Aces on Bridge
DEAR MR. WOLFF: I held SPADES Q-J, HEARTS A-10-7-5-4, DIAMONDS A-Q-9-4, CLUBS 10-8 and responded one heart to my partner’s one-club opener. After a one-spade overcall, I balanced with two diamonds and heard two spades to my left, passed back to me. Do you like a call of two no-trump now? This was not a success, losing the first six spade tricks. Double was the winning call, since careful defense beats that contract by one trick. — RuPaul
ANSWER: Without sounding unduly negative, it is important to understand that your two-diamond call fundamentally misrepresented your hand. That call is natural but non-forcing; it might easily be 4-5 in the reds. Almost any good hand starts with a cue-bid, or in this case a double for takeout. Now, after two spades comes back to you, you can double again, planning to raise no-trump or bid three diamonds over three clubs. A second double is not penalty, just a good hand with extras.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: My partner opened one club and heard me respond one heart, over which she jumped to three hearts. I bid Key-card Blackwood and followed up with five no-trump over her fivespade response, which showed two key-cards and the trump queen. What would you do now with her hand, holding SPADES 7-3, HEARTS Q-5-4-3, DIAMONDS A-5, CLUBS A-K-Q-8-4? — Peter Peck ANSWER: Despite holding a minimum, you must bid seven hearts now. Your source of tricks should mean that partner will be able to develop the clubs to take care of his spade or diamond losers. With the same hand, but the spade queen instead of club queen, I would just bid six clubs, showing my specific king.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: With SPADES K-Q-9-8, HEARTS Q, DIAMONDS A-Q-4, CLUBS A-7-5-4-2, I would be interested to hear your opinion about whether to bid game, splinter or bid three spades after opening one club and hearing partner respond one spade in an uncontested auction. Would it matter if partner were a passed hand? In response to a jump to three spades, would you bid game with ace-fifth of spades and queen-third of clubs? — Zig-Zag Zelda
ANSWER: Facing a passed hand, I would just bid four spades and not worry about slam. I don’t think the hand is worth a splinter, whether partner is a passed hand or not. (If the heart queen were the club queen, you’d be full value for the jump to four hearts.) You could sell me on a four-spade bid facing an unpassed hand, but it is close to a three-spade bid. And yes, partner should raise three spades to four, facing likely club length. He has two working honors and five trumps.