The 12 Habits of Highly Effective Bidders (October 2008)
Bare beginners are usually timid bidders, in part because they tend to focus on just their own hands. A common comment from my students is, “I can’t bid 1H with this hand. I don’t have seven tricks!” It takes time for learners to see past their own cards and imagine all the possibilities in partner’s hand.
Experienced players sometimes wear the same blinders. Here’s a quiz to test your vision:
Partner RHO You LHO
1C 1H DBL Pass
1S Pass
?
What's your call holding ♠QJ75 ♥AQ83 ♦J862 ♣10 ?
When this problem was posed to a group of experts, they debated the merits of three different raises – 2S, 3S and a 2H cuebid. Most finally settled on what they called a “somewhat pushy” 3S. Not one even considered the bid that would cater to all of partner’s possible hands. Did you?
It’s such a simple auction that
it’s easy to overlook the potential hazard. The experts took the auction at face
value (partner bid spades, so he must have four). They didn’t stop to consider
that he might have had an awkward rebid with
♠K86
♥92
♦Q74 ♣AK932 .
The most successful players believe their partners, but they don’t jump to conclusions without full information. They recognize the situations where partner may have been forced to make an imperfect bid, and they try to offer him options whenever possible. The habit they share is:
8. They consider partner’s potential problems.
In the problem above, the bid that allows for partner’s problem hand – and covers all other bases – is 1NT. That doesn’t cancel the message that you hold four spades, but it describes other features of your hand and gives partner choices. 1NT also implies decent values, since you could have passed 1S with a dead minimum.
And speaking of minimums, you already know partner has one, since he would have jumped to 2S with “real” spades and 15 or so support points. That makes a jump to 3S more than just a mild overbid.
Negative-double auctions are a frequent source of these “all may not be as it seems” situations. How do you handle these decisions?
Partner RHO You LHO
Pass Pass 1D 2C
DBL Pass Pass ?
What's your call holding ♠Q6 ♥A1092 ♦AKQ92 ♣K9 ?
The kneejerk rebid is 4H, which works when partner has four hearts, but that’s not guaranteed. It’s impractical to require both majors for a two-level negative double, so take it slow with a 3C cuebid. Your purpose is not to investigate slam (partner is a passed hand), but to find the right game.
Over 3C, partner will bid 3S (his
cheaper major) with
♠AK82
♥84
♦J43 ♣7432
That will confirm there’s no heart fit and steer you into 3NT. If you had instead bid 4H, partner would have had to bail you out in 5D, which could go down on a club ruff.
Partner RHO You LHO
1C 1S DBL 2S
3H Pass ?
What's your call holding ♠QJ53 ♥KJ98 ♦Q62 ♣J4 ?
Partner’s 3H sounds like a game
invitation, and without the 2S bid, it would be. In competition, though, opener
will stretch to show support with a minimum such as
♠4
♥Q1076
♦A74 ♣AQ985 .
Some pairs use a double or the Good-Bad 2NT convention to differentiate between this hand and a full invitation. Without those gadgets, you should give partner some rope and pass 3H with this soft 10-count.
You LHO Partner RHO
1C 4H DBL Pass
?
What's your call holding ♠K865 ♥762 ♦A3 ♣KQ86 ?
The modern trend is to play
negative doubles through the four-level, but the higher the auction, the more
flexible you should be about promising four cards in the other major. What
alternative does partner have holding
♠A92
♥53
♦K87642 ♣A5 ?
He can’t bid that feeble diamond suit at the 5-level, and a pass lets the opponents steal the contract. He has to double to show these values and hope you’ll do the right thing.
At this level, the right thing with a balanced minimum is usually a pass. Even if partner has four spades, you can expect bad suit breaks, so take your plus score. Don’t let yourself be bullied into an optimistic guess when there’s a good possibility that partner’s hand won’t be a perfect match for his bidding.
© 2008 Karen Walker