Bidding Problems for I/N players Part 16

Hi - these problems should be very easy for experienced players but an I/N player needs to think about the right things in an auction. If you get them wrong, don't feel too bad as long as you understand the rationale for the answers. I'll provide the answers later but I'll put a hint as a spoiler. Try to solve the problem without the spoiler. Also, let me know if you would be interested in seeing more of these from time to time.

Assume you are playing Standard American (a natural system with 15-17 1NT openings and 5-card majors), IMPS, and nobody is vulnerable.

Some background. Let's say you hold:

Several decades ago, many opened 1C on this hand, planning to rebid spades twice.

Today, most if not all experts open 1S. Bridge World Standard 2017 says to open 1S; and I don't see the question in the polling, so I assume they thought it was so obvious to the experts that they didn't ask.

So what if you do open 1C and rebid spades twice?

The second spade bid shows five cards. Since you would open 1S with five spades and five clubs, you must have at least six clubs for this auction.

Let's look at some of opener's options with five spades and six clubs.

If you want to make sure to get to game, you would have to jump shift for 1S isn't forcing, and many of the hands that partner would pass a 1S rebid might play quite well opposite a 6-5 hand (partner should have 3 spades for that pass; he is not going to leave you in a silly spot.)

I'm not certain there is universal agreement, but another strong action is for the second spade bid to be a jump. It isn't forcing (partner didn't jump shift the last time so he didn't want to force to game) but it is very highly invitational - you would only pass if you thought the hands fit poorly.

The reason I'm bringing this up is that when partner rebids his spades without jumping, he is limited. You could have a game if your hands fit well but partner isn't expecting to get to game.

1.

Do you agree with the auction so far? What bid do you choose?

Spoiler

Do you agree with the auction so far? What bid do you choose?

Spoiler

Do you agree with the auction so far? What bid do you choose?

Spoiler

Answers: (material in blue is more advanced)

1.

Do you agree with the auction so far? What bid do you choose?
Hint: Your partner hopes to take several tricks with black cards. How is he going to get to use them?

Answer:
(a) Do you agree with the auction so far? 1H is pretty clear. Partner rebids 1S and you can't leave him in a silly spot. A 2H rebid which is very likely to be passed when partner is minimum is a poor choice. You don't want to play with hearts as trump when partner has a singleton, but what do you expect partner to do with 4 spades, 1 heart, 3 diamonds, and 5 clubs over your 2H rebid?

Many pairs play 2D as forcing and artificial (fourth suit forcing) but even if you play 2D as natural, you hand isn't good enough. While I suggest 11 points for new suits on the 2 level, some players say 10 and while you originally counted 9 HCP + 1 for length, your fifth heart is unlikely to be that productive on this auction, and in the cases where partner does have three-card heart support, partner's diamonds are likely to be short, making your ♦KQ less valuable - so I would say you have only 9 points here based on the auction up to 1S. Charles Goren used to suggest subtracting a point for an aceless hand so that also argues against having the strength for a 2-level bid.

All that's left is 1NT and 2NT. 2NT shows 11-12 and you clearly don't have that. Even if you bid 2NT on 10, the same hand evaluation argument applies. So, 1NT is the correct second bid on this auction.

(b) What now? Your partner has at least eleven black cards and will attempt to play to make his black suits good. Once, good, partner will need an entry to get to them. This entry will likely be a trump, and this will be a lot easier when partner has six trump and your side has eight trump than when partner has five trump and your side has seven. Make clubs trump. Bid 3C.

Note that although you have 9 points, you have a terrible hand for partner. You have no help in either black suit, and if partner has one card in each red suit, your high cards may prove to be worthless in covering your partner's losers. You'd like to get out as cheaply as possible, and are only taking the auction to the three level to allow partner to play in your side's best trump suit.

If you thought about 2NT, think about how the play would go in notrump. You want to try to promote one or both of partner's black suits but have no help and will have few entries to partner's hand, and his suits will have lots of holes in them. You could be down several tricks in 2NT. Partner needs to play in one of his suits in order to reach his hand to establish his suits.

2.

Do you agree with the auction so far? What bid do you choose?
Hint: How do you think the play is going to go?

Answer:
(a) Do you agree with the auction so far? Again, you don't want to rebid hearts which will usually lead to hearts being trump opposite a singleton. You're not strong enough to bid 2D even if it's natural. A spade raise tends to show four trump, and while 2S might play okay if partner passes, your hand will be a disappointment if partner bids a spade game based on four spades and lots of clubs. Partner is likely to be forced to trump a red suit and his clubs will be stranded. The auction so far is fine.

(b) I can see thinking "Goody! We have a 5-3 spade fit so now we can count our singleton club as 3 points giving us 12 points! We are very close to game opposite a minimum hand!"

Not so fast. Is this singleton really an asset? For partner to make 4S, he will have to set up the clubs, which is pretty difficult with you having one club. You can trump club losers, but how is partner going to get to his hand to lead clubs to trump? If he gets to hand with a trump, that's one less trump you can trump a club with. If he gets to hand by ruffing, he may set up clubs but won't have enough trump to draw trump and be able to get back to enjoy the clubs. Chances are that partner will have several club tricks that he can't get to. A crossruff is no better. Neither of your red suit kings is likely to be useful so even if partner has the ♣A and you never get overruffed, you can only get 8 tricks on the crossruff plus his ♣A.

The only high card in your hand that is likely to have value is the ♠K, and your singleton club is a liability in setting up partner's black suits. I recommend that you pass 2S. Often when partner's hand is so good that he can make 4S on normal splits opposite this hand, he will have jumped to 3S on his third bid.

3.

Do you agree with the auction so far? What bid do you choose?
Hint: How is partner going to like this dummy?

Answer:
(a) Do you agree with the auction so far? It is tempting to pass 1S with this hand (a new suit by opener normally isn't forcing) but partner's 1S rebid has an upper limit of about 18 points so game is still in the picture. You need to show a minimum hand by bidding an old suit or 1NT but you should strive to bid again to give partner a chance to show 17 or 18 points. Again, 2S would show four. If partner would bid this way with 4-3-3-3 distribution with 4 spades, you can't go back to 2C risking a 3-3 fit. Bidding 1NT is fine.

If you and partner only would rebid 1S on unbalanced hands, then partner shows at least four clubs and probably has five. With this agreement, I would choose 2C rather than 1NT.

(b) What next? This time, your cards are excellent in helping your partner establish his long black suits. Your ♣KJx means that partner may be able to run clubs with no losers, and if his club suit is bad enough that there's a club loser, then his spades are likely good enough to lose only one trick opposite your ♠Jxx. Your ♦A will take care of one of partner's two red suit losers. Also, the hand should be easy for partner to play with few entry problems, your three-card support for each black suit means partner can play each of those suits three times before needing an entry to his hand to lead the suit.

Consider that if partner has as little as:

that partner will draw trump, driving out the ♠A and K, and even if he gets repeated heart leads making him ruff three times, he can use your ♠J to draw the last trump and make 4S when trumps are 3-2.

If you didn't bid game here, a general lesson to be learned is that when partner is distributional, high cards in his suits are quite valuable.