October 2006 - 40

PLAY BRIDGE

?

Ask Jerry
opening bid. Perhaps your partner
could profit from this Jerry-ism:

Jerry Helms

askjerry@jerryhelms.com

Dear Jerry,
In the following auction, what is
the meaning of 2?
You
Partner
1
1
1NT
2
I thought this was a weak hand
with six hearts and five spades, so I
passed. My partner had an opening
hand with 4-4-3-2 distribution.
Annette, Dallas PA
Hi Annette,
For starters, any hand with a sixcard suit and a five-card suit opposite
a partner who has at least tolerance
if not support for both, can never be
that weak! If responder actually held
a hand as bad as:
J 8 7 5 4 J 7 6 4 3 2 K J,
a simple 2 rebid would leave the
partnership in an eight- or nine-card
fit at the lowest possible level. On
your auction, the 1NT rebid would
tend to deny holding four spades,
so the actual meaning of 2 by
responder would be impacted by
your partnership conventions (New
Minor Forcing, etc.) Under all
circumstances, I would play a new
suit reverse by an unpassed responder
as forcing.
Your partner created a problem
where one never existed. Apparently,
the 2 reverse in this auction was
undiscussed, so why make the bid?
Once you rebid 1NT to describe a
balanced minimum, he should simply
raise to 3NT with his balanced
40

The one who
knows is the one
who goes.

What should 2 actually mean
in this auction? By partnership
agreement, anything you think:
1. Forcing. Six hearts, five spades.
2. Invitational. Six hearts, five
spades.
3. Forcing. Five or more hearts, spade
values, not necessarily a real suit.
4. Forcing. 4-4-3-2, balanced
minimum ... oops, probably not!
A good idea is to never intentionally
toss partner a curve ball in the
bidding. An equally important idea is
to never pass if there is any doubt.
Dear Jerry,
RHO opened 1 and I held:
Q J A J 8 2 10 7 3 A K Q 4.
I elected to pass since no bid
seemed attractive. The players I
asked about what to bid all said
I needed to bid with 17 points.
The suggestions were 2, 1NT or
double. What do you advise?
Jackye, Paris TN

Jackye,
I have often told people that I think
I am one of the world's great bridge
analysts ... right after seeing all four
hands.
The options I see that are reasonable
include: pass, 1, double, 1NT or
2. I confess I might be tempted
to overcall 1NT at matchpoints. A
good partner would either transfer
to a major or if we played notrump,
provide a diamond stopper. The good
thing about matchpoints is that when
you are wrong, you only have to
apologize to one person. At a team
game, where there are three people
to be offended by your bad decision,
I would be more inclined to consider
taking one of my clubs, which is black
and mix it with my spades, which are
also black, and make a takeout double.
At least when I tabled dummy, partner
would be more critical of my eyesight
than my intellect. In reality, I think
pass was a very reasonable decision.
I am going to do a poll of my expert
friends and get their best guess ...
no actually, I am not because there is
no right answer. Hands like this are
what make bridge such a great game.
Nothing is always right or always
wrong, and sometimes things that
seem wrong work out right.
r

Mike's
Bidding Quiz
What do you need to double
when the opponents have opened
and raised?
Is it dangerous to enter the
auction in such cases?
Answers on pages 42-43

By Mike Lawrence
Bridge Bulletin
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2006
