, especially with a nine-card trump fit. Also, give yourself credit if you went right to 6♠.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

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

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1 NT	p
?

A: 3 No-trump: We've got the points for game, but what about Stayman? With a 4-3-3-3 balanced hand, we don't use Stayman, as we have no ruffing values.

Ready for 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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