ACES ON BRIDGE

DEAR MR. WOLFF: Now that we have been granted the right to open one no-trump with a singleton, does that require us to make some changes in our styles to respond to one notrump? One example might be not using a Texas transfer with six weak trumps, and generally not jumping to game in a major, since you do not know if opener has a singleton in your sixcard major. What do you suggest in such cases?

— Keeping Count, Cedar Rapids, Iowa DEAR READER: Generally, a singleton honor facing a reasonable six-card suit won’t be too bad. So no changes are really necessary, except maybe to treat six small cards as a five-card suit. But my advice regarding singleton honors and no-trump openers coincides with Punch’s advice to men considering marriage: “Don’t!”

DEAR MR. WOLFF: Holding ♠ Q-10-7-3-2, ♥ A-4,

♦ K-7-4, ♣ 10-9-3, I passed initially and responded one spade to my partner’s one-heart bid. When he raised to two spades, was I supposed to make a game try? I passed, and although my partner had only three spades, he had a singleton club, so four spades would have been easy to make.

— Hindsight, Monterey, Calif. DEAR READER: You certainly had an awkward decision. Your partner will quite often raise one spade to two (even facing a passed hand) with three trumps in an unbalanced or semi-balanced hand. I think you are close to a three-diamond game try, and if vulnerable at teams, I would indeed bid on. At pairs, I suspect I’m supposed to be trying to ensure the plus score here, so I would pass.

DEAR MR. WOLFF: Please explain my ethical obligations when my LHO opens with a pre-empt and I judge that my partner has been thinking of acting. When the auction comes back to me and I have either a clear action or a marginal one, what should I do?

— Straight and Narrow,

Springfield, Mass. DEAR READER: If you judge that your partner’s demeanor or tempo points you in a specific direction, you are not supposed to take that action — unless you believe there are no logical alternatives to that action. Hence, in your example, bid if you have a clear action, but pass with any action you deem marginal. If you have a choice of calls, take the action that you consider counter-indicated by your partner’s tempo.

DEAR MR. WOLFF: With neither side vulnerable, my partner in a teams game decided to open one diamond rather than one no-trump, holding ♠ K-Q,

♥ K-9, ♦ K-9-7-4-3, ♣ K-Q-104. Do you agree? I responded one spade, and she rebid two clubs, at which point I raised to three clubs. Is it better to pass or bid now, and if the latter, what call is most appropriate?

— Movin’ on Up,

Sedona, Ariz. DEAR READER: The auction is fine as far as it goes, though no one could argue against a no-trump opener. But your partner is missing four aces and the minor trump honors, which argues for caution, not aggression. You must surely have two aces, so how could game be much worse than a finesse in a red suit? With the heart king protected, I might gamble on five clubs rather than three no-trump.

DEAR MR. WOLFF: You often recommend books on bridge play and bidding. I’m about to order my first. Which do you recommend? I’m playing duplicate now, and I want to improve.

— Vampire Slayer, Texarkana, Texas DEAR READER: For an early duplicate book, I suggest Norman Kay’s The Complete Book of Duplicate Bridge. Mike Lawrence’s books on play, bidding and competitive auctions are also excellent. You have read Watson’s Play of the Hand, I assume? That is one of the best books written on bridge, more than 80 years ago.