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Quiz: Barrier-Reversing

Quiz: Deal # Sunday
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Basic
strategy
0000). How to use 0001). Bidding Objectives = "8 and 25" 0002). 28 for minor 0003). 33 for NT slam 0004). Suit slam 0005). Importance of length 0006). Convention card 0007). ACOL and American Standard, differences 0008). A-Z Glossary 0690). A-Z Glossary
Hand
evaluation
0010). Balanced-Unbalanced 0011). How strong is your hand, HCP 0012). Distribution points 0013). Losing trick count 0014). Barrier-Reversing 0015). Selection of opening suit 0016). Showing shape 0017). 4441 distribution 0018). The skip over principle 0019). Rule of 20 Opening 1 of a suit 0019a). Rule of 25 Opening 2 of a suit 0019b). Rule of 500 Max penalty risk on preempt if doubled 0019c). Law of total tricks 0019d). Rule of Protective bidding
Opening
bids
0020). Plan of attack 0021). Bal, 12 to 19 HCPs, weak NT 0022). Bal, 20+ points 0023). Bal, 15 to 17 HCPs, strong NT 0025). Unbal, 12 to 19 HCPs, 1 suit 0026). Unbal, Strong 2s 0027). Unbal, Pre-emptive 0028). Unbal, Gambling 3NT 0029). Benji Strong 2s
Responder
1st bids
0030). After 1NT, General principles 0031). After 1NT, Weak 0032). After 1NT, Getting out of trouble 0033). After 1NT, 11+ balanced 0034). After 1NT, 11+ 4-card major 0035). After 1NT, 11+ unbalanced 0036). After 1NT, 19+ 0037). After 2NT 0038). After 1NT, and Enemy has interfered 0039). 1 NT responses 0040). After 1 Suit, With fit 0041). After 1 Suit, No fit, but alternative suit 0042). After 1 Suit, No fit, no new suit, probably balanced 0043). After 1 Suit, 6 points, nothing to bid 0044). After 1 Suit, Very strong 0045). After 1 Suit, Weak freak 0047). After 2 Suit, Strong 2s 0048). After 2 Suit, Weak 2s 0049). After 3 Suit, Responding to preempt
Openers
rebid
0050). Unbalanced, The general idea 0051). Unbalanced, You are weak 0052). Unbalanced, You are strong 0053). Unbalanced, Partner replied with 1NT 0054). Unbalanced, Delayed support 0055). Balanced
Responder
rebids
0060). Responder rebids, The general idea 0061). Choice of two suits 0062). Responders reverse 0063). After 1NT rebid
Basic
Convention
0080). Stayman 0081). Transfer 0082). Transfer after 2NT 0161). Minor suit transfer
Slam
bidding
0090). Slam, Spotting the chance 0091). Blackwood 0092). No-trump slam 0093). Gerber 0094). Extra slam techniques
Interfering
bids
0100). Overcalls, the basic idea 0101). Overcalls, in a suit, over a suit 0102). Overcalls, in a suit, over 1NT 0103). Overcalls, in NT, over a suit 0104). Overcalls, Jump overcall 0105). Overcalls, Double then bid a suit 0106). Overcalls, Bidding opponents suit 0107). Overcalls, Balancing (protective) 0108). Overcalls, Overcall a preempt 0109). Overcalls, Preemptive double jump 0110). Overcalls, To overcall, or to double 0111). Overcalls, Response to 1NT after suit overcall (Lebensohl) 0115). Defence after 1NT 0116). Competitive bidding 0117). Be cautious sometimes 0118). Sacrificing Be bold when non-vulnerable 0119). Sacrificing 0120). Doubles, Double a 1NT 0121). Doubles, Double for takeout 0122). Doubles, Doubling after opponent overcall 0126). Doubles, Protective double
Doubles

0120). Doubles, Double a 1NT 0121). Doubles, Double for takeout 0122). Doubles, Doubling after opponent overcall 0123). Doubles, Negative double 0124). Doubles, Double a 1NT overcall 0125). Doubles, Double a suit over 1NT 0126). Doubles, Protective double 0127). Doubles, Responsive double 0128). Doubles, Double then bid a suit 0129). Doubles, Penalty 0130). Doubles, Support double 0131). Doubles, Lead directing double 0132). Doubles, Maximal double 0133). Doubles, Redoubling - coded meanings 0134). Doubles, Forcing Pass 0135). Doubles, Re-opening double 0139). Doubles, Index of doubles
Advanced
Convention
0150). Majors Jacoby 2NT 0151). Majors Splinters 0152). Majors Weak 2s 0153). Majors Weak 2 defence 0154). Trial bid 0160). NT and minors 4th suit forcing 0161). Minor suit transfer 0162). DONT Bidding When Opponents open 1NT 0163). Game tries 0166). Grand Slam Force 0167). Roman Keycard Blackwood 0168). Cue bidding for controls 0170). 2-suited Overcall Unusual 2NT 0171). 2-suited Overcall Michaels cue bid 0172). 2-suited Overcall Landy over 1NT 0173). Overcall Unassuming cue bid 0179). Very advanced

Quiz How much do you know about this page? Quiz

<= find/hide more deals exploiting this aspect

Quick summary

Open 3 of a suit only if

6-10 points
7-card suit
your HCP not isolated
6 winners (7 if vulnerable)
No 4-card or side-suit

Why? Stop your strong opponents' contract (but accept losing up to 3 tricks, or 2 if vulnerable).

Partner only raises if he can make up the expected loss.

8-card suit, & 1 more winner? Open 4.

In the 2nd seat, you must be stronger:

2 of the top 3 honours (AKQ)

(because it's more likely your partner has the strong hand, you don't want to disrupt him, so your bid should be more informative than pre-emptive)

STRONG. With an 8-card 4-loser hand, you can use "Namyats", opening 2 steps lower than your Major. Partner will reply in your Major if no Slam interest.

Print cribsheet

Bridge Venue

+	West
	J 10 9

	Q J 9
	K J 10 9 7 6 5

+	North
	Q 7
	K 10 9 8 6 5 4
	A 7 3
	Q

+	East
	6 5 4 3 2
	J 3 2
	10 8 4 2
	8

	South
	A K 8
	A Q 7
	K 6 5
	A 4 3 2

Example Deal

You: South
Dealer: West
Vuln: all

# 126050

Strong advancer sits opposite pre-emt overcaller
..
Go to quiz (& full page) of deal # 126050
***

Click the + buttons to peep

Click on "q1" below to see question 1, and on "A1" to see the answer.

Question 1

West opens 3C, your partner North bids 3H. What should you bid with such a strong hand ?

Question 1

West opens 3C, your partner North bids 3H. What should you bid with such a strong hand ?

Answer

Now here's a few things to think about in the 15 seconds available to you between bids...

Since your partner overcalled a pre-emptive bid with 3H, then he probably has 6 of them, with reasonable honours, and an opening hand. Your opposition has long clubs, but is weak (LHO has only 6-10 points).

Well, 32 points seems to be the minimum you have. To make the best possible 7NT (or second best 7 Hearts), you'd need to know about the King of trumps (Hearts) and the Ace of diamonds and 2nd round Club controls. But your partner surely has the King of Hearts, to have overcalled at the 3 level, given that you've got the Ace and Queen. So it comes down to the Ace of diamonds and second round control of Clubs.

Equally, given partner's unbalanced hand, there should be plenty of opportunities for discarding your losers.

Clearly, game in Hearts is certain, and Slam is looking very likely. With the losers in Clubs and one in Diamonds, it would be nice to find out about 1st round controls. Cue bid ? Splinter ? Or Blackwood (or Roman Keycard, since we prefer that, my partner and I) ? mmm.

Cue bidding 3S should not be misinterpreted as your own pre-empt..and if it's not misunderstood, then that would be a good way of showing your Ace and asking about the Diamond Ace. If you were to get a good answer (i.e. 4D), which you will, you could then go on to second round controls bidding 4S to show the King. If you then get 5C back, showing King or singleton, it's worth a grand slam try, as you have everything covered, assuming your partner has the king of trumps.

Your partner might also bid 4C after your 3S cue bid, which would be great for a Heart Slam (signifying a void in this case, as South has the Ace), because I'm a bit worried about the long Clubs.

With Roman Key card, you ask about Aces and King of trumps. Bidding 4NT, you hope to hear back 5H, to show one Ace plus King of trumps. (In that case you could ask about which Kings by bidding 5NT. If you hear 6 Hearts, you could think about Grand Slam, otherwise pass ?). If you hear 5D, then you are missing either the Ace of Diamonds or the King of trumps... so then it all depends on 2nd round controls in Clubs. All too hard without cue bidding? Maybe have to sign off in 5, or just hope and bid 6 based on probabilities and reward.
What actually happened?

Question 2

What does South's bid of 5S mean ? Why not bid 4NT asking for Aces ?

Question 2

What does South's bid of 5S mean ? Why not bid 4NT asking for Aces ?

Answer

Cue bid, I've got the King of Spades, tell me about your second round controls

Question 3

When North replies 6C, meaning singleton or King-x in Clubs, how many tricks can now be assumed ?

Question 3

When North replies 6C, meaning singleton or King-x in Clubs, how many tricks can now be assumed ?

Answer

The only uncertainty seems to be the King of trumps. Since North pre-empted in Hearts, and South has AQ, it seems very likely that North has the King. Grand Slam seems a good shot, even with an apparent maximum of only 30HCP.

. . . .

Some subjects to follow up on
Overcalls, Overcall a preempt
No-trump slam
Unbal, Pre-emptive
Cue bidding for controls
Slam, Spotting the chance

#1	+	<-- click the + to show/hide one possible Bidding Sequence
West			North	East	South
3C			3H	p	???
					3S
p			4D	p	5S
p			6C	p	7H
p			p	p

-			System: Acol (Benji)
suggest a different Bidding Sequence

bid	explained at....
#2	+	<-- click the + for explanation of relevant Bidding Techniques
3C	Unbal, Pre-emptive
3H	Overcalls, Overcall a preempt
3S	Extra slam techniques
4D	Cue bidding for controls


			Hand evaluation

#3	+	<-- click the + for ideas on the Opening Lead
Opening Lead: East , 8 Reasons, when playing in Suit contract: 1. top of sequence in partner's suit 2. winners early, vs slam

OK, What's Your Plan for trying to make the contract ?

Only after you've thought about your plan for a short (but important) while, click the + to show/hide Card Play questions.

« 0027 »

Opening bids. Preemptive

Shut out your opponents when you are weak but long: damage limitation if you have 6 or 7 "tricks"

Only ever do this if your hand is weak.

It's another of these wrecking bids (your opponents are probably strong and will usually be annoyed by your bid which stops them from communicating), made in the knowledge that you might go down a bit. But it's better than the enemy making a good contract. You also know that (sometimes!) it will make.

If you are in one of the first 3 positions round the bidding table (but see important notes below on table position), and others having passed, then open 3 of a suit if you have:

minimum of 7 cards in the suit
6-10 points (a weak hand)
6 "playing tricks", and
your honours are not isolated, and

you do not have

a 4-card Major side suit. (You should wait for your partner to bid: you might have a Major game).

If you have 8 cards and one extra "playing trick" you should bid 4 of the suit.

If you are vulnerable, you should take less risk. You need to see one more "playing trick".

If the enemy has already bid, you can still pre-empt with a double jump overcall.

Calculate as follows

"I can afford to go down 3 if I'm not vulnerable.

"Assuming no help whatsoever from my partner, I will therefore need to have 6 winners in my hand in order to bid 3. I have 7 trumps... so let's hope he has an average number of the remaining 6 trumps, i.e. at least 2. (To preempt at the 4-level, the same considerations apply, except that I need an extra trump, an 8-card suit).

"My partner, having both 2 trumps and enough power overall to win 3 tricks, will breathe a sigh of relief and say 'no bid'. If partner has more power than this, he will increase the bidding accordingly, with the result that he might even raise to game.

"If I am vulnerable, I should take less risk: I need to see 7 winners, not 6, in order to bid. In other words, partner is only required to make up a difference of 2. Partner will know this, and only need two tricks in his hand to breathe easily, or three tricks to raise me one."

Changing suit after my partner's pre-empt ?

You partner has opened 3 Hearts. You've only got two very small Hearts, but a strong hand with 6 Spades, and they're good (A,K,Q,10,x,x). But switching to 3 Spades would NOT be a good idea.

5 More

Following partner's pre-empt, only switch suits if you have 5 cards more in your preferred suit compared with the pre-empted suit.

That's because he almost certainly has no strength outside his long 7-card suit, and on average only has 2 in each of the other suits, including your suit. So if you don't have a net surplus of 5 in yours, then you'll be reducing the number of your team's trumps. And don't forget that all your lovely Spades will win anyway - after you've pulled out the enemy Hearts.

Preempting in the second seat

Two of the top three honours

In the first seat, nobody else has bid. Your opening 3-level bid has disrupted everyone else. . . including both your opponents and your one partner. That's a good ratio of disruption, 2:1.

In the third seat, a Preemptive bid disrupts only one person, and it's an opponent, which is what you want.

But in the second seat it's a bit different. There are 2 bidders still to come. One is an enemy, one is a partner, so your disrupting calculations need to change. In this situation, although the 6-10 HCP 7-card requirements don't change, it's best to preempt with a better quality trump suit, in case it's your partner that has the strong hand.

For example, you hold AKxxxxx, and no other honours outside. Your partner holds AJxx Ax xx Qx Qxx. Even though you only have a guaranteed 20 HCP between you, he will know to bid to 3NT if your bid promises 2 of the top 3 honours. The strong diamond suit assures 7 tricks in diamonds plus 2 more for the two aces. Your partner would not have been wise to bid 3NT after a Preemptive bid that did not have this extra requirement for a second seat preempt, since your diamond suit could easily have contained one or even two losers.

Namyats

Namyats is a way of opening when holding a long major suit that is too strong for a direct preemptive opening, by using with a 'two-under' transfer bid.

You should have no more than 5 losers.

When the long suit is in hearts, opener bids 4 and when in spades bids 4. The method is also referred to as 'Mitchell Transfers', after the developer of this bidding method, Victor Mitchell. The name 'Namyats' is the name of Mitchell's bridge partner, Stayman, spelled backwards.

Hand 1. With a weak 8-card 6-loser hand, you would open 4 as usual, for example:
4
A Q J 9 8 6 5 2
8
9 4

Hand 2. But with the following 8-card strong 4-loser hand, (13HCP), you would open 4:
4
A K Q 10 8 6 5 2
8
A J 7

All your partner would need is 2 Aces, or 1 Ace and the King of Clubs for Slam to be almost certain.

Namyats allows the partnership to explore slam by using a conventional one-step (4) relay response. If partner has no slam interest, a two-step response is made to end the bidding. Also, a slam can be bid directly over the opening with sufficient strength.

Opener		Responder
Bid	Meaning	Bid	Meaning
4	Opener has a long heart suit and a strong hand	4	slam interest
		4	to play
		6	to play
4	Opener has a long spade suit and a strong hand	4	slam interest
		4	to play
		6	to play

The advantages of Namyats are

it may prevent the enemy from competing, despite having a cheap sacrifice against a major suit game;
it allows you to narrow the range of hands opened in a major suit at the one-level and rebid in a later round.

The disadvantage is that the 4 and 4 bids are no longer available as preempts, although that this is hardly a disadvantage as such preempts are rarely made in practice for fear of bypassing a game in No Trumps.

Quiz: Barrier-Reversing

Quiz: Deal # Sunday

Quick summary

Bridge Venue

Question 1:

Question 2:

Answer 1:

Answer 2: