BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

PReSuMABLy you would open 1 ♠ on each of the above hands. What then would you rebid on each, when partner responds with 3 ♠ ? 3 ♠ is a limit raise which promises four spades and 10-12 honour and distributional points. Put in terms of the Losing Trick Count, it shows eight losers.

These are all hands which might be facing the hand featured yesterday. Just as we used the LTC to confirm yesterday’s level of raise, so we can apply it with equal success to determine your next bid.

hand (a) has six losers which, opposite partner’s known eight, should yield ten tricks — so you raise to game; hand (b) has seven losers — absolutely minimum, so you pass; hand (c) has only four losers, which suggests you may have 12 tricks available — so you make a cue bid of 4 ♣ to start slam investigations.

Note that this cue-bid is NOT Gerber or Blackwood, but is showing first round control in clubs. Good bidders try to avoid using slam conventions, except when they only want to know about aces and kings.