Readers' Bidding Forum

The following comments were received from the readers of Australia's national bridge magazine, Australian Bridge, and other bridge enthusiasts. The same problems are also discussed in the magazine, by an international panel including Andrew Robson, Larry Cohen, Mike Lawrence and Ron Klinger.

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Hand One – East deals, NS vul, IMPs. You are South.

	AT97
	92
	KJ92
	JT5

West	North	East	South
		3	pass
pass	dbl	pass	pass
3	pass	pass	?

Call	Award	% Panel	% Readers
3	100	74	43
Pass	90	13	7
Double	40	9	35
3NT	30	4	7
4	10	0	8

When I first saw this problem I was concerned about a unanimous panel, and in fact 74% of experts voted for the obvious (but not necessarily correct) 3 bid.

Jameson Cole: 3. Partner shouldn't be doubling 3 lacking major support, so if he can't hit 3, he must have spade support. 3 keeps 3NT option open.

Tim Trahair: 3. Hope partner realises this is only showing 4 spades as would have bid 3 after the X if I had 5 and hope also that he realises I have good Ds and Ws bid is a rescue attempt. Other possibility is X allowing P to leave it in with good Hs or correct to 3 if not.

David Hester: 3. I assume that partner is strong enough to double after my penalty pass. He has three hearts and/or five spades.

Sam Arber: 3. partner could have x 3, so unlikely to have good hearts, bid 3 partner likely to have 4 and should raise to game if better than minimum as doubled in pass out seat which may be minimum

Henri de Jong: 3. Not enough tricks for NT

Fraser Rew: 3. In a good system here a double by partner would be for penalties and on my side would be 'action' (Kxx-ish of hearts). His bidding is consistent with a weak 4324. Would double for penalties at pairs.

Mark LaForge: 3. I am a coward

Andrew Gordon: 3. Partner will have spades and my hand is improving after passing twice.

Duncan Roe: 3. Partner's X promised support, now that W has pulled my penalty pass

However, the problem does raise three interesting questions. First, a favourite of mine: how strong is partner's double?

Rex Fox: Dbl. Shows values, Pard should have 15ish HCP, cannot sell out to NV opps

Herbert C. Wilton: 3. After the penalty pass, North is expecting me to make some bid.

David Kalnins: 3. Partner's pass is forcing. Double and anything above 3 is too much.

Second question, what would a double of 3 mean?

Keith Huggan: Dbl. Hope partner can pass for penalties - if they bid 3 I'll have a new problem. Unsure as to what a X of 3 by pard would have been.

Solaris Whitesail: Dbl. Dbl has to be penalty. I do not see enough for 3NT, and don't see 3 making.

Zbych: 3. my penalty pass on x 3, showed serious stopper at diam (at least 2 stoppers), now I can show my P s suit, rather 4ards. Possible partscore 3 or even game 3nt or 4 (seems more safety 3nt). For sure with good h suit P shd X - penlaty.

And finally, the real problem: whose hand is it?

Craig: Pass. Misfit everywhere, so stay out.

Alexander Cook: Pass. You will probably take a small positive from passing. You may miss a spade fit but why didn't partner double as second time? Partner probably has good defence for hearts.

Ron Lel: Pass. Pd doubled in the protective seat, heard me convert, and yet decided he could not make a penalty double of 3. Surely I have an easy pass. I will not crucify partner for protecting light.

We don't seem to have established whether partner's pass was forcing, but the arguments for passing are strong, earning an over-generous upgrade to 90 points.

Eric Leong: 3. I can't pass. Partner could still have a decent hand with not so good hearts e.g. S KQxx H Qxxx D x C AKQx. Now 4 has a play.

There's the problem. What would you do with that hand if you were North? I guess the moral to this story is simply that preempts work.

Fred Altstock: 4. Partner must have 4 spades and probably good clubs so game in spades is a must with my hand.

Nathan Crafti: Dbl. Not many points in this pack, with the only bids aside from a pre-empt coming in pass out seat. A double from me will tell pard I have 4 spades and some values.

Ken Berry: Dbl. since its Imps I'd like to bid 3NT but I think I'm stuck with this

Bill Bennett: Dbl. Not enough HCP for 3NT unless N is very strong. N should take 3 tricks in 3x

Frank Campbell: Dbl. I have spades, short hearts and my diamonds are well placed

Manuel Paulo: Dbl. We have the balance of strength, the diamonds' break is ominous, and opponents are above the security level.

Andrew Gumperz: Dbl. A choice of going for the brass ring with 3NT or accepting the small plus in 3x. Spades might be vulnerable to defensive ruffs.

Sydney Frish: Dbl. And a regretful pass should partner not convert to penalties and bid 3

John R. Mayne: Dbl. Partner has to have something in hearts, and they have no source of tricks. Partner wouldn't double with A8xx of hearts, since he already showed that. 4 with the bad breaks is unlikely to be right.

Paul Tranmer: Dbl. Must be T.O. oriented under the bid, particularly as partner knows to lead a diamond at trick one, if he has one. The alternative bid of 3 should, I suggest, promise a fifth spade.

Margaret Reid: Dbl. Should reap a good score for us

Hand Two – North deals, nil vul, Matchpoints. You are South.

	T8732
	AQ4
	J94
	T6

West	North	East	South
	1	1	1
2	2	pass	?

Call	Award	% Panel	% Readers
3	100	48	14
Pass	80	14	26
2	70	26	14
3	50	4	31
2NT	30	4	3
3	20	4	8
4	0	0	3

Robin Cross: 2NT. Lebensohl 2NT with 3+ showing values. If that bidding is not in the methods, bid I just bid 3

Andrew Gumperz: 2NT. After a reverse, 2NT is a Lebensohl-like tool to distinguish good and bad hands. If partner bids only 3, I will pass.

Fraser Rew: 2. I'm not proud of this, obviously, but it seems to be the best of several bad bids.

Margaret Reid: 2. mmm - hard to give a H rise maybe 3 is better but I'll keep the bidding at a reasonable level - I do hsve 5S

Frank Campbell: 2. Partner has reversed and should have a good hand. His next bid could be 3, 3 or 4 (AKJ KJxx x AJxxx). Although my spades are poor this should convince partner I am weak and get us to our making game if available. I will pass NT or 3 but raise 3 to game.

Fred Altstock: 2. Have to show that I have five spades and a relatively weak hand. Leave the rest up to partner.

Manuel Paulo: 3. Anaemic spades, short hearts and no diamond stopper in a weak hand preclude any other call.

Paul Tranmer: 3. Nothing to get excited about yet, simple preference will suffice for now.

David Kalnins: 3. Simple preference

Zbych: 3. Pard has reversed and probably has no more than two diamonds. But if he has six clubs and five hearts game is easy.

Tim Trahair: 3. Partner has reversed so has 16+ points. Denies four hearts. Give preference expecting him to have at least five clubs. If he then bids 3, raise to 4.

Nathan Crafti: 3. Matchpoints. Must try for 3NT. Have we got diamonds stopped pard? Routine really.

Have you noticed that whenever someone says "unanimous panel", "non-problem", or "routine really", they invariably end up with a score of 20%?

Alexander Cook: 3. J94 does not constitute a stopper especially when one opponent has overcalled diamonds and the other opponent has raised them. Partner can only have two diamonds maximum. Raising with three good hearts is the most accurate bid here.

Sam Arber: 3. Did not negative double so partner may infer you only have three hearts, spades too weak to rebid, partner must be short in d so 3 asking for stopper may not be useful, but then may need to ruff d in hand shortening himself.

Rex Fox: 3. Moysian fit likely, pard should be strong, 5C, 4+H, 15+HCP nothing else appeals

Sydney Frish: 3. little wasted values - but partner must have just the right cards to make a game

Craig: 3. You cannot pass after partner's reverse, and cannot bid NT.

Herbert C. Wilton: 3. I did not make a negative double over 1 so my raise shows only three card support.

Andrew Gordon: 3. Since I am forced to bid, I prefer to show my strong 3 hearts. Partner already knows I have 5 spades because I did not double last time.

gbgb: 3. pd could have dbled for 4 hearts

David Hester: 3. This is surely forcing, so I bid where my cards are, and risk the Moysian fit.

Jameson Cole: 4. Play well, partner. Could be 4-3 fit.

Eric Leong: 4. Partner is not climbing to 2 with only a four card heart suit so he has five of them. With five hearts and five clubs partner would open 1. So at minimum, partner should have something along the lines of: S x H KJxxx D x C AKxxxx. I raise to 4 since I don't want to give partner a chance to pass with his minimum hands.

Duncan Roe: Pass. Not enough for a free raise - likely we only have seven hearts. Could rebid spades but they're rather ordinary.

Bill Bennett: Pass. Game seems unlikely and 2 should be a reasonable spot for part score.

Solaris Whitesail: Pass. even if it is a mere 3/4 fit A & Q count for a something.

John R. Mayne: Pass. Looks right even if 2 is intended as forcing. If wrong, I'll take the blame.

Hand Three – South deals, nil vul, IMPs. You are South.

	AKJ62
	AKJ8432
	---
	J

West	North	East	South
			1¹
3	3	5	?

1. Strong club, 16+ HCP any shape

Call	Award	% Panel	% Readers
Pass	100	32	4
5NT	80	14	5
5	70	14	27
6	70	18	27
Double	60	4	8
6	50	18	29

It was tempting to alter the bidding of this famous Hamman-Wolff hand, and present this as a 2 opener. But the hand really isn't worth 2, so we went with the original bidding. Thankfully, there were only two real complaints:

Nathan Crafti: 6. So how come I'm playing precision (or whatever) all of a sudden? How should I know what 3 means? So I'll bid 6 and if 7 is cold, it's because I'm playing a system that's not our system.

Ron Lel: 5. Look this is a very silly problem. You can't give us a bidding problem that depends so much on knowledge of the system we are playing. What is 3? What would a double be? What would a cue bid be. In the absence of any information, I simply bid 5. I am not enamoured by the fact that my void appears to be opposite partner's best suit. Anyway partner is still there. All posters really should abstain.

Quickly addressing each of these questions:

3 shows diamonds (hence the failure to alert). I have no idea what double would be (does anyone ever really know what a double means), but it probably doesn't show a two-loser 5701 hand. Likewise, a cuebid is always ambiguous; it could be both majors, but I wouldn't blame partner if she expected a slam-going hand with first-round club control. And advising everyone to abstain really does defeat the purpose -- our goal here is to try to solve a bidding problem.

Rex Fox: 5. Strong club? Presumably opened with 2 in Standard?

Frank Campbell: 6. What's with the 1, I thought I was playing AB Standard! I suppose I would be in the same boat if I opened 2, but 1 followed by 5 would make life simpler. Partner should interpret 6 as both majors and hopefully bid 6 with the same length allowing me to correct to 6.

Rex and Frank have the right approach here. If the 1 is confusing makes you nervous, bid the same way that you would over a 2 opening. The solution to many difficult problems is to find a simpler analogous problem and work from there.

Andrew Gumperz: 5. Given that I rate to lose a club, I will need both major queens or a major position that can be developed with one ruff. That is a lot to hope for.

Zbych: 5. for slam i need from P only 2 Queens in Major. At MP x cld be more attractive than 5.. If yu play X cooperative, i cld bid X over 5 and over expected 5 from P bid 5 (for sure wld be big 2uiter M hand)

Andrew Gordon: 5. Whoah! We are at the 5 level and I have not shown either of my great majors. I had better start by bidding my 7 card major now. The problem is we may miss the spade game or slam.

Sydney Frish: 5. already too high to start investigating - although partner should have some values outside the D suite

There is actually plenty of room to investigate slam, so long as you don't take up all the remaining space by bidding 5 now. More on that later.

For those that just want to blast slam, the question is do we want partner to pick the suit, or do we just want to play in hearts.

John R. Mayne: 6. Can't show both majors, and might not want to. Time to bid what we can make. Maybe.

Jameson Cole: 6. What I hope I can make. Two more reasons for wanting to play hearts instead of spades.

Fraser Rew: 6. What I should have opened.

Manuel Paulo: 6. A gamble - but preempts hinder our bidding.

Fred Altstock: 6. Go straight for the kill.

Alexander Cook: 6. With a three loser hand you should take a shot at 6. Partner may or may not have a club control. With a bit of luck partner will have the HQ and/or the SQ. There may be wasted values in diamonds. At worst the small slam will depend on both finesses coming home.

If we do want partner to choose the suit, there appear to be two options.

Paul Tranmer: 6. The perils of a strong club system cruelly exposed here. Hopefully partner will bid their "best" major and assemble 12 tricks. Who knows, EW might be goaded into bidding 7!

Eric Leong: 6. Since slam pays a big bonus, I would opt to go for the big reward rather than the small penalty. I bid 6 because I think partner is most likely going to bid 6 in which case I will bid 6. If partner is short in hearts he just might be able to bid 6 with some spades.

Sam Arber: 6. if partner bids 6 bid 6, hopefully he will infer you have the majors

Keith Huggan: 6. No doubt 5 in the real world but since this is a bidding forum...

David Kalnins: 6. Rip 6 to 6 and hope partner gets the message.

Same comment from Henri de Jong, Bill Bennett, David Hester, Robin Cross and Ken Berry. However, 6 takes up a lot of space, and there is a better bid that leaves partner room to make a grand slam try:

Margaret Reid: 5NT. Please bid best major.

Tim Trahair: 5NT. Asking partner to choose the slam. He will realise I have very strong majors. If he elects to bid 6 I can correct to 6.

Over 5NT, partner can cue 6 to try for the grand. And if we really want to save space to explore the best contract, you can't go past the ultimate space-saving bid:

Herbert C Wilton: Pass. Why not wait for your partner's call, correcting any diamonds to hearts.

This is the second forcing-pass auction in the set, although unlike Problem One, in this case there is no doubt that the pass of 5 would be forcing. At the table, Hamman passed and this is what followed:

ª 3
© QT75
¨ QJT8643
§ A

ª Q8
© 6
¨ 752
§ KT98642
ª T9754
© 9
¨ AK9
§ Q753

ª AKJ62
© AKJ8432
¨ ---
§ J

West North East South

Perron Wolff Chemla Hamman

pass 1

3 3 5 pass

pass 5 pass 5

pass 6 pass pass

pass

After Hamman's pass there was plenty of room to explore the grand slam, but still the auction subsided at the six-level.

Hand Four – West deals, both vul, IMPs. You are South.

	AQ
	K7532
	AJ9
	854

West	North	East	South
1	pass	1	?

Call	Award	% Panel	% Readers
Pass	100	52	49
2	60	30	23
Double	60	18	23
1NT	20	0	5

The easiest problem of the set, with more than half the readers realising that if they don't bid now, they will have a much bigger problem on the next round.

Jameson Cole: 2. I may go for a number or we may have game. But bid now or be silent.

Bill Bennett: 2. I do not like to double with a 5 card major, even of poor quality. Any bid (including pass) is risky.

Fred Altstock: 2. Just an overcall and with partner a passed hand no interest in going much further

Tim Trahair: 2. Poor suit but reasonable hand. P can't have very much but might manage a H raise.

The problem, obviously, is the poor suit quality. This leads some to the off-shape double.

Paul Tranmer: Dbl. I dislike the red suit disparity, but if I don't bid now I probably never will.

David Kalnins: Dbl. Might miss out if I pass - 2 is way too rich. X may get us to game if partner has 4 and some cards.

Frank Campbell: Dbl. My spades are well placed and although I have 5 hearts they are not strong. Prefer to double and see what partner can come up with.

Zbych: Dbl. for bid 2 suit is so weak, but bullets in your hand call for bid. My X will help me explore P hand.

Herbert C. Wilton: Dbl. Certainly it can be right to pass, but it is a bidder's game.

This problem raises an interesting question about bidding forum philosophy. If 51% choose to act and only 49% choose to pass, doesn't that make pass the minority? How can we give pass 100 points when the majority choose to bid?

Fortunately this was not an issue here, because unlike the readers, the experts favoured the pass by 13 votes to 12. So the following readers, happy to come in at the three level but not the two level, get the top award.

Ian Smith: Pass. I could still have a balancing bid available next time round

Henri de Jong: Pass. 1 is forcing and still can bid later

Manuel Paulo: Pass. Wait and see. By no means this hand justifies a sandwich overcall.

Andrew Gordon: Pass. Being vul, I might just wait till next time to consider my position. My heart suit is very ratty.

Sam Arber: Pass. hearts a bit too weak to bid 2, pass initially, if they bid to game better off defending

Nathan Crafti: Pass. Another fatuous non problem. As 1 is forcing, I will wait until the dust settles. Interfering now might stop them overreaching.

Also getting 100 points are those who have already resigned themselves to writing 110 and 7 imps in the out column:

Fraser Rew: Pass. You're joking, right?

Ron Lel: Pass. A very easy decision. Do you seriously want me to bid 2 on this moth eaten suit, or perhaps to totally misdescribe my hand by doubling?

Andrew Gumperz: Pass. Bad shape, bad suit.

Rex Fox: Pass. 2 bid seems risky on such a ratty suit

Solaris Whitesail: Pass. I can see this ending at 1 or 2NT, and expect partner to lead a red anyway without any hint from me.

Sydney Frish: Pass. only because of previous sad experiences on similar hands with both opponents bidding

Margaret Reid: Pass. I'm not coming in in a forcing auction, I did that last year and got the chop.

That's like letting one small shark-bite scare you away from ever going back to the beach. Most wounds heal, and even if they don't, at least you'll have some great stories to tell at parties.

David Hester: Pass. This is the sandwich position, and with a weak suit I do not want to be the meat.

John R. Mayne: Pass. Non-pass is long-term suicide vs. good opponents. They will crush you when bidding's wrong when you have these spots.

Robin Cross: Pass. Imps or matchpoints, pass.

Eric Leong: Pass. Game is improbable so why stick your head out and risk going for 500 or 800 when your opponents might not be able to bid and make a game?

The final option is the light, off-shape notrump overcall. Not very popular.

Ken Berry: 2. am I supposed to bid 1NT, pretending its mixed pairs. (I can feel the bruises already)

Duncan Roe: 2. Don't like 1NT w/out any C stop. The bid describes my hand

Alexander Cook: Dbl. Your hearts are not strong enough to overcall 2 and you are not strong enough to overcall 1NT.

None of the 1NT bidders included a comment to support their bid, although it was the action taken at the table. Not in a mixed pairs, but the national final:

Hand Five – West deals, NS vul, IMPs. You are South.

	Q5
	KQT54
	9543
	92

West	North	East	South
4	4	pass	?

Call	Award	% Panel	% Readers
5	100	56	48
4	80	22	24
Pass	80	22	28

Finally, a problem to test your personality. Are you a pessimist, a pragmatist, or an outright gambler? Not surprisingly, the top score goes to the group in the middle.

Nathan Crafti: 5. I must be missing something here. I have a 7 count and no extreme shape. Partner didn't double. Bidding a new suit is out of the question. We must have a 10 card fit in diamonds so passing is anaemic.

Alexander Cook: 5. Yes, you may have a heart fit; but surely wouldn't partner have doubled with support for the majors? Partner should have at least six diamonds for that overcall of a minor at the four level.

Fraser Rew: 5. Hearts are likely to be breaking badly, even if pards does show up with three.

Ken Berry: 5. I hate this bid, but I also can't stand a ratty 4 bid winning the day

Bill Bennett: 5. Importantly, N is vul, and the 4 Diamonds should ensure no trump loser. If he has C Ace and H ace we should make six

Frank Campbell: 5. Difficult as I dont think partner would interpret 4 as a fit showing raise therefore will take a shot at the vulnerable game. Partner would surely have done more than 4 with a strong hand.

Fred Altstock: 5. Partner may have Ace of hearts and Ace of Spades so some chance of 5 making.

Ron Lel: 5. Can't contemplate passing at Imps. I really like 4 as a fit non jump, but I guess this is not part of Aust Bridge Standard like a strong Club is.

David Hester: 5. This may be slightly against the odds, but the potential gain exceeds the potential loss.

Sydney Frish: 5. a punt either way - partner may have the necessary cards for a H game - but at least in D we've got a known "superfit"

Jameson Cole: 5. Effective preempt precludes exploration. West rates to be short in hearts, so even if partner has support, there may be a bad split.

Robin Cross: 5. Hopefully, we land on our feet.

Herbert C. Wilton: 5. The best road to 6, if indeed there is a slam.

John R. Mayne: 5. 4 is too greedy. 5 seems clear.

Andrew Gordon: 5. Well, my hand may help partner reach 11 tricks.

Eric Leong: 5. I would like to bid 4 showing hearts and diamonds but partner probably won't get the joke. So I take a stab at 5. After all, partner did come in with 4 when he was vulnerable and I do have better than average trumps for him, and my heart suit is a potential source of tricks.

Among the gamblers, there is actually a sub-category: the dreamer.

Keith Huggan: 4. It would be nice if this showed a desire to play 4 opposite a suitable hand but holding support for partner.

Sam Arber: 4. hopefully this shows d tolerance

Manuel Paulo: 4. As I play it, this forcing advance shows five cards and promises fit.

An excellent convention. I assume you bid 5 if you have 6+ hearts and no diamond fit.

Margaret Reid: 4. showing 5 and pard can bid D if H don't suit

Zbych: 4. 4 for play, P can have d/M hand. If he has diam/sp we will be in 5.

Finally, the pessimists.

Andrew Gumperz: Pass. An easy pass at MPs or even NV at IMPs. A more difficult pass vul at IMPs.

Duncan Roe: Pass. Will compete if they bid again

Tim Trahair: Pass. We have Ds covered but I am only providing perhaps 2/3 tricks to go with his 6 or 7. Raise to 5s if they go on and P doesn't X.

Solaris Whitesail: Pass. I expect that since partner didn't double, there is less values which make 5 that much riskier.

Paul Tranmer: Pass. Nothing to raise my blood pressure yet. It's also worthy of note that East's pass is often an attempted trap, expecting to get another shot later in the auction.

Henri de Jong: Pass. Most values I may need to find will be badly located. Also partner did not double.