What should I bid? - Best enquiry for November 2010
The best submission for November came from Viv Wood.
Hand: I was dealer as East with NS
Vulnerable:
|
AKJ109
75
Q3
KJ87 |
|
Q854
Q93
-
965432 |
|
-
AKJ82
A98752
AQ |
|
7632
1064
KJ1064
10 |
|
Bidding: |
West |
North |
East |
South |
|
|
|
1![diamonds](../../images/d.gif) |
Pass
|
|
Pass |
1![spades](../../images/s.gif) |
2![hearts](../../images/h.gif) |
Pass |
|
Pass |
3![clubs](../../images/c.gif) |
3![hearts](../../images/h.gif) |
Pass |
|
Pass |
Pass |
|
|
Comments:
I thought about opening 2 but this seemed like a good hand to bid out naturally
instead. Well, we missed out on game and my partner was quite emphatic that I
needed to open the hand 2 . How should I approach this and choose whether to open 2 with a powerful two-suiter?
Thanks,Viv :)
Kieran's Reply:
Start by considering how the auction will go if you open 2 . Let's be generous and assume that the opponents will be
silent.
You open 2 , and your partner bids 2 , as partners often will. (You may note that partner is now
declarer in diamond contracts, which isn't all good). You bid 3 because that's your longest suit, and your partner bids 3 .
Now, you can't even bid 4 without it being non-forcing, since you're already in game.
You also can't ever get to 3NT since you have to stop to investigate heart fits
- the alternative is to never bid the hearts at all.
Now, to make the auction particularly scary, consider the continuations if LHO
bids 3 . Bidding both suits is now near-impossible.
Opening 1 leads to a much more comfortable auction. In an uncontested
auction, you can anticipate bidding diamonds, hearts (showing 5/4 and a
reverse), hearts again (6/5 now) and you're quite possibly only at the level of
3 . The amount of additional space for investigating fits is
huge, not to mention the additional information you can have about partner's
strength and honour location. If LHO bids some number of spades (hardly
surprising) you can rebid your hearts at a high level or double, according to
taste.
(You might even get to bid out the 5/6 shape and suggest 3NT after that -
perhaps 1 :1 ,2 :3 ,3 :3 ,3NT)
Being left in 1 is unlikely - somebody will be short in diamonds or have
spades and be inclined to bid them.
I actually can't remember opening 2 with a two-suited hand because it's often almost impossible to
bid both suits at a reasonable level. 2 openings are more important with hands with a lot of points
(23+ types, or hands you evaluate as such) or powerful one-suiters which can't
be well-described after a 1-level opening and a response...many of these
one-suiters have 3NT as a fallback position if their suit is any good.
On the actual hand, I would respond with your partner's hand - 1 looks like a lousy idea for a final contract and 4 might have chances on occasion...but then I would pass the 2 reverse, rationalising that I might have passed 1 .
(I did play in 4 , down one on a well-considered trump lead after the diamonds
didn't break).
Kieran
What to Bid | Home
|