BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

LHO opens 1♥, and partner doubles. What action would you take on each hand after next hand raises to 2♥?

FAR from obstructing your auction, an opponent’s pre-emptive intervention sometimes can be beneficial for your side, because it absolves you from the need to bid.

Thus it follows that when you do bid, partner will know you have something useful to say.

It’s important to bid if you can after intervention and, while hand (a) is a sensible pass, I’d advocate 2♠ on both (b) and (c), and 3♦ on (d).

The last hand is an interesting case, because you have a surprisingly large number of points in the light of the auction thus far, but you have no sensible suit bid available.

The solution is to make a ‘responsive’ double, which describes the hand perfectly. You deny four spades or a 5-card minor with 8+HCPs.

There are no clearcut answers to meet all the situations with which you are faced. That is why the good bidder needs to combine a set of principles with sound judgment.