What should I bid? (November 2017)
The best submission for November came from Eileen Li . She wins a voucher of $30 funded by TBIB, toward any purchase made at the Bridge Shop or Paul Lavings Bridge Books.
Hi Andy
I would like to ask you about a board that was played in a recent event. We sat EW playing 2 over 1, EW vul with East dealer.
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ K10965 ♥ J97 ♦ A7654 ♣ – |
♠ AJ ♥ A1043 ♦ J ♣ A108762 |
| West | North | East | South |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♣ | Pass | ||
| 1♠ | Pass | 2♥ | Pass |
| 3♦ | Pass | 4♣ | Pass |
| 4♥ | Pass | 5♣ | Pass |
| Pass | X | All Pass |
Q1: What does the 3♦ bid mean in the above auction? Someone said after opener’s reverse, 3♦ is natural. Does this sound right?
Q2: How many spades should West have for this bidding? It feels to me like it shows 4 spades and 5 diamonds. Should East bid 3♠ over 3♦? Would the 3♠ bid show 3-card support?
Q3: West bid 4♥ to show 3-card heart support. Should West have bid 4♠ instead to clarify 5 spades? East didn’t want to pass 4♥ to play in the 4-3 fit, as the longer trump hand would be forced to lose trump control if the opponents lead diamonds. Should East bid 4♠ instead?
Thank you!
Eileen
Hi Eileen,
After opener’s reverse, it is common to play a convention called “Blackout”, whereby bidding the cheapest of 2NT/4th suit is artificial and shows a very weak hand. Bidding anything else would be natural and game-forcing. So after 1♣-1♠-2♥, 2NT would be the cheapest bid (of 2NT/4th suit), and that would show any weak hand. Having said that, bidding 3♦ would still be considered as “4th suit forcing” in the sense that you have enough for game, but can’t bid anything else (i.e. a balanced hand with no club support nor a diamond stopper). For example, if responder had ♠AQxx ♥Kxx ♦xxxx ♣xx, responder can’t really bid anything else but 3♦.
In another auction, say, 1♣-1♠-2♦, now 2♥ would be the cheapest bid, so that would be the “blackout” bid.
In your auction where it went 1♣-1♠-2♥-3♦; at this point I would expect responder having a maximum of four spades since he could have rebid 2♠ with 5+♠.
If my auction started with 1♣-1♠-2♥, my auction would continue with 2♠-3♣-3NT-Pass (though responder might think about passing 3♣ given the club void!).
Having said that, I think East’s hand isn’t strong enough to reverse with only 14 HCP (singleton ♦J, club suit isn’t that great), so my auction would probably be 1♣-1♠-2♣-Pass!
Hope that helps,
Andy
