ACES ON BRIDGE
DEAR MR. WOLFF: Holding ; J-2, k 9-2, l Q-53-2, ' A-Q-J-3-2, I assume you would pass in first chair. When you hear a weak two-heart call on your left, passed back to you, would you reopen, and if so, with what call?
— F Troop, Great Falls, Mont.
DEAR READER: Your spade holding is exceedingly unsuitable for a balancing double even though it’s a maximum for your initial pass. As a passed hand, you could bid three clubs, but I’d prefer a bid of two no-trump to show the minors rather than showing a balanced hand. Note that a balancing call of one no-trump over an opening bid would be 10-11 balanced. DEAR MR. WOLFF: A hand in a recent column confused me, though it did not affect the final outcome. After South opened one diamond and West overcalled one heart, why didn’t North make a negative double to best describe a hand with five spades and scattered values?
— Skinny Marie, San Juan, Puerto Rico
DEAR READER: The negative double tends to show exactly four spades rather than five or more. This is a useful distinction in competition. After a one-spade overcall, by contrast, a two-heart call shows five cards, but 10 or more HCP. So a negative double suggests five or more hearts and a minimum, or any hand with precisely four hearts and at least 7 HCP.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: My understanding is that if declarer leads from the wrong hand and the opponents notice this, declarer must now lead the same suit from the correct hand. Is this so, and what happens if a defender commits the same infraction? — Thane of Cawdor,
Houston DEAR READER: For declarer, the next player can accept that lead. Or declarer can be asked to lead from the correct hand, when he can lead anything he likes. When a defender offends, declarer can accept the lead; if he does not, he can either bar that lead, allowing the offender to retain the lead, or ask for the lead of this suit by the correct hand. Either way, the card originally played is picked up. Or you can make the card a penalty card, in which case the correct defender can lead anything.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: When looking for slam and asking for aces, I’ve seen it stated that if no-trump has already been bid, then to avoid confusion one can use the Gerber convention. How exactly should this work, and when, if ever, do you advise playing Gerber? — Blackwoodsman,
Olympia, Wash.
DEAR READER: I’m happy with the idea that a jump to four clubs over a rebid of one or two no-trump should be played as Gerber, but only if clubs have not been bid. A call of four no-trump would then be quantitative and invitational. In such auctions, though, when clubs have been bid naturally, it is less easy to say whether delayed club jumps are Gerber or natural. Otherwise, you should play four clubs as natural or a cue-bid, not Gerber.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: In a competitive auction, when you have opened or overcalled, say your partner cue-bids and the next hand doubles. What is the normal action to show the weakest possible hand? Does a pass show more interest than reverting to the trump suit at the level you have been forced to already?
— Fish Fingers, Anchorage, Alaska DEAR READER: I’d emphasize that this is primarily a matter of partnership agreement. The simplest method is that reversion to the trump suit is the weakest possible action, with pass showing some extras, and redouble simply a good hand (maybe setting up a forcing auction). In cue-bidding auctions, redouble and pass can be used to show firstand second-round control, respectively, with other actions denying a control.
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