"Unintended Consequences" by Marti Ronemus

In British India there was a little problem with cobras. The government's obvious solution was to put a bounty on them. Sounds sensible, right?

The only problem was that the price for each cobra the British were offering was greater than the cost of breeding and raising a cobra. Result? Snake breeding became a cottage industry.

When the government realized what was happening they scrapped the whole program. People raising the now worthless cobras set them loose. And now there were more cobras than ever. Government Wisdom at its finest.

The problem of course was not looking far enough ahead. That would never happen to us bridge players, would it? We plan ahead.
And today, that planning involves bidding over opponents' overcalls.

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ K J 9
♥ 3 2
♦ A 9 7 4
♣ A K 7 4

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	3♠
?

A: 3 No-trump: If you chose Pass, you won't be alone, but members of the Clint Eastwood School of Bidding like 3 No-trump. We're behind the Spade bidder with our two honors and one honorette. Also there's something Mike Lawrence calls "the Declarer's Revenge." It says that we know so much about the defender's hands that we should be able to play the hand with an advantage. That's East's "unintended consequence."

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

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

Q: 2 - South:

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

A: Pass: I know, I know, you've got a No-trump hand of your own, and your honors are well-placed. But let's think about this. With East opening a strong No-trump, it isn't that likely we have game. Usually when you compete against No-trump, you're doing it on shape, not points. We don't really have a great source of tricks. If we absolutely MUST bid, don't you think a double would be best?

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

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

Q: 3 - South:

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

A: 2♠: Unlike last hand, we want to compete on this one. Why? We have nothing but a long suit. We are competing on SHAPE. If West bids, Pard will know to stay out of it, that we're just creating obstruction... not a bad thing. If we go down, it likely will be a good thing.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

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

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♣	1♥	Dbl
?

A: 2♣: This is tricky. Pard overcalled and we've got a fit with him and 10-plus points. If RHO hadn't made a negative double, we would have cuebid the opponent's suit, right? The unintended consequence (maybe not so unintended) of the Negative Double is to confuse us a little. BUT!! In this type of sequence, we ignore the double and bid as we normally would. We have lots of info about the opponents' hands, which should be a great help.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ Q 10 9 7
♥ K 8 6
♦ 3 2
♣ A 10 8 7

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	1♥
p	2♥	p	p
?

A: 2♠: If we weren't in the balancing seat, we wouldn't do this. BUT!! "We would rather drink bleach than let the opponents play IN A FIT at the two-level." They are in a nice comfy two-level fit. A clue... West didn't bid 1♠. That doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't have them, but it is a suggestion. Pard isn't going to go crazy... after all, we initially passed. We should have a Darn Good Suit, but we are in the balancing seat.

And now, let's see if we can play a hand without getting snake-bit.

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!