What should I bid? - Best enquiry for March 2009
The best submission for March came from Jeanette Reitzer.
Hand: Nil Vulnerable with East the dealer, you
hold as East:
| Bidding: |
West |
North |
East |
South |
| |
|
|
1 |
Pass
|
| |
2 |
Pass |
3 |
Pass
|
|
4 |
Pass |
4 |
Pass |
|
5 |
// |
|
|
Comments: We are playing Standard American with 2
over 1 game forcing. After 2 should
I show a second suit as my hand improved with partner's bid or bid 2 - no extra values?
Sartaj's Reply:
Hi Jean,
Your question is an intelligent one and a hard one. And I'm on somewhat shaky
ground in my answers.
1) 2 versus 3:
I've come to believe that in constructive auctions, one should try and make the
cheapest bid possible, whenever that is an option. While 3
shows a good hand and describes our hand quite well, it makes the subsequent
untangling of the nature of our spade fit unclear. As long as 2 is forcing, we should be
on good ground. For example, if partner bids 3,
we can pretty much bid a slam ourselves. And if partner bids 2NT, we know we
don't have a big diamond fit. And if partner bids 3,
we can cue-bid 4 .
Despite all that, 3
is a fine bid too. Any bid that shows our hand can't be that bad a choice :)
2) Over 4,
there are two schools of thought. One believes that 4 is a natural bid
showing a good 6 card suit and non-forcing. The other school believes that 4
sets diamonds and everything hereon is a cue-bid. While someone like Peter Gill
would belong to the first school, others like Tony Nunn go for the second. Me,
I'm not sure.
If 4 is a natural bid, then
that's a reasonable choice. Although I would prefer to have the 10 and 9 of
spades for a bid like this. I think again that the space issues referred to
earlier have come into play.
3) Over 5,
I think we have a clear pass. We have already bid our hand and shown the extra
values, we have only four trumps, the spades seem to be misfitting. If there is
a slam, it's partner's responsibility to do the business.
Cheers,
Sartaj
What to Bid | Home
|
