"Updates" Responding to No-trump by Marti Ronemus

Several months ago in our ongoing quest to expand ALL knowledge, not just bridge, we informed our Faithful Readers about some strange personal collections. Those said Faithful Readers have sent me several more I'm eager to share. They seem to want to remain anonymous, but you know who you are. Thank you.

DO NOT DISTURB SIGNS. Ranier Weichert has managed to gather 11,570 from 188 countries. One is 106 years old, from the General Brock Hotel in Canada.

FAST FOOD TOYS. Percival Lugue has 14,500 of them, and says he won't stop until his collection is complete. May he live long and prosper.

BACK SCRATCHERS. An unnamed doctor in North Carolina has over 80,000, every one different.

I saved the best for last. FOSSILIZED POOP. George Frandsen, the Indiana Jones of Poop, has 1277 prehistoric fossilized poop. Wanna bet his wife makes him keep them in the garage?

And moving on... how about we collect some more responses to No-trump openers?

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ K Q J 9 8
♥ J 5 4
♦ 7 6
♣ K Q 2

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1 No-trump	Pass
?

A: 2♥: This is a transfer to Spades.. We have game-going values, so after Pard bids 2♠, we are going to bid 3 No-trump. Pard will then know we only have five Spades, and he'll correct to 4♠ if he has three pieces. Otherwise, he'll pass. For those of you who don't play transfers yet, you should bid 3♠

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ J 9
♥ 6 5 4 3 2
♦ J 6 5
♣ Q 9 8

Q: 2 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1 No-trump	Pass
?

A: Pass: This hand is a hot mess, and not worth collecting at all. If we had a little more shape, we'd transfer and drop dead, but Pard is going to have to struggle no matter what. Better to struggle for seven tricks than eight.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ J 9 2
♥ Q J 5 4 3
♦ 7 6 5 4
♣ 8

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1 No-trump	Pass
?

A: 2♦: Our hand is worthless unless Hearts are trump. SO! We are going to transfer and then Pass. Without transfers, we would bid 2♥, drop dead. Pard should know to Pass. Notice the difference between this and last hand. Same number of HCP, but here, we've got some shape and ruffing value.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ A K J 9 4
♥ A K 9 6 5
♦ 2
♣ 8 7

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1 No-trump	Pass
?

A: 2♥: First, we're going to transfer Pard to Spades, then on our next bid, we're going to bid 3♥. Pard will know we are 5-5. If we were 5-4, we would have started with Stayman. Pard will correct to whatever he likes best. We definitely will end up in a major, because Pard must have three, since we don't open No-trump with two doubletons... or we collect a lot of demerits.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ K Q 9
♥ 7 6 5 4
♦ J
♣ A Q 9 8 7

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1 No-trump	Pass
?

A: 2♣: Stayman. Yes, yes, I know. You HATE your Hearts. Too bad. Good things happen to people who do things good, and Pard must have a substantial collection of points in Hearts. With our singleton, we think this will play better in a suit. If Pard responds 2♦, d-d-denying a major, we'll place the contract in 3 No-trump.

Let's collect more accolades by playing a hand well.

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.
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