ACES ON BRIDGE
DEAR MR. WOLFF: I picked up ; Q-6-4-2, k Q-92, l K-5, ' A-10-8-3 and elected to pass in third seat. When my LHO opened one club and my RHO responded one heart, should I have stuck with my initially pessimistic judgment and passed, or would you double here to show a maximum pass?
— Silent Stephen, Durango, Colo.
DEAR READER: Passing in third seat when you don’t really have an opening bid or a suit that you want partner to lead does make sense, I suppose. Opening one club is fine by me, though. But having passed and heard partner fail to overcall, you shouldn’t back in unless you have a reason. With only two diamonds, you do not have a good reason to bid nor any guarantee of a fit. You made your bed; now lie in it. DEAR MR. WOLFF: I have just started learning Key-card Blackwood. When my partner answered my inquiry to show zero or three aces, I had one key-card, so I signed off. My partner then passed with three, thinking I should already know he could not hold zero key-cards because he had opened the bidding. Does this make sense? — Slamma Jamma, Houston
DEAR READER: Your partner should never assume you know he has three keycards — unless he has either shown extras or initiated or co-operated in slam ventures earlier in the auction. Normal practice here would be to bid on with three by answering whether he has the trump queen. He can raise the trump suit to deny the queen, or cuebid a king if he has the queen.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: I picked up ; Q-9-8, k K-4,
l A-Q-J-8-5-4, ' K-7, and in third seat decided that for tactical reasons this hand looked like a strong no-trump. When my partner transferred into hearts with a call of two diamonds, I was tempted to pass. This would have worked well, but I didn’t think I should risk my partner having a heart attack. What are your thoughts? — Swinging from the
Rafters, Macon, Ga. DEAR READER: The notrump opening bid in third seat is a perfectly sensible strategy in third chair (and there are plenty who might extend that strategy to other seats, too). Since the call is hardly a psych, I would respond to it as if I had a regular opening bid. Passing in mid-auction is no way to encourage partnership trust.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: I may be out of touch with modern expert thinking in many areas, but one that particularly confuses me is the use of doubles and redoubles these days. Where would you advise me to look to read up on these subjects?
— Red Card Ralph, Woodland Hills, Calif.
DEAR READER: I would advocate the general rule about doubling that, facing a passing partner or when the opponents have explicitly or implicitly agreed a suit, almost all low-level doubles are primarily for takeout. I recommend Mike Lawrence’s Complete Book on Takeout Doubles as a good place to start your reading. For beginners, bit.ly/AoBTakeoutDoubles is a simple online resource as well.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: Vulnerable and facing a fairly sound bidder, my LHO opened one spade, and my partner overcalled two clubs. When the next bidder pre-empted to three spades, I was looking at a somewhat unusual hand:
; —-, k A-K-2, l A-J-9-4, ' A-K-10-4-3-2. What is the most sensible tactical or strategic approach here?
— Grist to the Mill, New Brunswick, Canada DEAR READER: If the opponents promised to stay silent, I would bid four spades and then, over the likely fiveclub response, a case can be made for bidding five notrump. Since you would cuebid an ace in a red suit if you had one but not the other, this call must focus on the secondary controls. I would not be amazed if we were close to a grand slam, but the opponents had a cheap save. Playing six clubs might be our best possible result.