Power Hands – What To Do With A Big One! – 1 September 2010

It’s always a pleasure to find you’re holding a big one. But what to do with it? Should you handle it gently or grab the moment? As you’re aware, I’m no shrinking violet so my advice is that if you’ve got something worth showing – get it out there!

Opening

In most systems the biggest opening bid you can make is 2 Clubs. In Acol, 2C is a game force. Only the sequence:

2C PASS 2D PASS
2NT

can be passed out below game when the 2D bidder has nil points. Otherwise game must be bid.

If you hold a balanced hand with any of these distributions: 4333, 4432 or 5332, then you need to have 23+ HCP. However if you have more distribution, 6322, 5521 then, as a result of your presumed extra playing strength, you can have a few points less than 23, but certainly a minimum would be 20 HCP.

For balanced hands in the 20 - 22 HCP range the opening bid is 2NT. You need to tell partner very clearly that a) the hand belongs to your side and that b) you are the proud possessor of half or more of the available total HCP (40).

Overcalling

Most of the time when you overcall you’ll have about 9 - 16 HCP and partner will respond accordingly. So how to tell partner when you have a hand better than that? The answer is to start with a Double and then bid again – assuming the opponents have left you the space
to do so!

AKx
AQx
Kxxx
Kxx

Whatever is opened on your right, your hand is too strong to overcall 1NT (15 - 17) so the strategy is to Double and then bid NT’s (at the lowest available level) and partner will know you are 18+ and take appropriate action.

Likewise:

AKQxxx
Ax
Kxx
Kx

is far too good for a simple 1S overcall, so again, Double first and then introduce the spades, making it clear to partner that you have a 17+ hand with spades.

It follows that when you do Double you cannot make another bid UNLESS you have 17+ HCP as partner will assume you hold one of the big hands. This is why when you respond to a Double
you must always make a jump bid with 9+ HCP. Of course, never assume partner does have one of the big hands. Wait to be told.

We Open And They Double

Partner opens 1S and opponent on your right Doubles. What’s your strategy? Most of the time you can either ignore the double and bid naturally OR – with a fit for partner – make some appropriate pre-emptive raise. But there is another weapon you can use when you do NOT have a fit for partner but you do have 9+ HCP. It’s the very little used blue one with the two XX’s on it: RE-DOUBLE!

Now, partner knows that as a partnership you hold at least half the points between you and will know what to do.

Oh yes they will…

Seeya

Kit

Fighting Fire With Fire Pt II – More on Responding When The Opps Have Made a TakeOut Double – 23 June 2010

Last week partner opened a minor (1C or 1D) and the opponents doubled. This week Partner opens a Major (1H or 1S) and the opponents double:

When partner bids, the magical quest for slam begins. But when the opponents DOUBLE, that quest is forever lost. Well, ok, maybe 99 times out of a 100 anyway… However everything is not totally lost as game, partscore or even a juicy penalty double are all still options. Partner has opened with at least (we hope!) 12 high card points (hcp). The doubler will have – most of the time - at least 12 HCP as well, so now out of the total of 40 HCP in the pack, 24 of them have been allocated, leaving just 16 of them between you and the opponent on your left.

It is now your job to tell partner whether a) you have any points and/or b) you have a fit. Remember you have to keep the bidding alive if at all possible in case partner has opened with 20 points. This is a possibility. This is why you respond with 6 HCP. ALWAYS.

1H - X - ?

The responses aren’t that much different from when partner opens a minor. As before, all your raises of partner’s suit are pre-emptive (or stretch raises) so you show a good raise (4 cards & 10+hcp) with 2NT (Truscott). All hands with no fit and 10+ HCP go through REDOUBLE (the blue one!). Otherwise you just bid as naturally as possible.

But do remember that you MUST bid with 6 points. This means that if you can’t bid at the 2 level you'll have to bid 1NT. You’ll bid 1NT with whatever hand you have and only 6 - 9 HCP. For instance:

xxx
Qx
KJxxxx
xx

You can't bid 2D as that promises 9 or 10 HCP, so the only bid you have is 1NT. I know it doesn't describe your hand but it does at least tell partner you have 6 - 9 HCP which may be the most valuable information partner needs! There’s a useful motto:

Help Your Partner Win at Bridge!

(There's a book of the same title…)

Double – Your Flexible Friend – 8 April 2010

We’ve all got a fair idea of what each bid means, opening, responding and overcalling, but there are times when we want to compete and the bid of a suit is doesn’t quite fit the hand we have. Do we:

a) Run up the white flag? b) Hide our heads in the sand? c) Cross fingers and toes and bid anyway? d) Find a bid – or sequence of bids – that explains what we have?

Reasonably often the answer is d). And on a fair number of occasions it is best to Double. But what exactly does a double actually mean and when should we prefer it to a straight overcall?

Double of Opponents’ Opening Bid
If we double an opening bid we could have – confusingly – three distinct and different kinds of hands.

1) A shapely hand with a shortage in the opponents' bid suit
2) A hand too strong to overcall 1NT
3) A hand too strong to make a direct overcall

Which of the three you actually have does not matter initially. The key is to remember that a double is often the start of a two part communication. It is not in itself a final statement but merely the beginnings of an exchange of information.

1) They open 1H and you hold:

AKxx
x
Kxxx
Kxxx

Bidding any suit would imply that you hold five cards in that suit so you can’t do that. Yet you have a hand you want to tell partner about – you just don't yet know where, if at all, the pair of you have a fit. So you double. Initially this says you are interested in any of the other three unbid suits and have a hand of at least opening values.

With this hand you plan to pass whichever suit partner bids . Partner could jump to encourage you to continue, but failing such strong action from partner, you would need a hand of 17+ HCP to contemplate bidding on.

2) Again they open 1H but now you hold:

AQx
AQx
KJxx
Kxx

You want to bid 1NT, but this shows specifically 15 - 17 HCP. Your hand is better than this so you start with a double, intending to re-bid in NT if the auction allows it. Partner must still assume you hold a hand like hand 1) but your re-bid will further explain your hand.

3) 1H again, but now you’re dealt:

A
Axx
AKJxxx
Kxx

You want to get that Diamond suit into the auction but you also want to tell partner the general strength of your hand as well, a tidy 19hcp and too strong for a simple overcall. So now you will Double first and then – if the auction allows it – bid diamonds. Now partner can tell not only what your suit is but that you also hold a decent number of points into the bargain.

Be aware that partner will not have much. The opening on your right is about 12+ and with your 19 there are only about nine HCP going begging, but if partner has six of them you’re in the game zone.

Remember, if you Double and then bid, you show a big hand playable opposite a fairly weak (6-9) hand. And if you're really really big (22 +) you can Double and then Cue-bid!!!

Too much fun…

Kit