Bidding quiz BRIDGE

You deal and open One Club with the following hand:

[S] AJ93 [H] 72 [D] KJ3 [C] KQ82

After your partner responds One Diamond, you bid One Spade. What would you do if your partner next bid:

1. One notrump.

2. Two clubs.

3. Three clubs.

4. Three diamonds.

5. Three spades.

***

1. Pass. Game is out of the question, as you have a minimum opening bid and your partner has indicated minimum values (six to 10 points) by his one-notrump rebid. The only real question, therefore, is whether to play the hand in one notrump or two diamonds.

It would be dangerous to bid two diamonds -- partner might have a fourcard suit -- and there is no good reason to risk such a bid when you have a notrump type of hand and partner apparently has one also.

2. Pass. Here again there is practically no chance for game. Partner’s two-club bid is a sign-off, so there is no good reason to bid again, especially since he might have only six or seven high-card points. Another way of looking at it is to say to yourself that even though you have a sound opening bid, you have no additional values to declare. Therefore, you should stop bidding while you still have a chance to make a partscore.

3. Three diamonds. Unless you have an agreement to the contrary, partner’s jumprebid is forcing, and the most descriptive bid you can make now is three diamonds. There is no way to know at this point what the final contract will be; it’s up to your partner to make that decision now that you’ve fully described your hand.

4. Four diamonds. Partner’s jumprebid is forcing (subject to partnership agreement), and all you can do is tell him, as part of the descriptive process, that you have adequate support for his suit. After this bid, where you eventually end up is basically partner’s decision.

5. Four spades. Whether partner’s jump-raise is forcing to game or merely invitational, you should simply carry on to game in spades. While you have a bit better than a dead minimum for your previous bids, you certainly don’t have enough to make any move toward slam without further encouragement from partner.

Tomorrow: Strictly a matter of logic.