"Kudos to the DMV" - Over interference by Marti Ronemus

So, kudos to New York's DMV. There's a sentence I bet you never thought you'd read! But they deserve it. Why? They are on the cutting edge of identity theft protection.

A surprising number of identity thefts are committed in order for the miscreant to get a legal driver's license. New York DMV has put in a very sophisticated facial recognition software setup that stops them in their tracks. In the first year of its use, over 900 thefts were uncovered, and that's just the start.

In bridge, we've got to catch thieves also. Our partner opens, and the wretches chime in with a double or an overcall. What can we do to prevent them from stealing our contract? Let's see if we can be as effective as the DMV.

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ 5
♥ J 8 7
♦ A 10 9 8
♣ A Q 8 7 2

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♠	2♣
?

A: Pass: Let's look at our choices. We can double for penalty, but if we double Pard will think it's for takeout. We can't bid Diamonds because we only have four of them. We don't have the points or shape for No-trump. We're going to Pass. Pard is bound to be very short in Clubs, so he may reopen with a double, in which case we will convert it to penalty. Best of all worlds.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

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

Q: 2 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♠	2♣
?

A: 2♠: Do you remember the Wonderbra Rule? With a minimum hand, support with support. We have support for Pard's suit, and a minimum hand. We should not introduce a new suit (Hearts), and if there had been no interference, we would have given Pard a simple raise. Do it.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ 4 3 2
♥ K 9 8 6
♦ A K 8
♣ 4 3 2

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	Dbl
?

A: Redouble: This is a tough one. Without interference we'd just jump to 3♠ showing 10-12 pts and four-card support. WITH interference if we bid that, it would be identity theft. We would be showing a bad hand with big support, preemptive. Our easiest bet is to Redouble showing an intermediate or better hand. We can support Hearts later. There are some fancy conventions to handle this, but for now, let's just keep it simple.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

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

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	1♠
?

A: Double: A Negative Double shows our true identity, that we're four-four in the two unbid suits. We can't bid Hearts, as that would promise five. Ditto the Clubs. Negative Doubles are such a useful bid, don't you think?

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

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

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	1♥
?

A: Double: We are going to Negative Double again. The problem is we don't have quite the right shape. The important message we want to transmit is that we hold four Spades. The good news is that if Pard were to bid Clubs (the other suit we are "promising"), we can then support Pard's Diamonds. He'll know what our true identity is then.

We're ready for our hand. Let's go.

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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