DSBA 2nd Quarter 2002 Bidding Contest Results!
Edited by Jess Stuart

The bidding contest had entries from Canada, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden and many U.S. states.

PANELIST SCORES

IMPs	A97	Auction:	West	North	East	South
Vul: Both	3		-	1	Pass	2
Dlr: North	J3		Pass	2	Pass	3
You are: S	KQJT742		Pass	3	Pass	3
			Pass	4	Pass	?

Hand 1 Bidding Note: Bidding is Standard American, NOT Bridge World Standard

With seven very good Clubs missing only the Ace, this hand can play Clubs vs. a void using partner's red suit honors to cover most of its five losers outside the trump suit. In Diamonds, a Spade lead kills the dummy and the Clubs are probably worthless. When this hand was in a Bridge World bidding contest in March, 1965, 5 Clubs received the top bid with 5 Diamonds a close second. In 1965, 21 panelists chose 5 Clubs, 19 chose 5 Diamonds, 9 chose 6 Clubs and none 6 Diamonds, indicating that the likes of Robinson and Sheinwold thought Clubs was a superior strain. In 2002, this is the only hand of the five on which the editor didn't award the top score to the panelists' top choice.

Supporting this view:

Randy Berseth (with Rick Rowland similarly): 5. My hand could be virtually useless as a dummy for North, but his hand should provide me with a few tricks. This also lets him know my Club suit is self sufficient if he is thinking of slam.

The thinking of those who bid 5D are represented by:

Pete Filandro: 5. I've bid out my hand, but I'll honor the game force. Partner has 5 Hearts, 7 (8?) Diamonds and 1 (0?) black card. The question is: Do I want to be in 5 Clubs or 5 Diamonds? The answer is 5 Diamonds because in Clubs I can lose 2 Spades and a Club--- or a Diamond ruff, a Spade and a Club.

Jeff Ruben has an imaginative raise to 5 Diamonds with the advantage of encouraging slam and the disadvantage of some added complexity.

Jeff Ruben: 4. This must be a cue bid in support of Diamonds. I think I owe partner at least this much. My bid of 3 Clubs limited my hand (no 4th-suit forcing), and my failure to support Diamonds on my last turn will keep partner from expecting too much, so I think this bid gives a fair picture of my hand. I know a lot about partner's distribution, but not enough about the strength of his suits, so I will let him decide whether or not to move toward a slam.

IMPs	KJ92	Auction:	West	North	East	South
Vul: Both	-		-	-	-	1
Dlr: South	T8632		Pass	1	Pass	1
You are: S	AK42		Pass	31	Pass	?

¹ Bidding Note: 3 is forcing.

Most panelists bid out their pattern.

Jeff Ruben (with Randy Berseth similarly): 4. In matchpoints I might try 3NT, but here, since partner's hand is unlimited I will bid out my pattern and let partner take over.

Others bid what they think they can make:

Rick Rowland: 5. I suspect that partner has only four Hearts. I'm not sure why he/she didn't bid 2 Clubs as fourth suit forcing. I'm not sure if 3 Diamonds is a one round force or a game force. Bidding what I think I can make.

Richard Popper: 3NT. With the really good Diamonds I would need from partner to make slam a good proposition, I would hope he would bid over 3 NT, knowing that I have a problem in the Diamond suit. If he does not have good Diamonds, 3NT is probably the best game, notwithstanding the Heart void. I am more than likely to get a Club lead.

Matchpoints	A4	Auction:	West	North	East	South
Vul: Both	J986		-	1	2	2
Dlr: North	8		2	Pass	3	?
You are: S	Q98764

Those who bid 4 Diamonds are setting up a diamond lead to beat 4 Spades if the opponents bid over 4 Hearts.

Robert Grover (with Margaret Shellenberger similarly): 4D. Passing and hoping they play only 3 Spades is a losing MP position. If they go down 1 we would have made 3 Hearts. I mostly expect them to bid 4 Spades over 4 Hearts and it may make on a Heart lead, so best chance for a good score is to get partner to lead a Diamond against 4 Spades.

The passers are inclined to avoid a big loss;

Richard Popper (with Paul Amer and Dave Smith similarly): Pass. Double would be ludicrous with this hand. Four Hearts is too risky, since that is likely to be doubled., and probably set. I would rather take my chances being plus 100 or minus 140 than a plus 790, minus 200 or minus 500 on this board.

Matchpoints	AJ4	Auction:	West	North	East	South
Vul: None	KJ		-	Pass	Pass	1
Dlr: North	AQ98743		21	2	Pass	?
You are: S	T

¹ Bidding Note: 2 is an intermediate jump overcall

Action	Score	Votes(Panel)	Votes(Solvers)
4	100	3	4
3	90	1	5
3	70	1	4
2NT	70	0	1
3	50	1	2
4	50	0	3
Pass	40	1	2
3NT	30	0	2

While Partner's 2 Spade bid nominally shows 10-12 points and five or more Spades, he might feel he could be a bit weaker as a passed hand. Most would bid 2 Spades on KQxxx and Kxxx and four Spades has little play opposite that hand, but change the King of Clubs to the King of Diamonds and game in Spades is a good bet. What to do? Aggressive?

Pete Filandro: 4. What's the problem? So what if my Hearts will be led through? Suppose I had the same hand except for two baby Hearts instead of KJ, the opponents had not bid and my partner made a conventional bid showing 5+ spades and 10-12 points. I would still bid 4 Spades, wouldn't you?

Or conservative?

Jeff Ruben: 3. Four Spades is our most likely game and could make even if (when) we lose the first two Heart tricks, so I am not going to distort my bidding just because the Hearts are in the slot.

Or super conservative?

Rick Rowland: Pass. I'm going to treat Hearts like xx. Certainly possible to construct hands for game to be cold, but I'm going for the plus score.

Matchpoints	A6	Auction:	West	North	East	South
Vul: Both	QJ8		-	-	-	1
Dlr: South	KQ9		Pass	1	Double	Redouble
You are: S	AK965		Pass	2	Pass	?

Hand 5 Bidding Note: Bidding is Standard American, NOT Bridge World Standard

Very interesting hand. Almost everyone decided partner has a bad hand with six or more spades but the responses ranged from Pass through game in spades or NT. Let's hear from the Passers first.

Rick Rowland (with Randy Berseth similarly): Pass. Since partner has denied me the opportunity of punishing the opponents, he/she must have a subminimal response (4 or 5 points) and very long Spades (6 or 7). This leads to a Pass.

The slightly more optimistic ones:

Dave Smith (with Pete Filandro and Paul Amer similarly): 3. Pard has a weak hand with a longish Spade suit. We are probably off two Hearts, a Diamond and a Spade trick but I'm giving pard one more chance.

And finally, the plungers:

Richard Popper: 4. This is tough. Three NT is too risky with just KJ doubleton. I would love to play 4 spades from my side but bridge does not work that way. No other reasonable alternative since 3 Spades can be passed.

Jeff Ruben: 3NT. What does 2 Spades mean, whether in Standard American or BWS? Is it supposed to be strong, exposing East's psychic double with presumably a long red suit? Or is it just a very long Spade suit and a weak hand? Either way, I will bid what I think we can make. Partner can pass, correct to 4 Spades or move toward slam.