Do you have enough to play game? by Bobby Wolff

A: 4♣: All things considered, this is a pretty good hand. A simple call of three clubs doesn't really do it justice -- you might make the same bid with a Yarborough, after all. So I would jump to four clubs and hope partner can bid on to game with any sort of extra values or shape.

Your result so far:

A: 2♠: Do not get carried away here. Yes you have shape and four trumps -- a nice combination, but shape only goes so far. While you would happily compete to three spades, you should not jump to three spades here. Settle for a simple raise to two; you would need maybe the heart king in addition to do more. Incidentally, with the heart ace instead of the four, a jump to four diamonds describes this hand nicely.

Your result so far:

A: 2♠: Assuming you play a forcing no-trump, so that a simple raise to two spades is constructive, this seems to be the value of your hand here. Treating the hand as a limit raise seems over the top to me, since your weak trumps are a danger signal. Move the club ace-jack into the spades, and your hand would have much more potential; you might treat it as a limit raise then.

Your result so far:

A: 2NT: Your spade stopper is robust, your hand is not worthless and your partner has shown real extras. So you can invite game with a call of two no-trump. If your diamond five were the queen, you'd drive to three no-trump. Note that the practitioners of Equal Level Conversion would not know if partner had any extras, since this auction might be based on five diamonds, four hearts and a minimum hand.

Your result so far:

A: 3NT: A simple one here. Jump to three no-trump to offer a choice of games. Even if partner has four hearts, he might pass if his values are outside the heart suit -- which is what you want, of course. You can explore with a call of two spades, but this time the direct approach is better.

Your result so far: