"Halloween" Opening Bids by Marti Ronemus

Happy Halloween! This is one of the best holidays because there's no pressure to buy gifts or make elaborate meals. A couple bags of candy and we're in business.

BUT!! Let's talk about costumes and disguises. Do you play bridge on-line? If so, no doubt you've run into all those self-rated "experts," people wearing the costume, with absolutely nothing to back it up. So irritating, no? After all, we know who the REAL experts are!

And let's show our stuff. Today's subject is a real "Back to Basics." We're going to work on opening bids.

Question 1

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

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
?	-	-

A: 2 No-trump: Shows exactly 20-21 pts with a balanced hand. That's us!

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

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

Q: 2 - South:

South	West	North	East
?	-	-

A: 1♠: An opening bid of one of a suit shows between 12-ish and 21 pts. We're at the top of that range. Our plan is to jump to 4♠ on our next bid. BUT, we cry. What if Pard passes? If he passes, he's got less than 6 pts, and we're not going anywhere anyway.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

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

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
?	-	-

A: 2♠: Perfect! 5-9 HCP, a beautiful, big, honor-filled suit, nothing outside our suit. People will guess who we are behind the mask immediately.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

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

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
?	-	-

A: 2♣: This hand is WAY too big for anything except our only forcing opening bid.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ A Q 10 9 3
♥
♦ 8 4
♣ A K Q 7 5 4

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
?	-	-

A: 1♣: Not big enough to open 2♣, but PLENTY big to jump shift or reverse on our second bid. Our mild-mannered opening bid of our longest suit is a disguise for our fab hand, but all will be revealed on our second bid. Food for thought: Were this hand weaker, we could be tempted to open 1♠ and then rebid the Clubs. We wouldn't be castigated for doing it, even though it means not bidding our longest suit first.

And now 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.

Play on ANY Device

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

Rate yourself:

0 - 40%	We applaud your effort. Review the subject and try again. You'll be surprised how much better you'll do. We're here for you!!
41 - 50%	Buy your mentor a cuppa and ask for clarification on the ones you got wrong. No mentor? Make finding one a priority!
51 - 60%	Nice improvement! One more review and you'll have this down solid!
61 - 80%	What a good job! All that's left is some fine tuning
Over 80%	Wow! It's time for you to become a mentor. Find someone who needs help and share your knowledge!