Contract Bridge

You are South, and the bidding has gone:

North East South West

1 ♦ Pass 1 ♠ Pass

1 NT Pass ?

What would you bid now with each of the following four hands?

1.♠ KJ9632 ♥ A8 ♦ 94 ♣ KJ3

2.♠ KJ863 ♥ Q1074 ♦ 5 ♣

762

3.♠ AJ87 ♥ 95 ♦ Q76 ♣ KJ92

4.♠ KJ943 ♥ AK ♦ Q7532 ♣ 6

** *

1. Four spades. Game is likely, despite partner’s minimum rebid of one notrump. With your 12 high-card points and reasonably good six-card suit, you should therefore jump to four spades to be sure of getting to game.

Partner should have either two or three spades — he is unlikely to rebid one notrump with a singleton — so you can feel fairly confident of at least some spade support.

2. Two hearts. The most you can expect to make after partner’s one notrump rebid is a partscore. The two-heart bid (not forcing) is designed to find the best partscore contract. You should feel more secure about making two hearts (if partner passes) or two spades (if he shows a preference for spades) than one notrump. Hands with singletons usually don’t play well in notrump.

3. Two notrump. Partner has somewhere between 12 and 14 high-card points, which puts you very close to the game zone, but you don’t quite have the values to bid it unilaterally. The raise to two notrump allows partner to pass if he has a bare minimum, and to carry on to three notrump with a maximum for his first two bids.

4. Three diamonds. Since you have an opening bid facing an opening bid, you must get to game, but you can’t be sure of the best contract at this point. You should therefore consult partner by making a forcing jump to three diamonds. You plan to pass three notrump if partner bids it; to carry on to four spades if partner next bids three spades, indicating three card support; or to continue on to five diamonds if partner bids four of that suit.