Contract Bridge

You are South, both sides vulnerable. The bidding has been:

North East South West

1♥ Dble ?

What would you bid with each of the following five hands?

1. ♠ QJ8 ♥ 92 ♦ K95 ♣ AJ743

2. ♠ K9842 ♥ QJ753 ♦ 74 ♣ 10

3. ♠ K73 ♥ 764 ♦ QJ63 ♣ Q85

4. ♠ J65 ♥ K842 ♦ 86 ♣ J932

5. ♠ K976 ♥ 3 ♦ J743 ♣ J1054 ***

1. Redouble. In standard bidding, it is more or less automatic to redouble with 10 or more points in high cards when your partner opens the bidding and the next player doubles. Support for partner’s suit is not required or implied.

Usually the opening bidder passes at his next turn whether or not his right-hand opponent acts over the redouble. After either opponent bids (one of them must in order to remove the redouble), the redoubler next shows the nature of his hand by the type of action he takes. He may double for penalties, raise or jump-raise partner’s suit, name a new suit (forcing), cuebid the opponents’ suit or bid some number of notrump.

2. Four hearts. There is a good chance that the opponents can either make a game or sacrifice successfully at five of a minor. The four heart bid is aimed at making it more difficult for them to make the winning decision. At the same time, there is also a reasonable possibility that partner can make four hearts.

3. One notrump. This indicates a balanced hand of six to nine high-card points. Tactically, it is better to bid now than to pass. If you pass, it will be more difficult to show the type of hand you have later on.

The notrump bid allows your partner to go on or not, as he sees fit. It also may silence the next player and thereby deprive the doubler of important information about his partner’s hand.

4. Two hearts. After an opposing double, a single raise of partner’s suit indicates a relatively weak hand containing trump support. The bid normally shows six to nine points, including distributional values. The raise puts partner in the best position to decide how to continue.

5. Pass. There is simply no better call available, so the best you can do at this stage is to pass. Change one of your clubs or diamonds into a spade, and you could then bid one spade over the double.

It is true that there is a slight element of risk attached to the pass, because the next player might also pass, but any other call would be even more dangerous. Also, unless partner bids again, there is an excellent chance the enemy will wind up playing in one of your suits, and you certainly wouldn’t mind defending.