What should I bid? (March 2018)
There were no submissions for March. The voucher for March has been awarded to Barbara Callan for her submission in February. She wins a voucher of $30 funded by TBIB, toward any purchase made at the Bridge Shop or Paul Lavings Bridge Books.
Dealer is South
None VUL
♠ AQ962
♥ –
♦ QJ97653
♣ 8
This hand was held by my partner playing South. We play Standard American and this includes Multi 2’s.
My partner opened 2♠ with the above hand – my hand had 20 points with two spades KJ and I replied 2NT – showing partner 14+ points. Partner replied 3♦ and I bid 3NT.
Partner went to 5♦ and as I had A2 of diamonds I put him to 6♦ as I realised by his bidding that there must be something different about the hand. He made 6♦ but there is also 6♠ on for us. In the room one person bid 6♠ and 3 bid to 6♦ and the rest of the room did not reach game.
I would be interested to know how you consider the bidding should have gone, and when my partner and I discussed the hand after play, I felt that he should have opened 1♦ with the given hand planning to rebid the spades. As I would have responded 1♥, and without three-card spade support, I cannot see how we would have reached 6♠.
Hi Barbara,
When it comes to (very) distributional hands, I don’t think there is “one perfect” solution to bid out the hand. Essentially, anything can work depending on what the rest of the deal is!
I, too, would have chosen to open 1♦ due to the wild 7-5 shape, planning to rebid spades twice (to show a 6-5 shape). Sure partner may think I will have one or two extra HCP for the opening bid, but if we find out that we have a fit somewhere, then that extra HCP is not really needed.
I think this hand is a bit too strong for a Multi 2♠ (showing spades and a minor) opening. There will be plenty of 5-5 shapes I will be opening a Multi 2♠ on, and so we may miss out on plenty of good game contracts if I open this hand with 2♠ and partner usually expects a 5-5 (or sometimes 5-4) shape.
Regardless of what you do, I think reaching 6♦ is a fantastic result. I would not be worried about trying to reach 6♠ even though it makes. Sometimes getting to a slam with an 8+card fit is hard enough, but trying to get to slam in a 7-card fit is even more difficult!! So I wouldn’t worry too much about that too much.
Hope that helps,
Andy
