DSBA 4th Quarter 2001 Bidding Contest Results!
Edited by Jeff Ruben

Happy New Year to everyone. Thanks to Rick Rowland for submitting hands 1,3 and 4.

IMPs	A73	Auction:	North	East	South	West
Vul: Both	KT954		-	3	Pass	Pass
Dlr: East	2		4	Pass	?
You are: S	AT85

Why, oh why, couldn't partner balance with a double? Because if she did you wouldn't see this hand in a bidding contest. Partner did balance at the 4-level, vulnerable, so she must have a reasonable hand, but as she did not double ot jump to 5, her strength is limited and she is counting on you for at least some of the cards you hold. I would expect something along the lines of: Kx, x, AKJxxxx, Kxx, but partner is under pressure and could have a bit more or less. So, where do you want to play opposite a hand like this? Either 4NT or 5 would be reasonable, but if partner does not have a spade stopper you may be in trouble in NT if East finds a spade lead and west has a diamond trick. That assumes that you can get to 4NT.

Randy Berseth: 3NT. Then, after the director forces me to make it sufficient, 4NT. This method is superior to a direct 4NT, which will probably fetch key cards from partner. If this is not part of Delaware Standard, a direct 4NT looks as good as anything to me.

Well, is 4NT natural or Blackwood in this situation? It’s clearly natural if partner squirms and agonizes for about a minute, but what if the bid is in tempo? (Just kidding –sort of. If you don’t want to be accused of bidding on UI, you’d better develop an understanding about sequences like this with your partner).

Well, is 4NT natural or Blackwood in this situation? It’s clearly natural if partner squirms and agonizes for about a minute, but what if the bid is in tempo? (Just kidding –sort of. If you don’t want to be accused of bidding on UI, you’d better develop an understanding about sequences like this with your partner).

One panelist has a rule to cover the situation:

Pete Filandro: 4NT. To play. I have too much to pass, and not enough diamond fit to expect slam anywhere. Here is a rule to decide when 4NT is Blackwood or to play: 4NT is to play when it is our first bid (not call) and it is not a jump. This works very well over a common sequence of partner’s opening 1-bid followed by RHO’s preemptive 4-bid.

Harold Jordan (with Greg Burch and Rick Rowland similarly): 4NT. To play. Any strong diamond raise would have to start with 4.

That makes sense, but would an unfamiliar partner read it that way?

Richard Popper: 5. 4NT would be Blackwood, so I cannot bid that. My hand is too good to pass, and not strong enough to force to slam.

Lois Stuart (with Jess Stuart and Kurt Engleman similarly): 5. Six is possible but needs perfect cards. I don’t want to cuebid hearts with only the king or ask for aces and get us too high.

Paul Amer: 5. True, you don’t have diamond support, but with 2 aces and a well-placed king of hearts, passing and risking a missed vul. game seems too timid. Partner is not bidding vul. at IMPs at the 4-level just to be competitive. If 4NT were natural I’d bid that, but my partners (and I) would take 4NT as RKC.

I agree that passing, while it could be right, is too timid, especially at this form of scoring.

IMPs	8	Auction:	North	East	South	West
Vul: E-W	AJ9542		2	Double	?
Dlr: North	Q7
You are: S	T432

It seems likely (though not certain) that the opponents can make a slam, maybe even a grand. What is our best strategy to push them too high or keep them too low? In descending order:

Jess Stuart: 7. I don’t want either opponent to be able to cue bid hearts and thus better tell if they can make 7. 7 forces West to immediately double if he has the only heart outstanding. We have a 12-card trump fit and the opponents probably have a 9-card fit. The Law of Total Tricks indicates that we can take 8 tricks of the total of 21 tricks available to both sides if they can take 13 tricks. Down 5 is 1100 vs. their 1430 or higher.

Randy Berseth: 7. Let’s put the maximum pressure on them. At IMPs, nobody wants to take a negative score back to teammates on a slam hand so they are unlikely to bid at the 7-level with no exchange of information.

Richard Popper: 6. I am certain to hear 4 over 4 and in all likelihood would hear 5 over 5. Either of these bids is likely to let the opponents reach what is probably a cold small slam, and possibly a grand slam. I might buy this hand in 6, and I believe this bid is the least likely to allow the opponents to bid a cold grand slam (if in fact it is cold). 6 is the most likely bid to give the opponents the last guess (what about 7? - J.R.) and have them guess wrong.

Jim Plank: 5. I’d rather let them guess at the 5-level. Maybe they’ll feel wimpy enough to simply double 5, and maybe they will settle in 5. While I think that 7 doubled will be the best par score, I think too many opponents are going to make the wrong decision over 5 to make 7 the winning bid.

Greg Burch (and Andy Kaufman similarly): 5. You could psych, but that is too easy to figure out. If you bid 4, they retain their 5 cue bid to try for 6. If you bid 6, they are almost forced to bid 6. I like 5, because it allows them to “safely” stop in 5 without necessarily giving them an easy try for slam.

Dave Smith: 4. I think 4 is enough. I want to take up some bidding room but I don’t want to push them into anything.

Pete Filandro: 2NT. I know I’m alone, but 40 years at the table tells me LHO will often double to show “cards” and partner will make the normal feature answer. In all cases, I will bid to 5 and pass 5. If partner showed a feature and they bid 6, I defend! Partner’s diamond ace or K-10 may be 2 tricks with my queen. Or, his club ace or king may be 2 tricks with my 10-fourth. And I still have a chance he will score his Qxx of spades or Jxx of diamonds.

Pete makes a good point - partner could easily have enough defense to beat a slam when combined with your hand. But, he may have KQxxxx and out. Clearly there is no correct answer, but I favor the “maximum pressure” bid of 7. I think you have to trust your teammates to bid a slam if it is there, so you shouldn’t worry about going for 1100 when partners are +680 in 5. Let the opponents sweat for a change.

IMPs	76	Auction:	North	East	South	West
Vul: Both	J2		-	-	-	3
Dlr: West	AKQT		Pass	Pass	?
You are: S	AKQJ5

Dave Smith: 3NT. 3no rhymes with dough.

Bruce Scott: 3NT. So sue me. Yes, this has many ways of going wrong; that is why West preempted. If I get doubled, I am running to 4.

Greg Burch: 3NT. Who knows what is right? If I bid 4 and it goes all pass, how will I feel? If I bid 4 and it is raised to 5, how will I feel after ace of hearts, heart ruff, spade ace cashed? Is there any end to my rambling?

Yes.

Jess Stuart: 4. I’ll bid my longest and strongest suit and hope partner can bid. I’ll pass a raise or a 4 call and raise 4 to game. 4NT could be right, but might risk playing in the wrong suit if partner has a singleton club and 2 or 3 diamonds. It also risks getting too high.

Pete Filandro: 4. An easy one. (They are all easy for Pete. -J.R.) Too much to pass. The weak spades forbid a double. And 4NT, even for minors, is too much with only a 9-winner hand, vulnerable. Partner will raise holding 2 quick tricks.

Lois Stuart: 4NT. I could be getting too high, but 5 of a minor is too much of a possibility not to try.

Andy Kaufman: Double. You don’t have spades, but have a real big hand. So if partner bids 3 you will correct to 4 and he will know you have a big hand with clubs, but you may miss a better diamond fit. If partner bids 4 you can again correct to 5. Double also gives partner a chance to bid 3NT, which looks like a good contract if he has a heart card. If my hand was a bit more distributional I would bid 4 which should show a big 2-suiter somewhere.

Richard Popper: 4: Do the opponents ever stop preempting in this contest? (Never! - J. R.) I will bid 5 over 4 from partner, and will pass a minor suit bid at whatever level partner makes one.

I tend to agree with the 4 bidders. Your hand is good but not that good, and it’s a little scary showing a two-suiter at the 4-level with only 5-4 in your suits. Partner will know you have a good hand and often will raise when right. If partner bids 4 over 4 you can pass, knowing he has a real suit. I demoted double in the scoring, since none of the panelists considered doubling without spades.

The inside dirt:

Rick Rowland: 4NT. For the minors. May be an overbid, but at IMPs it seems worth the risk. By the way, when the hand was played at the table, 5 of either minor was cold and 3NT goes down when the opponents take the first seven SPADE tricks.

IMPs	J	Auction:	North	East	South	West
Vul: Both	AK4		-	-	1	Pass
Dlr: South	AKJT742		1	Pass	?
You are: S	A6

There were several complaints about the opening bid:

Bruce Scott: Why are we not opening this hand 2? This is a nine-trick hand.

Tim Schafstall: I would have saved myself the agony and opened 2.

James Perry: I would have opened this marvelous hand with 2 but now I have to jump shift to show my extra strength.

I was taught that you need one trick less than game to open 2, i.e., 10 tricks in a minor, but a solver disagrees:

Kurt Engleman: 3. We didn’t open 2. WHY NOT? This hand has offense, it has defense, and it can make game opposite as little as 10xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx. I am sick of this "you need 10 tricks to open 2 in a minor suit." Says who? It’s ridiculous. I have more quick tricks than losers here.

This hand is certainly borderline, but we opened 1 and we have to live with it. Anyway, auctions that begin 2-2-3 are not always the most comfortable, either. Hands like this are what made strong club systems so popular.

The panel was unanimous, if not thrilled, with:

Lois Stuart: 3. I don’t have any other bid to describe this hand. I hope partner rebids hearts showing 5 and then I will cuebid spades at the four-level showing a singleton. If he supports clubs I will raise hearts. 4-3 fits are not the end of the world.

Richard Popper: 3. This shows the strength of my hand, allows partner to bid 3 if he has 5, and allows him to bid 3NT with a spade stopper and a minimum hand. If partner raises clubs, I can always correct to diamonds at any level.

Pete Filandro: 3. Another easy one. (See what I mean? - J.R.) I own a jump shift, so I make a jump shift. I will be well placed to support hearts over 3 or 3, or to pass 3NT.

There were scattered votes for strong heart raises such as 3 and 4, but clearly the panel and many solvers did not want to mislead partner about the number of hearts we hold; they chose the "flexible" lie of jump shifting into a 2-card suit instead.

IMPs	J6	Auction:	North	East	South	West
Vul: N-S	QT3		1	Pass	1	Pass
Dlr: North	QJ875		1	Pass	?
You are: S	KQ9

Any problem that draws nine different answers can’t be all bad.

The 2 bidders felt it was the least of evils:

Rick Rowland: 2. If partner moves, it’s time to bid a game. If partner can’t move, this should be high enough.

Dave Smith: 2. Short one heart but have a few extra points.

Richard Popper: 2. No trump is not likely to right from my side on this hand. Partner can and should bid no trump with some extra values, a spade stopper, and a weak heart suit at his next turn.

Kurt Engleman: 2. Game is still a reasonable possibility (Vul. at IMPs), and both 3NT and 4 are candidates. However, I think I need one more move from partner, as the combination of soft values in the pointed suits and only three trumps downgrade this “11-count.”

According to BWS, a fourth suit 1 bid "may be weak" and "promises another bid at the 2-level." Huh? If you and your partner play 1 as a one-round force that does not promise spades, that seems to work here:

Paul Amer: 1. Fourth suit forcing one round and later a delayed support of hearts.

Bruce Scott: 1. If partner bids 1NT, I will invite with 2NT. Over 2 or 2, I will bid 3 invitational. Over 2, I will bid 3 and look like I am enjoying it. (What’s not to enjoy if partner is showing 6-5 in clubs and hearts? - J.R.)

Several solvers put in a pitch for Walsh-style:

Harold Jordan: 2. This is a good hand to play Walsh; if you did partner would have a distributional hand (almost always with 5 clubs) and 3 would be attractive.

I prefer Walsh myself, but we are not playing it here, so 3 could put us in a 4-3 or even a 3-3 fit.

Finally,

Randy Berseth: 1NT. Should I be aggressive with all these quacks, or am I chicken? Every choice seems fowl to me.

Sorry, Randy, I don’t get the yolk. With that, this quarter’s contest ends - congrats to Kurt Engleman for having the highest score - and so does my tenure; I gladly turn over the reins to Jess Stuart. Now maybe I will actually have time to play some bridge.