What should I bid? - Best enquiry for April 2009
The best submission for April came from Neville Moses.
Hand: Dealer East, All vulnerable, South holds:
Comments: I bid 3
hoping it was asking partner to bid 3NT with a heart stopper. He quite
reasonably took it as natural and we ended up deep in the well-known substance.
What should I bid and more importantly what methods do you recommend when
defending against the multi 2 ?
(East had a weak 2
and 3NT was frigid.)
Sartaj's Reply:
Hi Neville,
These kinds of auctions are a common pitfall for the combatants of the multi.
3
as natural has evolved as the choice of the bridge-elite. On this hand,
the three small hearts notwithstanding, I would have a go at 3NT. RHO might
have spades, partner might have a heart stopper, LHO may not lead a heart,
hearts may be blocked. There are many possible scenarios where our choice will
turn out OK. Also, LHO has not bid 2 or
3 when
we would be in far greater danger of being a spectator to the first six tricks
in 3NT.
The defence that Tony and I play to the multi is:
In direct seat, (2 )
?
X = 13-15 balanced or 17+ unbalanced; next double takeout; lebensohl
In 4th seat (2 )
P (2M) ?
X = takeout of the suit they have bid; sometimes we have to pass and on other
occasions bid on big hands with shortage in the other major
Also, we play jumps to 4 of a minor show that minor and hearts, and at least 5/5
shape.
We don't have many stopper-asking type mechanisms against the multi preferring
to go the natural way.
Sartaj
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