ACES ON BRIDGE

DEAR MR. WOLFF: I’m a near-beginner, and I have heard people talk about jump shifts, jump overcalls and jump raises. I cannot work out if there is a rule to say which sequences are weak and which are strong. Please help!

— Fast Learner, Hartford, Conn. DEAR READER: Jump overcalls of the opponents’ opening bids are weak, though jump overcalls of their weak opening bids, such as pre-empts, are strong. If our side opens the bidding, a simple way to play is that in a non-competitive auction, jump raises are invitational and jumps in a new suit are strong. However, if the opponents come in, play weak jumps. I’ll cover the subject of jumps by passed hands in another letter later this month.

DEAR MR. WOLFF: When my opponents opened a suit, my partner passed and the next hand bid one no-trump (announced as forcing). If I cue-bid their suit here, should this be natural or a Michaels Cue-bid, and is it alertable?

— Twofer, Orlando, Fla. DEAR READER: Yes, this should be Michaels showing the majors, or the unbid major plus a minor, as appropriate. After they open a minor, you don’t need to be able to bid that minor naturally, since one opponent has shown that suit and the other implied it by virtue of not having the majors. Even if this does not require an alert (the bid carrying its own alert, so to speak) I would alert as a matter of courtesy.

DEAR MR. WOLFF:

I was taught not to ask for aces when holding a void or two losers in an unbid suit. However, jumping to slam without an ace-ask may alert the opponents to your void. So would it ever make sense to go through the motions of Blackwood when you are bidding a slam, regardless of the outcome?

— Locked-up Louie,

Queens, N.Y. DEAR READER: Al Roth, the apostle of sound bidding, once did precisely that, to make his opponents assume he did not have a void in their suit — and thus not to sacrifice. There is a place for psychology in bridge. Of course, this approach may also give the opponents space for a double or further action, so it may be a double-edged sword.

DEAR MR. WOLFF: At matchpoints, when you hear your partner open one club and raise your one-spade response to two, would you invite game with ♠ A-Q-6-42, ♥ 9-2, ♦ Q-7-5, ♣ K-9-3, or would you drive all the way there directly?

— Steady Eddie, Manchester, N.H. DEAR READER: Game isn’t necessarily cold here — though many would indeed jump to four spades. If you invite game, there are two ways to go. A help-suit try of three clubs would allow your partner to look at their hand and their club suit. If a rebid of two notrump is forcing (as some do play), then that call also allows you to find out if partner has three or four trumps, and whether he has a minimum or maximum.

DEAR MR. WOLFF: When playing two-overone, if your partner sets up a game force at his first turn by responding with two of a minor, should you repeat a six-card suit or bid two notrump at your second turn, or does it depend on suit quality?

— Storyteller, New Smyrna Beach, Fla. DEAR READER: If you play two-over-one game forcing, then repeat a good suit with an unbalanced hand (or an open suit). Rebid two no-trump with 12-14 or 18-plus HCP and a balanced hand, or a quasi-balanced hand with a shortage in partner’s suit and no convenient alternative. A jump to three no-trump suggests a strong no-trump with doubleton support for partner’s first-bid suit. And a new suit at the three-level is extra shape or high cards. A raise is almost undefined in terms of range, though newsuit jumps show shortage.