October 2006 - 63

Partnership
Bridge
By Pamela and Matthew Granovetter
www.bridgetoday.com

Pamela: My partner was unhappy
with my opening bid when we missed
a laydown slam at the Summer
NABC in Chicago.
Dlr: South  K 3 2
Vul: Both  K 7
A764
 10 9 6 4
 Q 10 8 6
J74
 J 9 8 6 3 2 WNE  Q 10 5
J5
 10 9 8 3 2
S
2
K3
A95
A4
KQ
AQJ875
West

North

Pass
3NT
(1) Good 20-22.

East
All Pass

South
2NT (1)

My partner felt that I had a
"suit-oriented" hand and should
have opened 2 and rebid 3. My
feeling was that since our 2NT range
went up to 22 high-card points, my
2NT was a simple "value bid." In
addition, with all the suits stopped,
I think it's more practical to open
2NT, rather than have an awkward
2- 2; 3 - ? auction to deal
with later.
Matthew: I must confess that I
agree with your partner. Your hand
counted up to only 20 HCP, but you
had eight and a half tricks in your
own hand, which is a few more than
one would expect from a pedestrian
2NT opening bid. I can imagine
October 2006

plenty of hands where your partner
will pass 2NT and you miss a game.
For example, partner might hold
J 10 6 J 10 3 2 J 8 7 10 4 3
just enough junk to provide double
stoppers in all the suits, plus the 10
as an entry to enjoy whatever red-suit
trick they set up for you. I agree that
a 2 opening followed by 3 makes
the auction much more difficult,
but what about opening 2 and
rebidding 2NT? You lie about your
HCP but you express your playing
strength.
Pamela: True enough, and I am
happy to upgrade hands when I hold
a long suit. But there's such a thing
as overdoing it. I can give you hands
where we'll get too high after South
opens 2 and rebids 2NT.
Give North something like
K Q 3 2 K Q 6 5 8 7 6 4 6.
If I open 2 and rebid 2NT,
showing 23-24 HCP, isn't partner
supposed to press on to slam?
Exclusive BRIDGE

You and I could go back and forth,
giving hands that mesh or don't
mesh opposite certain minimums or
maximums, but I think that's heading
into "threading the needle" territory
and is an exercise in futility.
The Last Word (Matthew):
Minimums and maximums for
any opening bid will always exist.
Perhaps the solution is to have
methods for locating games and
slams when responder holds excellent
controls or a long suit, but is slightly
short of the requisite HCP.
On this hand, over a 2NT opening,
responder might make a "light
quantitative raise" if he had such
methods. For example, some play
that a 2NT - 4NT sequence shows a
strong invitational raise and that 2NT
- 4 shows a lighter slam invitation
(4 being artificial). On this deal,
North would risk 4 to show the
light invitation, and South would be
pleased to accept.
r

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2006