Bidding Fast, Then Slow

 

Today, we’ll look at another slam bidding sequence. Sally is the dealer and passes. Walt holds

Walt
♠ KQ7532
♥ KQJ6
♦ J3
♣ 5

That’s 12 points in high cards, but Walt decides to subtract one for not having any aces and having just a doubleton jack in diamonds. Then, he adds 2 distribution points for the 6-card suit and one more for the second suit. That’s 12-1+2+1, 14 points total. It’s clearly enough to open the bidding with 1 spade.

Norm and Sally pass at every opportunity.

Edie finds herself with this strong hand:

Edie
♠ A6
♥ A32
♦ K4
♣ AKQ987

She has 20 HCP plus 2 in distribution for the 5^th and 6^th spades. Twenty-two points combined with her partner’s 13 should make a small slam. They might even have enough for grand slam. The problem is going to be finding a trump suit or choosing to play in NT. She doesn’t have adequate support for her partner’s suit, but she has a strong club suit. No trump looks possible, too. First off, she needs to show her strength. A jump shift by responder shows at least 19 points. It’s forcing to game and is a strong invitation to slam. That sounds like a good choice. She bids 3 clubs.

Walt has just a minimum opening hand, but still…opposite a jump shift, he wonders if a slam is in store. With the bidding already forced to game, there is no hurry. The team needs to find a trump fit if they have one. Edie could easily have 4 cards in hearts. Walt bids 3 hearts. He might want to show his extra length in spades later if he has a chance.

Edie doesn’t like hearts or spades for a trump suit, but her clubs will likely play well in a NT contract. She is worried that Walt will pass if she just bids 3NT, and she wants to be in a small slam, at least. She decides to bid Blackwood to see if her partner has the missing ace. If he has it, she will ask for kings to see if grand slam is possible. She bids 4NT.

Walt shows no aces by bidding 5 clubs.

OK, so grand slam isn’t there, but a small slam should be. Edie bids 6NT and worries a little bit about the diamonds. There is some risk that Walt had a very distributional hand with something like 6-6 in the majors with a singleton and a void in the minors. OK, that is a flaw in the strong jump shift. It uses up a lot of bidding space. Opposite most hands, though, 6NT should play well.

The opening lead is a small diamond--the unbid suit. Edie plans the play:

Dummy
♠ KQ7532
♥ KQJ6
♦ J3
♣ 5

Declarer
♠ A6
♥ A32
♦ K4
♣ AKQ987

Edie’s worry about the diamonds is well founded, but with the lead on her left she will take the king either on the first trick, or later if Norm takes the ace on the first trick. Now, she needs a plan to cash 11 more tricks without losing the lead.

Without jumping through any hoops, she can take the AKQ of spades, the AKQJ of hearts and the AKQ of clubs. That’s 10 tricks. She just needs a 3-2 break in spades or a 3-3 break in clubs to set up the little cards in one of those suits. She can just cash the winners and if one suit breaks badly, she can use the other suit as a backup plan. It’s not 100% guaranteed, but the odds are in her favor.

 

 

Responding to a Weak Two Opener - An Example

Responding when your partner opens with a weak two can be difficult. The weak two uses up a lot of bidding room. That’s great when the opponents have most of the strength. It’s not so great when you have a good hand.

The general principle is RONF or Raise-Only-Not-Forcing. Any bid that you make other than a raise of your partner’s suit is forcing for one round. A raise of your partner’s suit is intended to play there. She is expected to pass.

Let’s look at an example. Sally is dealer and opens 2 spades. Walt passes. Norm is holding this hand:

Norm
♠ KQ4
♥ 653
♦ AK8
♣ JT75

That’s 13 points with extra trump support. A game is possible if Sally is on the top of her bid. Even 3NT is possible, but the weak hearts might make that risky. Norm thinks about inviting game by bidding 3 spades, but then he remembers the RONF acronym. A raise tells his partner to pass.

This hand is a good candidate for the special 2NT response to a weak two opener. The 2NT response asks the opening bidder to show a “feature.” The opener will rebid her suit with a low-end weak two. With a strong weak two, she will show an ace or king in a side suit (the feature) by bidding that suit. With a strong hand and no feature, she bids 3NT to show…well…a strong weak two with no feature.

If Sally shows a feature in hearts, Norm might bid 3NT. His hand is balanced. He is no longer worried about hearts, and the 6-3 fit in spades will likely generate 5 or 6 tricks. It's not hard to envision taking 9 tricks in NT. With any other positive response from Sally, Norm will bid 4 spades.

Sally holds this hand:

Sally
♠ AJT986
♥ Q7
♦ 954
♣ Q2

That’s a solid weak two opener, but it isn’t exactly a strong weak two. It’s not exactly a weak weak two, either. It's in the middle. She doesn’t have a feature to show, and the two doubleton queens tilt the hand toward the weak side. She decides to show weakness and bids 3 spades.

Norm has learned what he needs to know and passes.

As the cards lie, even 3 spades looks unlikely to make. Sally sees 2 losers in hearts, 1 in diamonds, and 2 in clubs. Bummer.

Wide Ranges and Narrow Ranges

 When your partner makes a bid, it is important to ask yourself whether the bid shows a wide point range or a narrow one. If it is a narrow point range, like 10-12, you should assume control of the bidding. Add your points to your partner's and decide whether you should stop in a part score, bid a game, or try for a slam. Sometimes you need to know if your partner is on the high end or low end of that narrow range. In those cases, you should make a bid that invites your partner to bid on if she is on the top of the range, or pass if she isn't.

When your partner makes a bid that shows a wide point range you should be inclined to keep the bidding open for your partner to bid again. For example, an opening bid of 1 spade could be just 13 points or it could be over 20 points, but just shy of the requirements for a strong 2 club opener. That's why you must respond with just 6 points. You want to give your partner a chance to narrow down her point range. You might have the opportunity to show a narrow range with your own hand with your response. If you have adequate trump support (3 or more cards), a single raise shows 6-9 points and a double raise shows 10-12.

So, what sorts of bids show wide ranges and what sorts of bids show narrow ranges? In general, when you bid a suit that has been mentioned before by you or your partner, your bid will show a narrow range. The same goes for when you bid no trump. When you bid a new suit, your point range is usually pretty large.

Wide Ranges

As I just mentioned new suit bids generally show wide point ranges. Some examples are:

• Opening one bids
• New suits by responder
• New suits rebids by opener 

 When your partner makes one of these bids, you will often want to bid again to give your partner a chance to better describe her hand. Let's look at each one in turn.

Opening One Bids

The opening one bid could be anything from 13 to 21 points. That's why you MUST respond if you have at least 6 points. You don't want to miss a game bid if your partner is on the high end. If your partner opens with 1 spade and you have at least 6 points, but fewer than 10, your options are rather limited. You can't introduce a new suit at the 2 level with fewer than 10 points, so your only choices are 2 spades and 1 no trump. Don't worry if your hand looks ill suited for no trump. Your partner knows that that is a possibility. You are just telling her that you do not have adequate trump support and that you have 6-9 points. And guess what? You just limited your hand. That should make her bidding a little easier.

New Suit by Responder

When you open one of a suit and your partner responds in a new suit, she could have as few as 6 points (if the new suit is at the one level) or as many as 18. Not only should you bid. You are forced to bid for this round. You might be wondering, "Six points is a forcing bid?" Well, yeah, but it could be 18. That's why it takes 10 points to introduce a new suit at the 2 level. The 1-over-1 new suit bid will only force the opener to bid at the 2 level as a worst case. The 2-over-1 response might make the opener bid at the 3 level.

New Suit Rebids by Opener

There are some sequences where it seems that neither player wants to limit their hand. Something like

Opener: 1 club

Responder: 1 heart

Opener: 1 spade

That's a perfectly normal sequence, but neither player has narrowed their possible strength ranges. The opener didn't make a jump-shift, so at least we know that she doesn't have 20+ points. Responder can pass with a minimum 6 points if he is happy playing in spades. The players are running out of new suits to bid, so it is likely that one or the other of them will limit their hand on the next bid.

Narrow Ranges

Bids that show narrow ranges are

• No trump bids
• Raises of partner's suit
• Rebids of your own suit

These bids generally show 3 point ranges, although sometimes a point more or a point less. Let's look at each one,

No Trump Bids

Opening no trump bids show very specific types of hands with either 2 or 3 point ranges. A detailed discussion of no trump opening bids is discussed in an earlier post. 

Responding to an opening one bid in no trump shows a specific point range as follows:

• 1NT: 6-9 points
• 2NT: 13-15 points
• 3NT: 16-18 points 

The no trump responses also deny adequate trump support for a major suit opener, and usually deny 4 cards in a major suit that could have been bid instead. It is probably a good idea to avoid the 2NT response to a major suit opener. The SAYC system uses that bid as the "Jacoby 2NT" convention--a conventional forcing raise. We haven't discussed that, yet. It's a little too advanced for now.

No trump rebids by opener also show a specific point range. Minimum rebids in NT show minimum opening hands (13-15 points). Jump rebids in NT show 16-18 points. Here are some examples:

Opener: 1 club

Responder: 1 heart

Opener: 1 NT (13-15 points). 

Opener also implies the lack of a 4-card spade suit or 4-card support for his partner's hearts

Opener: 1 club

Responder: 1 spade

Opener: 2 NT (16-18 points)

Opener implies lack of 4-card support for his partner's hearts, and probably doesn't have 4 hearts, either. With 4 hearts, opener might have bid 2H as a reverse to show the extra strength. See my earlier post on reverses if you are unclear on that concept.

Opener: 1 spade

Responder: 2 hearts

Opener: 2 NT (13-15 points). 

This is a minimum rebid in NT. It shows a minimum strength opener.

Opener: 1 spade

Responder: 2 hearts

Opener: 3 NT (16-18 points). 

Responder's 2-over-1 response promises 10 points, so opener can confidently bid game. This is not a shut-off bid. Responder could be much stronger than 10. His bid has a wide range. He should investigate slam if his points added to opener's possible 18 could add up to 33.

Raises of Partner's Suit

Direct raises of the opener's suit should be well-known to you by now. A single raise shows 6-9 points. A double raise shows 10-12 points.

When the opener supports her partner's suit, it shows a specific point range, also. A minimum raise shows a minimum hand (13-15 points). A jump raise shows 16-18. An immediate raise to 4 shows 19+.

This last bid merits further discussion. Consider this sequence:

Opener: 1 club (13-21 points)

Responder: 1 spade (6-17 points)

Opener: 4 spades

For all that the opener knows, her partner might have just 6 points. She just jumped to game. She would like to have 20 points to do that. I wouldn't blame her for just jumping to 3 with 19, but 19 and some reason to be optimistic is enough to jump to game.

Now, consider the responder's rebid. He might have far more than 6 points, and his partner has just jumped to game based only on his promise of at least 6. Responder does the math and expects his partner to have 20 points. If responder has 12 or more points, he should consider a slam try.

Rebids of Your Own Suit

The same ideas apply when you rebid your own suit. Minimum rebids show minimum hands. Jump rebids show 3-6 points more than a minimum hand. Here are some examples:

Opener: 1 heart

Responder: 1 spade

Opener: 2 hearts (13-15 points)

Opener: 1 heart

Responder: 1 spade

Opener: 3 hearts (16-18 points)

It's a little bit different for the responder. In the sequences above, the opener was forced to rebid. The responder can pass his rebid, so any bid shows a little bit more than a minimum. Consider this sequence:

Opener: 1 club

Responder: 1 heart (6-18)

Opener: 1 spade (13-19 with 20+ she would jump shift)

Responder: ?

With a mere 6 points, if partner wants to rebid hearts, it's too bad. He needs more strength to advance the bidding. He can bid 1NT or pass. With something like 5 clubs and 3 spades, he can take his partner back to clubs, but those are about all of his options.

With a 5-card heart suit and 10-12 points, he can rebid his hearts. If he has 13+ points and 5 hearts, he can make a single jump to 3 hearts. This bid doesn't limit his hand too much, but jumps by responder at this point in the bidding are forcing to game.

Summary

• Bidding a suit for the first time generally doesn't limit your hand strength to a narrow range. 
• Bidding a suit that has already been mentioned by your side generally does.
• Bidding no trump at any point in the auction usually limits your strength to a narrow range.

Another Slam

Today, we’ll look at another slam. It makes easily as the cards lie. I only found one obscure way that it goes set. Those are good odds.

	Norm ♠ 6 ♥ AKJ ♦ QT65 ♣ AQJT3
Walt ♠ AT7 ♥ T3 ♦ 92 ♣ K98654		Edie ♠ 8532 ♥ 86 ♦ K8743 ♣ 7
	Sally ♠ KQJ9 ♥ Q97542 ♦ AJ ♣ 2

Edie is the dealer. She has next to nothing and passes. Sally has 13 HCP plus 2 distribution points for the 6-card heart suit and 1 more distribution point for the second 4-card suit. She bids 1 heart. Walt briefly considers interfering with a jump in clubs, but decides against it. He passes. Edie and Walt pass at every opportunity from now on.

Norm has support for his partner’s hearts, but with 17 points in high cards and 2 distribution points, he is too strong for a single raise (6-9) or a limit double raise (10-12). If he had an extra trump, he could count 3 points for the singleton. In any case, he has 19 points. That’s enough for a jump shift. He bids 3 clubs. Edie passes.

A jump shift by responder is an invitation to slam. Thirteen points by opener plus 19 by responder is just one point short of the 33 needed for a small slam. There is no upper limit to the jump shift, so the partners should take their time finding their best contract. They are already forced to game.

Sally doesn’t know that Norm has support for her hearts. She also knows that Norm doesn’t know that she has 6. The club bid might suggest playing in no trump, but transportation might be difficult. Sally decides that the best choice is to show her 6-card heart suit. Norm also doesn’t know that Sally has better than a minimum opening bid, but she doesn’t want to rush the bidding. She is sure to get another chance to bid since the jump shift is a game force. She simply rebids her hearts with a 3H bid. Walt passes.

Norm doesn’t know that Sally has extra strength. For all he knows, Sally has a minimum opening hand. He has shown all of his strength with his original jump-shift response. He just needs to show Sally that he has support for her hearts. She can push farther if she has more than a minimum hand. He bids 4H.

Now, Sally adds her 16 points to her partner’s promised 19 and wants to be in slam. If Norm has just a couple more than his promised 19 points, grand slam could be possible. It might be hard to find the grand slam, but she starts by with the Blackwood convention to make sure that they are not off two aces. It’s hard to imagine how that could be, but the information might help to find the grand slam. She bids 4NT.

Norm shows 2 aces by bidding 5H. Well, there goes the grand slam idea. Small slam missing one ace shouldn’t be a problem. Norm’s points have to be somewhere useful. Sally bids 6H and everyone passes.

Walt is on lead.

Walt
♠ AT7
♥ T3
♦ 92
♣ K98654

Some people like to lead aces against slams, but from Walt’s point of view, it might just make the play easier for Sally. Getting a club ruff in his partner’s hand is a possibility after Norm’s initial club bid, but unless Edie is void in clubs, leading away from that king could help the opponents. Norm decides to try a safe lead of the 9 of diamonds.

	Norm ♠ 6 ♥ AKJ ♦ QT65 ♣ AQJT3
Walt ?		Edie ?
	Sally ♠ KQJ9 ♥ Q97542 ♦ AJ ♣ 2

There really isn’t much that Walt could do. The diamond lead gives Sally a free finesse, but she would have played it that way for herself, anyway. Sally plays small from dummy, and Edie holds on to her king, hoping to make a trick with it later. She plays the 3 and Sally takes with the Jack.

Sally has to lose the ace of spades. She needs to have a plan to not lose a second one. It all depends on how the trumps break.

If the trumps break 2-2 Sally can simply pull trump, force out the ace of spades and ruff the 9 of spades in dummy. But what if they don’t?

If Sally pulls two rounds of trump and one opponent fails to follow suit on the second one, she has a problem. She still needs to force out the ace of spades and regain the lead to ruff the losing spade. If the opponent holding the ace also holds the missing trump, that player will lead back the trump, and there goes her plan for ruffing a spade. There is still a club finesse that could yield a club ace to discard the losing spade. Is there a better way?

How about leading the king of spades on the second trick? Now, the opponent with the ace will take it. That happens to be Walt. Walt looks at his 6 clubs and the 5 clubs on the board, and decides to take a chance on his partner being void in clubs. He doesn’t like leading away from his king with the AQ on the board, but with only 2 clubs out, the only time Sally is going to think about playing the queen will be when she holds two little clubs. That leaves Edie with none. Walt leads a small club. Sally plays the ace from dummy. Edie follows suit.

Sally starts by testing against a 4-0 trump break. She leads the ace of trump from dummy. If the trumps break 4-0, she will need all of her big trumps to avoid a trump loser. Play will be difficult, but not impossible. We’ll look at that possibility a little later. As the cards stand, both players follow to the trump lead. Sally can afford another trump lead. She leads the king. Both players follow. Wow! Now it’s easy. The trumps are gone. Sally leads to the ace of diamonds and ruffs the 9 of spades. She can get to her hand by ruffing either a diamond or a club and her hand is good.

Suppose someone showed out on the second round of trumps. Now, Sally needs to stop pulling trump. She needs to get the spade ruff in first. She will know where the missing trump is. If Edie holds it, there is nothing to worry about. Sally can lead a club from the board, intending to ruff in her hand. If Edie ruffs, Sally can simply over ruff.

If Walt holds the missing trump, it is probably still safer to lead a club and ruff it. The only time this loses is if Walt started with a singleton club and three trumps. It’s possible, but the opening lead of the 9 of diamonds looks more likely to be a singleton than the later lead of a small club.

Let’s say the club lead doesn’t get overruffed by Walt. Now Sally leads the 9 of spades to ruff in dummy. There is no chance of an overruff there. The Jack is high.

Let’s say that Edie followed suit to the second club. Sally is on the board and still needs to pull the last trump. Sally needs to get back to her hand. Leading a club, again has a higher risk of being overruffed by Walt. I like leading to the ace of diamonds at this point. Walt might ruff, but we’ll take that chance. Sally takes the ace, Walt follows suit, and Sally pulls the last trump. Her hand is good.

Suppose Edie showed out on the first round of trump. Grrr. Sally will need to watch her entries to the board, and try a ruffing finesse in one of the minor suits. Walt’s lead of a small club suggest that he does not have the king. Sally leads the queen of clubs from dummy intending to discard the 9 of spades if Edie ducks, and ruffing if she covers with the king.

To her great surprise, Edie discards! That crazy Walt led away from his king into the AQ on the board. Sally has to ruff. Now what? She needs all of the trumps on the board to pull trump. There is a good king of clubs to her left. Walt started with 6 clubs, 4 hearts, and at least 1 diamond and 1 spade. That only leaves one card unaccounted for. A ruffing finesse in diamonds would require two more diamonds in Walt’s hand, so that is guaranteed not to work. There’s no hope. Sally’s goose is cooked.

Two Ways to Bid a Slam

Today’s hand shows how a pair can bid a slam using simple arithmetic. This isn’t the method that was used when the hand was played, but they still found the slam.

	Norm ♠ 95 ♥ J976 ♦ T64 ♣ 9652
Walt ♠ AQT ♥ K853 ♦ AQ32 ♣ A8		Edie ♠ KJ76 ♥ A4 ♦ K85 ♣ KQ74
	Sally ♠ 8432 ♥ QT2 ♦ J97 ♣ JT3

Walt is the dealer. He has 19 points in high cards and no trump distribution. His hand is too strong to open 1NT (15-17 HCP) and too weak to open 2NT (20-21 HCP). He needs to open with 1 of a suit, intending to jump in NT at his next turn. He opens 1 diamond.

Norm and Sally have next to nothing. They will pass at every opportunity.

Edie doesn’t know how strong her partner’s hand is. It might be a minimum 13 point hand, or it could be just short of a strong 2 clubs. She has a strong hand. She’s got 16 points in high cards and can count one for distribution. It’s not strong enough for a jump shift, but she doesn’t have to show her strength, yet. Any new suit bid by responder is forcing for one round, so she will get another chance to bid after responding with 1 spade.

Walt doesn’t know how strong his partner is. Her 1S response could be as weak as 6 points, or just short of the 19 points needed for a jump shift. He doesn’t expect his partner to have 4 hearts, because she skipped over them. His partner is only promising 4 cards in spades and they might be little ones, so he can’t be sure of a spade fit. No problem. He had jumping in NT in mind right from the start. He bids 2NT.

Now, Edie knows precisely how strong Walt is. His opening suit bid followed by a jump in NT shows 18-19 HCP. No trump looks good to her. She adds her 16 HCP to her partner’s 18 and comes up with 34. That should be enough for a small slam. If her partner has 19 points, the 35 point total isn’t enough for grand slam. She just sits right up and bids 6NT. There is no need to ask for aces. Their side can’t be off 2 aces if they have at least 34 HCP. There are only 6 HCP left for the opponents.

Next, suppose we move one card in Walt’s hand. This is actually the way the cards stood when the hand was played.

	Norm ♠ 95 ♥ J976 ♦ T64 ♣ 9652
Walt ♠ AQT8 ♥ K853 ♦ AQ32 ♣ A		Edie ♠ KJ76 ♥ A4 ♦ K85 ♣ KQ74
	Sally ♠ 432 ♥ QT2 ♦ J97 ♣ JT83

Now, Walt’s hand doesn’t look too good for no trump, unless his partner shows some length in clubs. As before, he bids 1 diamond.

Nothing has changed for Edie at this point. She bids 1 spade.

Now, Walt doesn’t want to jump in NT. The clubs could be trouble and he has found a 4-4 spade fit. He wants to support Edie’s spades and show his strength. When supporting partner’s suit or rebidding your own suit, a minimum bid shows a minimum hand. A jump in that suit shows about 3-5 points (about 1 trick) more than the minimum.

Here, Walt has 19 HCP and can count 2 distribution points for the singleton club, now that they have found a suit fit. For all he knows, Edie might have just 6 points. She could pass a jump to 3 spades. Walt knows that they have enough for game, so he just bids it. He bids 4 spades.

Now, Edie shouldn’t just automatically pass because they have reached game. She should stop to reason, “Walt bid game even though I have only promised 6 points. He must have at least 20 points to do that.” She adds her 16 to partner’s 20 and she should be pretty sure that they have enough for a small slam. Grand slam is a possibility. Now, asking for aces is useful. She would be surprised to find that her partner doesn’t have all the missing aces. She is really interested in how many kings he has. She bids 4NT.

Walt responds 5S, showing the 3 aces that she expected. If Walt has the missing king, grand slam looks likely. She bids 5NT. Walt shows the missing king by bidding 6H. Edie bids 7S.