Should you bid on or not? by Bobby Wolff

A: 2♥: Your partner's double is card-showing, not penalty. You would normally only pass with two or more trump tricks; otherwise, you would describe your hand further. Here you have an unbid four-card major, so you have a straightforward call of two hearts. Partner can bid on if he wants, but he knows you have both red suits and a minimum.


Your result so far:

A: 3♠: It is tempting to raise clubs, but that takes you past three no-trump, which could easily be the best game. I would probe with three spades, using the fourth suit to encourage partner to bid three no-trump with a half-stopper in spades or a three-card holding.

Your result so far:

A: 3♥: It would be easy to pass, looking at your absence of aces and kings, but the key to deciding whether to compete to the three-level is your fifth trump. When you bid three hearts, you deny having a game try, since with that hand you would bid three clubs or three diamonds (or even four hearts). Such competitive deals are easier to judge if you play support doubles, so that partner's raise promises four trumps.


Your result so far:

A: 3♠: If the two no-trump call is natural, we simply raise to three no-trump. If two no-trump in the modern style is a relay to three clubs facing normal values (the Lebensohl convention, which is usually based on a weak one-suiter), we must cue-bid three spades now to show our extras. We hope to reach three no-trump facing a spade stopper. If partner doesn't have one, we'll have to play his suit at the four-level.


Your result so far:

A: 2NT: You are fairly and squarely in the middle of the range for your initial response, 6 to 10, and you have no real fit for either of your partner's suits. The choice seems to be between a call of two no-trump and three no-trump, since a three-club rebid might suggest a sub-minimum hand with long clubs. I'll settle for the two-no-trump call, but give me the diamond 10, and I might go high, not low.


Your result so far: