GAMES CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
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Opening Leads Quiz
June 23, 2015
“Although opening leads are always in the Blind, they need not be Deaf.”
Take a look at the following auctions – you are West and on opening lead. Only your hand is shown. Pick the card you choose to lead and why you chose it. All auctions are based on Standard American and slam inquiries are regular Blackwood asking for number of Aces. You are playing IMPs as scoring so you are focused on defeating the contract – giving Declarer an uptrick or 2 is not as important as it would be in a match points game. Paul will discuss these hands with you Tuesday at 5:45.
Hand No. 1 – South deals
North East South West
--- ---- 1NT Pass
3NT All Pass
ª A 2
© A 6 3
¨ A 8 5
§ 6 5 4 3 2
Hand No. 2 – South deals
North East South West
--- ---- 1NT 2♥
3♥!(Stayman) Pass 3♠ Pass
4♠ All Pass
ª 8 2
© A 10 6 4 3 2
¨ 9 7
§ K Q J
Hand No. 3 – South deals
North East South West
--- ---- 1♥ Double
All Pass
ª A K 10 6
© 2
¨ Q J 10 8
§ K Q 8 5
Hand No. 4 – South deals
North East South West
--- ---- 1♥ Pass
2♦ Pass 3♦ Pass
3♥ Pass 4NT Pass
5♦ (1 Ace) Pass 6♥ All Pass
ª 10 9 8 4 3
© 8 7 5
¨ A 6
§ Q 6 3
Hand No. 5 – South deals
North East South West
--- ---- 1NT Pass
3NT Double All Pass
ª 10 9 8 7
© K 8 5
¨ 9 7 6 2
§ 9 3
Hand No. 6 – South deals
North East South West
--- ---- 1♥ Pass
3♥(limit raise) Pass 4NT Pass
5♥ Pass 6♥ Pass
Pass Double All Pass
ª 9 8 7
© 6
¨ 8 7 6 4 3 2
§ K Q J
Hand No. 7 – South deals
North East South West
--- ---- 1♠ Pass
1NT Pass 2♦ Pass
2♠ All Pass
ª 7 5 3
© 9 7 2
¨ A J 10 2
§ K Q J
Hand No. 8 – South deals
North East South West
--- ---- 1♥ Pass
2♣ Pass 3♣ Pass
3♥ Pass 4♥ All Pass
ª 8 6 3
© A K Q 2
¨ Q10 8 6 3
§ 7
Hand No. 9 – South deals
North East South West
--- ---- 1♠ Pass
2♣ Pass 3♣ Pass
3♥ Pass 3♠ Pass
4♠ All Pass
ª K 4
© Q J 10 9 8
¨ K J 4
§ 7 3 2
Hand No. 10 – East deals
North East South West
--- 1♥ 1♠ Pass
2NT Pass 4♠ All Pass
ª 5 2
© Q 6 2
¨ 8 6 3 2
§ 9 8 6 4
Hand No. 11 – South deals
North East South West
--- ---- 1♥ Pass
1♠ Pass 3NT All Pass
ª K 8 3
© K Q J 3 2
¨ 10 8 5
§ J 7
CHANGE UP ALERT – HERE IS A BIDDING QUESTION
Hand No. 12 – South deals
North East South West
--- ---- 1♦ Pass
1♠ 2♥ 2♠ ????
ª A 5 3
© 10 9 7 6
¨ 4
§ Q J 10 8 5
Hand No. 13 – North deals
North East South West
1♦ Pass 1♠ Pass
3♦ Pass 3NT All Pass
ª J 8 7 5
© 8 4 3
¨ J 4 3
§ A 9 6
Hand No. 14 – North deals
North East South West
1♦ Pass 2♣ Pass
2♦ Pass 3NT All Pass
ª A K 5 2
© 7 6 3
¨ A 5 2
§ K 5 3
Hand No. 15 – North deals
North East South West
1♠ Pass 3♦(strong) Pass
4♠ Pass 4NT Pass
5♥ Pass 5NT Pass
6♦ Pass 7NT All Pass
ª K 6
© 9 6 3
¨ J 6 4 2
§ 8 7 6 3
Change Up Alert – You are South on Hand 16
Hand No. 16 – East deals
North East South West
--- 1NT Pass 2♣
Pass 2♠ Pass 3NT
All Pass
As South you hold:
ª K 9 8 6 2
© 8 7 3
¨ 9 8
§ J 7 4
Hand No. 17 – North deals
North East South West
1♥ Pass 1♠ Pass
2♣ Pass 2♦ Pass
2♠ All Pass
ª Q J 10 2
© A 7 6
¨ J 7 6 3
§ 3 2
Hand 17 above was Board No. 1 from our June 16 game. Visit Pianola.net to view the entire hand.
Major Suit Raises – Weak Hands
May 26, 2015
Expectations of an Opening bid of 1 of a Major Suit
When your partner opens 1 of a major, you expect her to have:
At least 5 cards in the bid suit.
A specific point range which, based on partnership agreement, may be 12 or 13 “total points” minimum and up to 20 or 21 maximum.
Based on partnership agreement, at least 2 quick tricks (perhaps 2-1/2 if vulnerable).
Counting Points
In counting “total points” needed for an opening bid of 1 of a major, we recommend counting long suit points but not adding points for short suits. Long suit points are calculated by adding 1 point to your High Card Points for each card of a suit you hold in excess of 4. For example:
ª A K 9 7 6 3
© J 4 3
¨ K 8 2
§ 10
This hand has 11 High Card Points, but it has 13 total points due to the 5th and 6th spade.
Quick Tricks
A “quick trick” is an Ace or a King-Queen combination in one suit. An Ace-King combination in one suit is worth 2 quick tricks. A one-half quick trick is a King without holding the Ace or Queen of the suit, or a Queen where you also hold the
Ace of the suit (the Ace-Queen combination would be a total of 1 ½ quick tricks – 1 for the Ace and ½ for the Queen).
The hand above has 2½ quick tricks due to the Ace King combination (2) and the bare King of diamonds (1/2). We would open this hand 1ª.
Golden Fits and Games
When responding to partner’s opening bid of 1 of a major, keep in mind the rules of a “golden fit” (at least 8 cards in the trump suit) and “golden game” (with a major suit golden fit, 25 combined points for the partnership). If you, as responder, have 3 or more cards in the major suit bid by your partner, you know you have the “golden fit” – the issue of the final strain is settled – it’s going to be the major suit. The issue to explore is the level (part score, game, small slam, or yes perhaps even grand slam!).
In this lesson, we will talk about hands held by responder where slams are not in the picture. The issue will be part score or game. These are hands with less than 10 points. Why no slams? Easy – the most opener can have is 21 points and if responder has less than 10, the combined hands have no more than 30 points. It generally takes 33 for a small slam.
Guidelines for Responding to Partner’s Opening bid of 1 of a Major
The general “rules” are:
With hands with 3 or 4 card support and less than 6 “dummy points” responder will simply pass the opener’s bid of 1 of a major.
With 3 or 4 card support and 6 to 9 “dummy points” responder will raise the opener’s bid to 2 of the major.
We will talk about weak hands with 5 or more card support later.
Dummy Points
So, what are “dummy points”? When you know your hand will be the dummy, you switch from counting long suit points as described above to counting short suit points. As you might imagine, this is due to the fact that one way declarer can get rid of losers is by trumping a loser in dummy. To do that, she will need dummy to have shortness in the side suit in which she has losers. You count 1 dummy point for doubletons; 3 points for singletons; and 5 points for voids.
In an uncontested auction, Partner opens 1ª and you have the following:
ª 10 6 3
© A 7 5 4 3
¨ 8
§ 7 5 3 2
You have only 4 High Card Points and only 5 “total points” (counting a point for the 5th heart), but because you have a “golden fit” in spades you know the final strain will be spades and that your hand will be the dummy. You have 7 “dummy points” and will be happy to raise partner’s opening bid to 2ª.
Opener’s Rebids – Minimum and Maximum Opening Bids
Let’s look at opener’s rebids. Opener decides what to rebid based on whether her opening bid was based on a “minimum” hand, a “medium” hand, or a “maximum” hand. A “minimum” hand is one with 15 or fewer total points; a medium hand is one with 16 to 18 total points, and a maximum hand is one with 19 or more.
With a minimum hand, opener will simply pass the 2 level response. After all, responder can have no more than 9 points so the combined points will be less than 25. With a maximum hand, opener will leap to game. 19 points plus responder known 6 will equal 25 or more (“She who knows – goes” – opener needs no more information to “know” that the right level is game).
Consider the following hand held by opener:
ª A K Q 9 8
© K 2
¨ A Q 2
§ 8 6 4
With this 19 total point hand, you will raise responder’s 2ª response to 4ª. Your left-hand opponent (LHO) leads the King of clubs and you see dummy come down with the hand in the left hand column. Your right-hand opponent (RHO) plays the Ace and returns the 9 of clubs to LHO who wins with the 10. LHO then plays the Queen of clubs and RHO discards a low diamond. You’ve now lost the first three tricks and can afford no more losersgirufgub9tvi. LHO plays the 9 or hearts. Plan your play and we will talk about it Tuesday night.
Opener’s Rebids with a Medium Hand – Help Suit Game Try
While the responses by opener with a minimum or maximum opening hand are fairly routine, the “rub” is what to do with the medium opening hand. If opener has 17 points, she will want to be in game opposite an 8 or 9 point hand but not a 6 or 7 point hand. Consider the following hand that you open 1ª and partner responds 2ª:
ª A K J 5 2
© 2
¨ K J 8 2
§ A 8 6
You have 16 HCPs and 17 total points so if Partner has 8 or 9 you want to be in game. You could bid 3ª inviting Partner to bid 4 with 8 or 9 points; however, with the “right” 6 count, you may take 10 tricks. Consider the diamond suit. If Partner has the Ace and Queen of diamonds, you will have no losers in diamonds, two losers in clubs, one heart loser and a possible loser in the spade suit. However, if you succeed in finessing the opponents out of their spade queen, you will take 10 tricks if spades break 3-2 as expected. So instead of bidding 3ª, you can make a Help Suit Game Try by bidding 3¨. This bid asks Partner to bid game with “help” in the suit (it DOES NOT suggest that diamonds should be the strain).
So with the Ace Queen of diamonds your partner will happily bid 4ª. What if Partner has:
ª Q 9 3
© 5 4 3
¨ Q 10 6
§ K Q 4 2
With a 9 count and some help in diamonds, Partner should also raise to 4.
General Guidance for Responding to a Help Suit Game Try
Here are the general “rules” about responding to a Help Suit Game Try: (a) with 1 or fewer “losers” in the “help” suit, bid game; (b) with 3 “losers” sign off at 3 of the major; and (c) with 2 “losers” bid game with an 8 or 9 count and sign off at 3 with 6 or 7. “Rules” as you may know are guidelines only. Have some fun with it and see what results you can get.
By “losers” in a help suit, I mean missing the Ace, King, or Queen. If missing all 3 in the help suit (and having 3 or more cards in the help suit), you have 3 “losers”. Missing two of the three, you have 2 losers, and missing one of the three, you have 1 loser.
Responding to Partner’s 1 of a Major opening bid with a Weak Hand but 5 or more of Her Suit
Partner opens 1ª and you hold:
ª Q J 9 7 5 2
© 2
¨ K 2
§ 9 8 6
You have only 6 HCPs and 9 or 10 dummy points, but with weak hands you want to preemptively bid 4ª immediately! It may make and it may prevent opponents from finding game in Hearts.
We will discuss this concept further at our mini-lesson at 5:45 on Tuesday. See you then!