BRIDGE

BRIDGE

Weekly Quiz Answers

Q. Vulnerable, as South, you hold:

xK Q 10 9 8 3 uA 10 9 5 v8 w9 3

What action do you take?

A. It is simply a matter of whether you open one spade or a weak two spades. With two defensive tricks and both majors, we would not dream of making a weak two-bid. Bid one spade.

Q. Both vulnerable, as South, you hold:

xA K 9 5 uA K 7 5 v8 wA K 6 5

What is your opening bid?

A. Give yourself a fifth card in any suit and we would recommend a two club opening. Here, however, you need a lot of room to find the best spot, so you would simply open one club.

Q. Both vulnerable, as South, you hold:

x6 uA 9 2 vA K J 10 7 4 3 wK J

The bidding has proceeded:

NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST

Pass Pass ?

What is your opening bid?

A. Opposite a passed partner, give up all thoughts of slam and worry about the possibility that opponents might have game in a major. We would take the two-way shot of opening five diamonds and see what develops.

Q. Both vulnerable, as South, you hold:

xJ 9 8 5 4 2 uK Q v10 9 4 w9 3

The bidding has proceeded:

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

1x Dbl Pass ?

What action do you take?

A. The one thing you must not do is convert partner’s takeout double to penalties — you can’t expect to take more than two, perhaps three, tricks on defense, and there is no reason to expect partner to take four or five. Your choice lies between two diamonds, your longest unbid suit, and one no trump, a slight overbid. Since partner should realize you could be under pressure on this auction, and we do not like taking out into a three-card suit at the two-level, we would opt for one no trump.

Q. As South, vulnerable, you hold:

xK J 5 uA Q 7 6 4 2 v8 wQ J 9

The bidding has proceeded:

NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST

1NT Pass 3u Pass

3NT Pass ?

What do you bid now?

A. You need to make a slam suggestion to partner and, strangely enough, a bid of four hearts describes your strength and heart length almost exactly. With a six-card suit and no slam aspirations, you would simply have bid four hearts initially.

Q. Not vulnerable, as dealer, you hold:

x5 uK 9 3 vK J 10 9 6 5 4 2 w8

What is your opening bid?

A. Some pre-empt is in order, and there is no reason why you should not follow the Rule of Two and Three. Not vulnerable, bid within three tricks of what you expect to make with your long suit as trumps. You can expect to make six-plus in diamonds and possibly a heart trick, so open four diamonds.

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