Bidding Quiz
Your partner deals and opens the bidding with Three Notrump. What would you respond with each of the following four hands?
1. Six diamonds. An opening threenotrump bid normally indicates a balanced hand containing 25 or 26 high card points. Opposite your hand, it is therefore highly likely that a slam can be made with diamonds as trump. Unfortunately, there’s no way of bidding this hand scientifically; the best you can do is take a shot at what you think you can make. There could even be a grand slam if partner has exactly the right cards, but it would be foolish to take a blind stab at it. Partner is not barred from bidding seven over six, but in practice he will nearly always pass. 2. Pass. Here there’s virtually no chance for a slam, so the only question is whether to pass or bid four hearts (or four diamonds if you play transfers). Four hearts would essentially be a shutout bid and would not suggest interest in slam. A pass will probably work out best in the long run, since the combined high-card point count is somewhere around 29 or 30 points -- surely enough for partner to make nine tricks at notrump. The trouble with bidding four hearts is that partner might have only a doubleton heart, creating the possibility of losing two or three trump tricks that would not have to be lost in a notrump contract.
3. Six notrump. This hand is unimpressive in its own right, but opposite a threenotrump opening it assumes sizable proportions. Your combined count of 33 or 34 points makes a small slam very likely. Hands of this sort illustrate the great value of point count in assessing the number of tricks your side can make. You nearly always belong in a slam when you and partner together have 33 or more highcard points. 4. Four notrump. This bid has nothing to do with Blackwood, but is instead intended to ascertain how many high-card points your side possesses. Partner should pass with minimum values for his threenotrump bid, but should carry on to slam with a maximum. Tomorrow: The early bird catches the worm.