Contract Bridge

1. Three notrump. Since you have an opening bid of your own facing partner’s opening bid, a game contract must be reached. The only problem is where the best contract lies. Having already bid your spades, you now indicate your hand is suitable for notrump play also.

This presents partner with the choice of passing if his hand is suitable for notrump play as well, or retreating to four spades if his hand is unsatisfactory for notrump.

A two-notrump rebid over two spades would be merely invitational and not forcing, so partner would not be obligated to bid again. You should not make a bid that partner can pass when you know you have sufficient values for game.

2. Four spades. The value of a hand rises or falls as the bidding progresses. Thus, if partner had opened the bidding with one heart, your hand would have dropped in value initially because it is usually not good to have shortness in partner’s best suit.

Here, however, your partner has opened in a suit in which you have a good holding, and then supported your suit. It is no exaggeration to say that your hand as a whole, with only 10 high-card points, has grown in value to the equivalent of 13 or 14 points because of the double fit in spades and clubs plus the singleton heart.

Game in spades should therefore be undertaken at once. There is not much point in bidding your diamonds along the way. To volunteer this information would be far more helpful to the opponents than your partner.

3. Three spades. Whether

10 tricks can be made depends on the strength of partner’s two-spade bid, which shows

13 to 15 points. Three spades asks partner to go on to game with a maximum for his previous bids, and to pass with a minimum.

4. Pass. Game is very unlikely since your hand is only worth about nine points. If you were to bid three spades, which is the most you can possibly do, the contract would be in danger whenever partner passed, and would also be in danger if partner carried on to game.

Tomorrow: The striptease coup.