BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

After two passes, North opens 1 ♥ .

What would you bid on the east hand? There’s one bid which describes the east hand perfectly in this situation. 1NT shows 15-17 points, with controls in the opponents’ bid suit. It seems a fairly obvious bid to make, and you should always make it, not only to describe your hand accurately to partner, but also in this case to obstruct the opponents in finding a possible spade fit.

There are many players who have the urge to lurk with hands like this; they pass in the hope that the opponents will get too high, and go down. Unfortunately, things don’t normally happen that way; more often than not, the ‘lurker’ himself gets fixed and his partner suffers.

Lurkers are dangerous partners; tomorrow, we’ll see what can happen if the east hand fails to bid.