Contract Bridge
You are South, and the bidding has gone:
West North East South 1 ♦ Dble 1 ♥ ?
What would you bid with each of the following four hands?
1. ♠ A93 ♥ Q6 ♦ QJ84 ♣
Q1093
2. ♠ K985 ♥ KJ872 ♦♣ 6
Q74
3. ♠ QJ7643 ♥♦ 9 A72 ♣ QJ5 4. ♠ 97543 ♥♦ 5 1086 ♣
AJ72
1. Two notrump. In general, your partner’s double of an opening bid indicates that he also has an opening bid plus support for the unbid suits. So in responding to his takeout double, it is up to you to show how weak or strong you are when making your response.
East’s heart bid relieves you of the obligation to bid, and with a poor hand you’d pass. Any bid you make voluntarily in this situation shows at least moderate strength, and if you have an unusually promising hand for game, you can show it by making a jumpresponse.
Thus, you would bid one notrump here if your queen of clubs were the deuce. But with the given hand, you should jump to two notrump, indicating that you have 11 or 12 points instead of the seven to 10 you would show by bidding one notrump. The lack of a heart stopper should not bother you, since partner must have some heart strength for his double.
2. Double. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. East’s heart bid is decidedly suspect, and the best way of telling your partner that East might be fooling around is by doubling one heart for penalties. If the bidding takes a new turn, you can then bid spades. Partner will thus be informed that you have heart and spade length as well as the necessary high- card values for such a sequence.
3. Four spades. Once partner has made a takeout double, you become a strong favorite to make four spades, so you should bid it straightaway. Your six- card spade suit, singleton heart and 10 high- card points all make it extremely unlikely that the opponents can take four tricks.
Some players might bid only two or three spades (invitational) over one heart, but partner shouldn’t be given any opportunity to pass. The one response you absolutely can’t make is a mere one spade, which would not come anywhere close to reflecting the potential of your hand.
4. One spade. You have just about enough strength to justify a voluntary bid of one spade. The suit itself is nothing to write home about, but remember that your partner should have adequate support for spades.