Up your bridge game with these weekly quizzes

With no new developments this week in the world of competitive organized bridge, let’s turn to our weekly quizzes on making improvements when responding to an overcall.

Today’s quiz: In the following three problems, neither side is vulnerable and your left-hand opponent (the dealer) opens with one diamond. Partner overcalls with one spade and the next player passes. What action (if any) would you take with each of the following hands?

1.S K83 H 93 D 8743 C AJ65

2.S Q65 H K84 D 53 C AK842

3.S Q9653 H 85 D 4 C A10843

Answers:

1. Two spades. The simple raise is a two-way bid — it serves to make it more difficult for the opponents to find their apparent heart fit, and it shows mild interest in game should partner have the top of his bid.

Even if partner has a minimum overcall, he cannot get badly hurt; in that instance, the opponents would surely do better in a contract of their own rather than defending. The simple raise of an overcall should show about six to 10 points plus trump support, just as if partner had opened the bidding.

2. Two diamonds (or three spades if you play that as an invitational bid). If partner has a good hand, game is in the offing, and the now standard way to invite him to bid it is to cuebid the opponent’s suit (a jump to three spades would be preemptive in that case). If you do not play that a cuebid would show a limit raise or better in spades, then you would have to bid three spades to invite game.

3. Four spades. This is a two-way bid, as the opponents almost surely have a game in one or both of the red suits, while you have an excellent sacrifice or possibly even a qame your way if partner has the right cards. Note that the direct jump to game leaves the opponents guessing as to whether your bid is based on high-card strength or mainly on distributional values plus excellent trump support, and they may easily make the wrong decision.