Negative Inferences in the Bidding

Sometimes what your partner doesn’t say during the bidding can tell you something. Consider this hand.

♠ AJ95 ♥ AQT72 ♦ 65 ♣ K7

You are dealer and open with one heart. Your partner responds with two clubs. What can you tell about what your partner doesn’t have from his response? First, you don’t expect him to have 3 hearts. He might be making a temporizing bid with a hand that is too strong to respond with two hearts or three hearts, but for now, you don’t expect him to have heart support.

You aren’t crazy about his clubs. Should you mention the spades? Well, no, for two reasons. The first reason is that that bid is a “reverse”. You are asking your partner to show a preference at the three level. You should have at least 16 points to make a reverse bid. You might argue that you have 16 points with distribution, but the hand is looking like it might be a misfit and your distribution will not be an asset. The second reason that you shouldn’t mention your spades is that partner probably doesn’t have 4 spades. If he held 4 spades, he probably would have bid them instead of bypassing the spade suit to bid clubs. He might have 4 spades and longer clubs, but he makes a negative inference about holding 4 spades when he bids the clubs.

You are forced to bid, because your partner has responded in a new suit, so you need to bid something. Two no trump is your best choice.

Now, let’s look at your partner’s hand and see what negative inferences he might make. Your partner holds

♠ Q63 ♥ 83 ♦ AKT4 ♣ AT96

When you skipped over diamonds to bid no trump, your partner can infer that you do not have 4 diamonds. If you had them, you would have bid them instead of bidding no trump. Your partner will also infer that you do not have 6 hearts, because you did not rebid them. Given all of that information and adding his 13 high-card points to your 12-14, he decides that your side should be in game and bids three no trump.

Negative Inference in a Stayman Sequence

Let’s say that you hold this hand and your partner opens one no trump.

♠ Q63 ♥ KT83 ♦ A954 ♣ 96

If your partner holds 4 cards in hearts, you would prefer to play a 4-4 trump suit instead of no trump. You have the required 8 points to bid Stayman, so you respond with two clubs.

Partner answers with two spades. The negative inference from this bid is that she does not also hold 4 hearts. Without a 4-4 major suit fit, you prefer that the hand is played in no trump. Your 9 points plus partner’s 15-17 comes to 24-26 points. You don’t know if you have enough points for game or not. You bid two no trump to show partner that you do not hold 4 spades and you aren’t sure if the team has enough points for game. Partner will bid on to three no trump with a maximum hand, and pass with a minimum. With 16, she makes a judgement call.

Now, let’s switch the hearts and spades. You hold

♠ KT83 ♥ Q63 ♦ A954 ♣ 96

As before, you make the Stayman asking bid of two clubs. This time partner responds with two hearts. Now, you don’t know if partner has both majors or not. She would bid two hearts holding just the 4-card heart suit or holding both. Now, you should bid two spades giving partner the choice of staying in spades if she holds 4 of them, or returning to no trump without 4 spades.

From the opening no trump bidder’s point of view, you have made an implicit game invitation, since you must have enough strength to at least invite game when you bid Stayman. With a maximum one no trump opener, she will bid game at this point either in spades or in no trump. With a minimum she will bid either two no trump or three spades. This bid will show you that she has a minimum no trump opener, but it leaves the bidding open for you to take the contract to game if you are stronger than the minimum required for your Stayman inquiry.

Let's Play a Grand Slam

 

A couple of weeks ago, I put my partner into a grand slam contract. Hands like this don’t come up often, but it is exciting when they do.

As South I was dealt this hand:

My partner was the dealer. I expected to be the one opening the bidding. I’ve got 23 points and even distribution. With 22-24 points, I would open 2 clubs and rebid no trump. To my surprise, my partner opened the bidding with 1 heart. He was holding this hand:

One heart is a good bid for this hand. It contains 11 points in high cards and 2 more points for distribution.

With my hand, I am delighted to hear the heart bid. Expecting at least 13 points from my partner and adding my 23, we have at least 36 points. It takes 37 to bid a grand slam. With 19+ points responding to an opening 1 bid, I should make a jump shift—that is, bid a new suit at one level higher than necessary. My only real suit is the one that my partner bid, so I need to invent a new suit to bid. I chose to bid 3 clubs.

My partner has support for the clubs, so he bid 4 clubs. I don’t really want to be in clubs and I want to be at least in a small slam. If I bid hearts, my partner might pass. I don’t want that. Looking at the specific high cards in my hand, I am only concerned that we might be missing the ace of diamonds. The way to find that out is with the Blackwood ace-asking convention. I bid 4 no trump.

An important side note is that the Blackwood convention should be used to keep you out of a small slam when you are missing two aces, and to keep you out of a grand slam when you are missing two kings. Many beginners misuse the convention to try and find a slam. Only bid Blackwood when you are already confident that you have enough points for the slam you are considering.

My partner responds with 5 diamonds, showing one ace. That’s all I need to know. I could have asked for kings by bidding 5 no trump. In retrospect, that was probably a good idea. If we are missing the king of clubs, we might still be able to make the grand slam with a finesse, but a finesse is just a 50-50 proposition. A small slam is worth too much to risk going down in a grand slam half of the time. Still, my partner needs to fit his 13 points in somewhere. It’s hard to imagine where his 13 points could be if he is missing the king of clubs. It’s possible, though. He could hold the QJ in spades and hearts for 6 points, the AJ of diamonds for 5 more, just little cards in clubs, and 2 points for distribution. That would have made a grand slam difficult. Yeah, I should have asked for kings, but I just bid 7 hearts at this point.

Had my partner responded with 5 clubs to my Blackwood inquiry, I would have bid 6 hearts. We should easily have enough combined strength for a small slam, and we can afford to lose one trick to the ace of diamonds.

Given that I knew we were going to end up in a heart contract, I could have simply started off with Blackwood at my first turn.

Let’s make a plan for the play of the hand. Looking from North’s point of view (the weaker hand that opened the bidding), declarer needs to avoid a loser in clubs and one in spades. The dummy has two extra winners in diamonds, so declarer just needs to pull trumps, play the ace of diamonds in his hand, and lead to one of the winners on the board. Then, he cashes the K and Q of diamonds discarding a small spade and small club in his hand. The hand plays itself from that point. Easy, peasy.

Demand Bids

 We covered forcing bids in a previous post. Demand bids are a little bit different, but both situations demand that you make a bid. A forcing bid is a bid by your partner that requires you to bid something. A demand bid is a situation when the strength of your hand demands that you bid something. There are two primary situations when a demand bid comes up.

Opening Hands

This might seem obvious, but when everyone has passed to you and you have 13 points with distribution you must open the bidding. In the olden days, Goren would add a requirement of a "biddable suit" to open the bidding with 13 points. We don't worry about that any longer. If you have 13 points and no one else has opened the bidding, you need to bid something, even something with no good suit like this hand:

 

You aren’t happy with any of your suit holdings, but you must let your partner know that you have 13 points. Open 1 club, intending to bid 1 no trump at your next turn.

Responding to an Opening Bid

When your partner opens the bidding, you need to keep the bidding open for her if you have at least 6 points. That means that you need to respond 1 heart after partner’s 1 club opener even with a crummy hand like this:

Remember that your partner might have 20 points or more with her opening one bid. You need to give her another chance to speak unless you are extremely weak.

There is an exception if your partner opens 1NT. She has limited her strength to 17 HCP at the most. If you are satisfied with a NT contract, and you know your side doesn't have enough points for game (you have 8 or fewer HCP), you can pass.

Certain Bidding Sequences

Sometimes the strength promised by the bidding of the two partners demands that players continue bidding even though no bids are strictly forcing. An example would be:

South: 1 heart (normal opening bid, requires 13+ points)

North: 2 diamonds (2-over-1 response requires 10+ points)

South: 3 hearts (jump by opener in a suit already bid 16+ points)

North: ?

 

While South’s jump is not strictly forcing, the bids made so far indicate that the team has at least 26 points. Both players should keep bidding until a game contract is reached.

My right-hand opponent opened the bidding. What should I be thinking?

Your right-hand opponent (RHO) has just opened the bidding with one of a suit. Let’s say she bid 1 heart. You may have had an opening bid in mind for yourself before she put in her oar, but now you need to re-evaluate your options. The situation has changed considerably. Your left-hand opponent knows that his partner has a better-than-average hand. That’s not good for you. Also, given that one opponent has advertised a better-than-average hand, it leaves less strength potential for your partner.

So, are you just going to throw in the towel, now? No, but you have a different set of tools to work with. There are some hands that you could have opened with, but you must pass with after the opponents open. There are also some hands that you can make an overcall with that you couldn’t open. Then, there are some special bids. Let’s get started.

After your RHO opens the bidding you have these choices:

Simple overcall

Jump overcall

Double

No Trump overcall

Pass

Simple Overcall

Bidding your best suit at the minimum level is the most common defensive bid. An overcall requires a good 5-card suit whether it is a minor or a major suit. You want your partner to have a good reason to take you out of this suit.  You can make an overcall at the one level with less than an opening hand if your suit is good enough. You should probably have 10 points, but you might shade it a bit weaker if your partner has already passed. You aren’t likely to get into too much trouble at the one level, and opposite a passed hand, your side is almost certain to stop bidding soon.

An overcall at the two level should probably have opening strength.

Here are some examples:

This hand is strong enough to open the bidding. The diamond suit isn’t terribly strong, but this hand can make a 1 diamond overcall over a 1 club opener, or a 2 diamond overcall over a major suit opener.

This hand is not strong enough to open the bidding. It has only 11 points with distribution, but the good spade suit makes it a good hand for a 1 spade overcall over any one-level opening bid in a suit unless that suit other than spades.

Here, we have a hand that is strong enough to open the bidding, but does not have a 5-card suit. It is disappointing, but you need to pass this hand if the opponents open the bidding.

Jump overcall

A second option is the jump overcall. A jump overcall is a bid in a new suit at one level higher than is necessary. The bid shows a good 6-card suit and definitely less than opening strength. It is similar to a weak two opening bid.

This hand would open with a weak 2 diamonds if first to bid. However, if your RHO opens 1 club, you can make a jump overcall to 2 diamonds. If your RHO opens with one in a major, bid 3 diamonds.

There are hands that warrant double jumps or even triple jumps. Those hands tend to be weaker in high cards and longer in suit length. Save those ideas for a future post.

Double

If your RHO opens with a suit bid and you double, this is a “takeout double.” I’ll elaborate on takeout doubles in a future post. Ideally, your takeout double shows opening strength and 4-card support for all unbid suits. That would usually mean 4-4-4-1 distribution or 5-4-4-0. Those ideal hands don’t come up too often. You can stretch the distribution requirements and make a takeout double with just 3 cards in one unbid minor, but be sure to have 4 cards in any unbid major. You don’t intend to play the doubled contract. Your partner is forced to bid. Here are some good takeout double hands:

If your RHO opens 1 spade, you can make a takeout double with this hand. You have 4-card support for the unbid major, and are 4-3 in the unbid minors. You’ve got 16 high-card points. If your RHO opens with one of the other suits, you can overcall with 1 no trump. We’ll cover that in the next section.

With this hand, you can make a takeout double over a 1 club opener, but over any other opening bid, you must pass. You could have opened the bidding with 1 diamond if everyone passed to you, but after an opening bid of anything except 1 club, you have no good bid. You don’t have a 5-card suit for an overcall, and you aren’t strong enough to bid 1 no trump. You have to pass. It sucks, doesn’t it?

There is a situation when a “fake” takeout double is appropriate. Remember that a simple overcall can sometimes be made with less than an opening hand. If you have a strong hand, you want to let your partner know. There is a bid for that. With a 16+ point hand that would be appropriate for a simple overcall, you should double first. Your partner will think that you are making a takeout double and bid his best suit. At your next turn, you correct to your suit. If your partner is paying attention he will recognize that there must be a reason that you aren’t staying in his suit. After all, your takeout double implied that you could support all the unbid suits. Your double followed by a suit change shows your 16+ point overcall. Here is an example:

You hold this hand. Your RHO opens 1 club. You could make a simple overcall of 1 heart, but you would like to show your strength. Double instead. Let’s say your LHO passes, and your partner shows his best suit by bidding 1 spade. The opener passes. Now, you correct to 2 hearts. Partner recognizes a few suspicious things about your bidding. His thinking might go like this:

“Weren’t you supposed to have spade support with your takeout double?”

“Didn’t I deny hearts with my spade bid?”

“Aha! That wasn’t a real takeout double. My partner has a strong hand with 5 hearts.”

 

Important side note

A double of a 1 no trump opening bid is NOT a takeout double. It is meant to defend 1 no trump for penalties. It shows the same sort of hand that would open 1 no trump. Your partner might still take out your double if he doesn’t want to defend against 1 no trump, doubled. He would do that with a weak hand and a long suit.

No Trump overcall

If you have a hand that would have opened 1 no trump, but your RHO opens with 1 of a suit, you can usually make a 1 no trump overcall. The point requirements are stretched to 15-18 and you should have a stopper in the opener’s suit. This hand from above is a good example:

You wouldn’t want to bid 1 no trump over a spade opener because of the spade weakness, but versus any other opening bid 1 no trump is a good choice.

You can also overcall 2 no trump over a weak two opening bid, but you should have two stoppers in the opener’s suit.

Should you have a hand that you would have opened 2 no trump (20-21 HCP), double and jump in NT at your next turn. The immediate jump to 2NT over a one bid has a special meaning. Don't expect this situation to come up very often.

Some Special Bids

There are a couple of bids that have special meaning when the opponents open the bidding. One of them is called “unusual no trump.” That is a jump to 2NT over an opening 1 bid. Notice the difference from a 2NT overcall after an opening weak 2 bid. The unusual no trump bid requires a jump in no trump.

The other is called “Michael’s cue bid” where you bid 2 of the suit that the opener just bid.

Let’s just leave these alone for now. Just remember not to make these bids.

What if the opening bid is 1 no trump?

If your RHO opens 1NT, you are really sticking your neck out if you make an overcall. She is promising a strong hand and you could get into big trouble. You can still make an overcall, but both your hand and your suit should be stronger than the minimum requirements for a normal overcall.

You can still make a jump overcall, but it might be better to try to defend against no trump with your long, strong suit. If you are very weak, but have an extra long suit (7+ cards), you can try a jump overcall, but remember that this takes you to the 3 level, and you might get doubled for penalties.

What if the opening bid is a preempt?

If the opening bid is a weak two, or a preempt at the 3 level, you can still make an overcall, and a double is still for takeout. You just need to be stronger than usual because of the bidding level.

Forget about jump overcalls. You opponent has just advertised a weak hand and tried to obstruct the bidding. You don’t need to give her any help with obstructing the bidding, and if you are also weak, leave the bidding up to the partners. They are marked with some strength.

What if the opener just bid my suit?

Short answer: Pass.

If the opening bid was a major, the opener has 5 cards in that suit. If you have 5 cards in that suit, would you rather defend or be declarer against a 5-0 trump break? I thought so.

If the opening bid was a minor, it might have been from a 3-card suit, but maybe not. You might be able to back into your suit later in the bidding, but you don’t want to get involved now.

There is one other issue. What would you bid, anyway? You can’t bid 2 of that suit, because that is the Michael’s cue bid. It shows something completely different from what you have. You can’t double, because that is for takeout. Again, it shows something completely different from what you have.

Pass.

Reopening the bidding

There is one more situation worth mentioning. If you are in the South seat and the auction goes like this:

West: 1 heart

North: pass

East: pass

South: ?

In this situation, your partner is marked with some strength. Your RHO doesn’t even have 6 points to respond to the opener. You can lighten your requirements for all of the above bids, except for 1 no trump.