"Batter Up!" A Potpourri of Questions by Marti Ronemus

No, not baseball. Waffle House! (Get it? Waffles? Batter?) The ubiquitous restaurant is more interesting than you think. Bet you didn't know that FEMA uses Waffle House as an informal index of the impact of disasters. Since they are proud of their 24/7 policy, if Waffle House is closed, things are BAD!

Also, 2% of all American eggs are purchased for their meals. That's not too much of a surprise, but how about this? Waffle House is the world's leading server of T-Bone steaks, having served over 134,842,441 in the last half-century. We would never have guessed that.

We can take a lesson from Waffle House. They have a limited menu, but do each item to perfection. Just like our bidding, right? Right!! Let's look at this little potpourri of bidding challenges.

Question 1

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

Q: 1 - South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♣
?

A: 1♦: We probably have the best hand at the table, don't you think? We have two suits we want to tell Pard about, but we're going to start with the Diamonds, the longer suit. We'll get to show our points and Spades later.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ A Q J 10 8 5
♥ 8 5 4
♦ 4 3 2
♣ 8

Q: 2 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♦
?

A: 2♠: This is our classic two-level preempt -- we've got 5-9/10 High Card Points, a great six-card suit with some heft to it, no outside four-card major, and no void. We are, by the way, making what's called a "Weak Jump Overcall."

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

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

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	Pass
?

A: 1♦: Not to worry, we'll get to bid one of our other suits shortly, but if we were to open a major we would be promising five.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

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

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♣
?

A: Double: The hand looks strangely familiar, doesn't it? This time though we get a three-for-one bid. Our Take-Out Double promises and opening-ish hand of our own, with hopefully four cards in unbid majors (at least 4-3) and tolerance for any suit. Sounds about right, don't you think? Just like a crispy waffle.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

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

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♦	Dbl	Pass
?

A: 1♥: This isn't easy. We wish we could just head for the kitchen, but we must bid. Our 1♥ bid promises nothing except four-plus Hearts and no more than seven points.

Let's play a hand while the syrup is being warmed.

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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