What has the auction told you so far? by Bobby Wolff

A: 3NT: Whether or not you play two-over-one as forcing in an uncompetitive auction, almost everyone would play this sequence as invitational, but not forcing. With a better hand, your partner would have to cue-bid on his second turn. That said, you have enough to bid three no-trump now. You may not make it, but you have too much in hand to pass out three clubs.

Your result so far:

A: 6♠: Sometimes you have to close your eyes and guess. Here, my best guess would be to bid slam rather than introducing my suit at the five-level or raising partner to five. I would bid six spades rather than six diamonds, since as little as ace-king-fifth of spades appears to give partner some sort of play in slam.

Your result so far:

A: 2♠: As a passed hand, you have more than enough to join in with two spades here. Because you passed rather than pre-empting on your first turn, you have already indirectly limited your hand and suit strength. The call of two spades here suggests a reasonable five-card suit and a moderate hand, and you have both, in that your three-card club tolerance gives partner an escape route if necessary.


Your result so far:

A: 1♠: There are times when you redouble with 10 points, but on most of those occasions you are either short in, or do not have too many values in, your partner's suit. Here it seems unlikely you can extract a real penalty from all three side suits, so I would simply bid one spade and allow the auction to develop as if the opponents had not acted.

Your result so far:

A: 2♣: Did you pass, grateful to be taken off the hook? That would be a very cowardly attitude. This hand is full value for a two-club call. Partner asked you to bid, and you have a reasonable suit and decent values. There is no reason not to dive into the auction to compete the part-score.

Your result so far: