Aces on Bridge
DEAR MR. WOLFF: Holding SPADES Q-J-10-8-4, HEARTS Q-2, DIAMONDS 8-5, CLUBS A-Q-3-2, you respond one spade to your partner’s opening of one heart, and hear LHO bid two diamonds, passed back to you. Should you repeat spades, raise hearts or bid clubs ... and what level should you drive this hand to? — Mach One
ANSWER: It doesn’t feel right to bid clubs; I think that shows longer clubs than spades. So the choice is to bid two hearts (I’d do that with one fewer spade honor) or repeat the spades — I’d do that if the heart queen were the three. But my personal choice is to double, primarily as takeout. Let partner tell you what he has.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: Recently, I had a tough bidding problem. My partner opened one club, nonvulnerable, and my right-hand opponent jumped to three spades, vulnerable. I held SPADES 10-2, HEARTS A-3, DIAMONDS A-K-10, CLUBS K-9-7-5-4-2, and could think of at least three possible actions. What would you have bid? — Millstones
ANSWER: Raising clubs seems right. (Yes, bidding three no-trump or doubling might work, but they are not my style.) I might bid four spades as a slam try in clubs, but that normally delivers a spade control. A jump to five clubs could be weak or strong so is not ideal, but since a leap to slam seems wild and gambling, I’d have to go with five clubs, even though I can’t say I like it. DEAR MR. WOLFF: You described an opening lead as “third-and-fifth.” On the deal in question, West led his fifth club, but why the fifth-highest, not third? How does the lead style work?
— Jack Sprat
ANSWER: Third-and-fifth leads means top of doubleton, low from three or five cards, third-highest from four or six cards. Thus, from five cards, lead low, not third. The point is that when you see the lead of a two or three, it is generally from an odd number, and the auction will generally tell you which. This particular inference is not as frequently available with fourth-highest leads.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: You posted a bidding question: Your hand was SPADES 2, HEARTS Q-9-6-5-4, DIAMONDS A-K-Q-10, CLUBS A-7-2, and you heard a one-spade opener to your right. You recommended a double, planning to bid hearts next. That was my top choice, too, but wouldn’t a cue-bid of two spades be an alternative, or would you need a stronger hand for that?
— Passing Muster
ANSWER: Modern science tends to have moved on from using the cue-bid as a general force (for which players these days tend to double, then bid). Now, the preference is to use the cue-bid as 5-5 in the unbid majors or unbid major plus a minor, known as the Michaels Cue-bid. But if I were playing it as an unspecified strong two- or three-suiter, I’d like to have an extra ace.