Bridge Venue

• Question 1
  
  Your partner West opens 1S, but you don't like them. (Spades, not your partner). Your Clubs are good. Do you pass, or bid your Clubs ?

• Answer 1
  
  Your partner West opens 1S, but you don't like them. (Spades, not your partner). Your Clubs are good. Do you pass, or bid your Clubs ?
  
  Answer
  
  Neither. You (East) can't change suit at the 2 level with only 7 HCP. You could risk weak Spade support, 2S, but that promises 4 of them which you don't have. That said, bidding Spades is still an option: support with only 3-cards is acceptable since on 90% of occasions an opening bid of a Major will be from a 5-card suit, the second bid will clarify if it isn't, and (crucially) you have an outside shortage that you can use to ruff with the small Spades. Anyway, you certainly don't want to pass, because you have 7 HCP and partner might have enough for game. 1NT denies 4 Spades, which is accurate, and ideally should be balanced, which is also technically accurate. Perhaps that's your best bid, but it's not clear cut given the diamond shortage.

• Question 2
  
  Your partner West now tries diamonds, bidding 2 of them. They are even worse than Spades in your hand. Are you allowed to pass ?

• Answer 2
  
  Your partner West now tries diamonds, bidding 2 of them. They are even worse than Spades in your hand. Are you allowed to pass ?
  
  Answer
  
  Not on your life. On two counts. First, your partner has asked you to make a choice, and second, in his second bid, he also told you 2 more things: that he has 5-4 in Spades and diamonds, and that he has 12-15 points, not 12-19. If you pass, you are choosing diamonds, which would be a really bad choice, because you probably only have 6 of them between you.

• Question 3
  
  So what should you do ?

• Answer 3
  
  So what should you do ?
  
  Answer
  
  Bid 2 Spades. You have an 8-card Major match, so Spades is the right suit. No point going any higher, because the best you could have is 23 points, including your distribution point for the doubleton (which you can now include, because you have an 8-card trump suit fit). Even though 3 Spades might make, you're well short of 25 needed for game. Looking at LTC, you have 9 losers, and you should assume your partner has 7 losers, because he is an opener who has not gone through his barrier. Total 16. Subtract from 18 = 2. Another reason for not bidding higher than 2.

• Some subjects to follow up on

  14 Barrier-Reversing 43 After 1 Suit, 6 points, nothing to bid 15 Selection of opening suit 13 Losing trick count