ACES ON BRIDGE

DEAR MR. WOLFF: In a teams game, I picked up

♠ 7, ♥ Q-10-8-6-4, ♦ A-J-102, ♣ K-J-10 and passed in second chair. Do you agree? When I heard a spade to my left and a one-no-trump call to my right, should I have acted? If so, with what call? — Wimpy Kid, Riverside, Calif. DEAR READER: Because you can bid your two suits in comfortable order and you have decent controls and useful builders in your intermediates, this hand represents a minimum but respectable opening of one heart. If you do pass, you should double one notrump for takeout and let your partner play in clubs if he selects that suit.

DEAR MR. WOLFF: I am trying to work out how to combine a quantitative bid of four no-trump with Blackwood while also using four no-trump as regressive. I know you cannot combine all possibilities in a short answer, but what are the basic principles from which we should build?

— Low-Key Loki,

Cartersville, Ga. DEAR READER: A simple rule is that if your last call in any auction was three no-trump and your partner bids a minor, four no-trump is regressive. If the previous call was in notrump, then four no-trump is quantitative. Four notrump may also be quantitative if you have an artificial way to agree the major (after Stayman finds one, for example, or after partner completes a transfer), but instead you jump to four no-trump. In most other sequences, use four no-trump as Blackwood — unless you agree that it isn’t.

DEAR MR. WOLFF: I picked up ♠ K-9-4, ♥ A-Q9, ♦ K-10-8-7-4, ♣ K-3, and when I heard my right-hand opponent open one club, I elected to double rather than bid one diamond or one no-trump. My thinking was that I wanted to get the majors into play, but three no-trump was actually a reasonable spot. Any comments?

— Chop Suey, Winston-Salem, N.C. DEAR READER: These days, not only does an opening bid of one club not promise clubs, but the partner of the opening bidder will furthermore not be sure if opener has a balanced hand or a real club suit. Bidding one no-trump over one club is not without risk, but it does describe your assets well. Remember: You probably will find a 5-3 major fit if you have one this way, but do you really want to find a 4-3 major? I’m not sure you do.

DEAR MR. WOLFF: In one of your columns, you mentioned Ogust responses to a weak two. Please expand on the details of this scheme and the reasoning behind it. — Mock Turtle, Henderson, Nev. DEAR READER: The Ogust scheme of responses to a two no-trump inquiry after a weak two opening accepts that weak two-bids may be based on only a moderate suit. The responses to the inquiry let opener bid three clubs or three diamonds with a bad hand (the latter showing a good suit), and three hearts or three spades with a good hand, promising a minimum and maximum suit, respectively. Using this scheme allows you to be slightly more flexible in pre-empting.

DEAR MR. WOLFF:

In fourth chair facing a passed partner, I elected not to overcall one heart over one diamond because of the poor quality of my long suit, with ♠ Q-2, ♥ J-7-5-3-2,

♦ A-K-J, ♣ Q-7-3. Would you have acted here? If so, how much worse a hand would you need before you passed instead of overcalling?

— Care Bear, Huntington, W.Va. DEAR READER: An overcall should promise either a reasonable hand or a suit you cannot afford to keep silent about. In this case, you have a full opener and no reason to assume bidding will work to your disadvantage. Turn the diamond king into a small diamond and I would pass, reluctantly.