ACES ON BRIDGE

DEAR MR. WOLFF: If you open one club and your partner raises to two clubs in competition, how much shape do you need to reraise to three clubs? If you have four or five clubs in a relatively balanced hand, what should be the deciding factor?

— Mork From Ork, Fort Walton Beach, Fla. DEAR READER: When your partner raises clubs, you hope he will have five but expect him to have additional shape or values if he has only four; you also expect more values than a pre-emptive raise. Accordingly, possession of four clubs, together with any additional side-suit shape, should suffice. With five trumps, I would always bid on to the three-level.

DEAR MR. WOLFF: I was last to speak and had ♠ J-6-3, ♥ 10-2, ♦ A-Q-10-9, ♣ K-J-7-2. I heard one spade from my partner, and when I responded one no-trump, planning to rebid two notrump, he jumped to three diamonds. I assume this is game-forcing, so a raise to four diamonds could not be passed; but what might my other options be?

— Catch a Falling Star,

Albany, Ga. DEAR READER: A bid of four diamonds isn’t necessarily stronger than a jump to five, but the latter suggests good trumps and nothing else. You could argue that a cue-bid of four clubs will probably lead your partner to use Blackwood and so should be safe, but maybe a call of four no-trump here should be diamond fit and nothing to cue-bid. Don’t try that without discussion!

DEAR MR. WOLFF:

I help instruct beginning bridge players and hear some unusual questions. One idea proposed last week was dismissed as ludicrous. But on second thought, I’m not sure of the correct answer. Can a player open the bidding at any position with a double? While sounding crazy, it could add another descriptive bid to one’s arsenal.

— Odds Bodkins,

Danville, Ill. DEAR READER: The rules do not permit this action, but I like it as a nonbridge variant. An opening double shows a balanced 11-14, so partner can pass with a weak hand. Meanwhile, doubling partner’s suit would show scattered values and no long suit. Some day in a special holiday event, perhaps? (The reason you can’t double as the initial action is that, per Law 19, a double must be of a preceding bid by an opponent.)

DEAR MR. WOLFF: After our side missed a game, following the opponents’ takeout double of my partner’s one-heart opener, it was recommended to me that a bid called BROMAD might have saved the day. This sounds like an indigestion tablet or remedy against flu. What is it really? — Spoonful of Sugar,

Baltimore DEAR READER: Bergen Raises Over the Double of a Major allow you to differentiate weak and strong raises after the double of a major. Jump raises remain pre-emptive, but with 8-10 and three trumps, you begin by bidding two clubs — an artificial call to show precisely this hand. More and more people play either transfers or something artificial here (and also when an overcall of a major is doubled). See larryco.com/ bridge-articles/interferenceafter-our-1-of-a-major.

DEAR MR. WOLFF: My right-hand opponent dealt and opened one heart, and I held ♠ Q-4, ♥ K-6,

♦ K-10-7-6-5, ♣ A-J-8-3. What is correct in theory and in practice? Would your call be affected by the vulnerability?

— All Shook Up, Staten Island, N.Y. DEAR READER: You have a feeble suit without intermediates and not enough values to insist on coming in right now. I’d need an extra diamond honor for a two-level overcall. Move the queen from spades into diamonds, and an overcall is acceptable; but under no circumstances should you double or bid two no-trump at your first turn to speak.