"Where There's a Will..." by Marti Ronemus

I bet more than one Faithful Reader has made a resolution to get their will in order this year. To help stimulate thinking, here are some interesting wills.

The oldest known will is Egyptian, and from 1797 BCE. The Pharaoh left everything to his wife, provided she refrained from knocking down any of their houses. Huh?

How about this one? John "Pop" Reed, a stagehand at the Walnut Street Theater in Phila., PA, willed that his head be removed, and the skull preserved to be used in the staging of Hamlet. Yuck.

And my favorite. The 1800's German Poet, Heinrich Heine, left everything to his wife, provided she remarry. Why? "At least then one man will regret my passing."

I'm not sure how to make a bridge tie-in, so let's just get to our quiz. How 'bout we look at Negative Doubles today?

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ K Q J 8
♥ 4 2
♦ 5 4 3
♣ A 8 7 6

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	1♥
?

A: Double: This is of course our classic Negative Double, promising four in the unbid major(s) and probably four in the fourth suit. It is an unlimited bid, with at least 6-7ish points.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ K Q 8 5
♥ 4 2
♦ 5 4 3
♣ A 8 7 6

Q: 2 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	1♠
?

A: 1 No-trump: We're showing our 6-9 pts and Spade stoppers.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ K 10 2
♥ 4 3
♦ A Q 10 9 6
♣ 8 5 4

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♣	1♠
?

A: 2♦: We've got a nice five-card suit and enough points to stretch a tiny bit to bid it. Most descriptive bid we can make.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ A 8 7 5 4
♥ Q J 5 4
♦ 2
♣ 5 4 3

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♣	1♦
?

A: Double: Yes, we know there's five Spades, but we're still going to double. If we bid the Spades, Pard won't know we've got the Hearts and we may not get a chance to bid them, as our hand is pretty small.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

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

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♣	1♦
?

A: 1♠: There are many who would pass with this hand, and we don't blame them. One advantage to bidding is we might prevent them from finding a Heart fit. We are still at the one-level, so we can get away with it.

Ready for 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

Your results: out of Average:

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