Contract Bridge

You are South, both sides vulnerable, and North opens One Diamond, over which East bids One Spade. What would you bid with each of the following five hands?

1. ♠ AQ6 ♥ 872 ♦ 963 ♣

9754

2. ♠ Q94 ♥ AJ8 ♦ AQ7 ♣

Q872

3. ♠ KJ9852 ♥ 97 ♦ 84 ♣

Q63

4. ♠ K8 ♥ 102 ♦ AQ95 ♣

AKJ53

5. ♠ 97 ♥ 962 ♦ AJ87 ♣

AQ96

1. Pass. You presumably would have responded one notrump if East had passed, but you are relieved of that obligation after East intervenes with one spade. The temptation to bid one notrump to show that you have the spades stopped should be resisted, since such a bid, voluntarily made, indicates a good seven to 10 points rather than just six.

2. Two notrump. The requirements for a jump- response of two notrump — balanced hand with 13 to 15 points — are the same whether there is an intervening bid or not. True, your spade stopper is a bit tenuous, but this minor blemish does not nullify the descriptive advantage to be gained by bidding two notrump.

3. Pass. For those who play that a double would be for penalties in this situation, there is certainly a strong temptation to take that action here, but from a tactical standpoint, this would be the wrong thing to do. Whenever you double for penalties after partner has opened the bidding, you are encouraging him to double anything else the opponents bid — and here you are not at all prepared for such a development. Moreover, the double guarantees that you will take further action of some kind if the overcaller’s partner runs to a different suit and your partner passes — and you aren’t ready to do that, either.

4. Three clubs. The best way to alert partner to the possibility of a slam is to start by jumpshifting in clubs. This shows at least 17 points, including distributional values. By bidding clubs now and raising diamonds later, you will imply shortage in either spades or hearts, or possibly both. Once you jump- shift and then support diamonds, you should leave the rest to partner.

5. Two clubs. Here you are confronted by a fairly common situation: Your values are too good for a raise to two diamonds and not good enough for a forcing raise to three diamonds. In other words, your hand is worth a bid of about two- and- a- half diamonds.

The usual way to deal with this dilemma is to first bid a new suit to force partner to bid again, and then raise diamonds later to encourage him to continue bidding. An alternative, now popular with many players, would be to bid two spades, a cuebid of the opponent’s suit, to indicate a hand of 11 or more points with diamond support.