BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

WHat action do you take when your partner, South, opens 1 ♥ and RHO intervenes with 2 ♦ ? This is a simple, straightforward situation, but it’s worth commenting on, because a friend passed on it and subsequently wanted to know why he should not have done so.

With 6hCPs, you would presumably have bid without the intervention. Whether you responded 1nT or 2 ♥ would be a matter of agreed style.

neither response is perfect, but i’d prefer to gamble on partner having five hearts than no stopper in spades. The intervention has actually made the decision easier for you because obviously you can’t bid 2nT and you wouldn’t dream of making a penalty double on such a diamond holding, so you are left with 2 ♥ .

Good partners always know that an intervention may have forced you to distort your response a bit, but in this case, you haven’t done so.