April 2013 - 53

ADVANCED PLAYERS SECTION

Mike's Advice
Bidding an opponent's suit
naturally - part 2
Here is a reminder of what you
show when you jump in right-hand
opponent's 1ࡔ or 1ࡗ opening bid,
i.e., 1ࡔ by RHO, 3ࡔ by you or 1ࡗ by
RHO, 3ࡗ by you.
Jumps in the opponent's minor suit
are natural. Your bid is usually based
on a weak, preemptive hand, but modestly good hands are possible, too.
The big deal is that when you make
a bid like 3ࡗ over their 1ࡗ bid, you
really do make life hard for them.
A typical hand for 3ࡗ looks like any
sound 3ࡗ preempt that you would
make if there had not been any bidding.
ࡕ4 3 ࡖ2 ࡗQ J 10 8 7 5 4 ࡔK J 4
This is a sane 3ࡗ bid over an
opening 1ࡗ bid if the vulnerability is
acceptable. Note that if you did not
have the ࡗ10 or ࡗJ, your suit would
be too weak for this tactic.
Importantly, if your partnership
knows what a 3ࡗ bid looks like, then
when you make one of the following bids, your partner will have some
insights on what you have.
LHO
1ࡖ

Partner RHO
1ࡗ
Pass
1ࡕ

You
Pass
2ࡗ

This auction is generally thought to
be natural. I agree. Typically, the kind
of hand you need in this auction is
one with a good diamond suit, and it
must be a hand that wouldn't have bid
3ࡗ the round before. This is where
knowing what 3ࡗ means will help

your partner know what you are doing when you pass and later bid their
suit.
Here are four possible hands to consider. They all use the auction above.
Assume no one is vulnerable. Which
of these hands might bid 2ࡗ over
1ࡕ? Which do not? Why?
1. ࡕ6 ࡖA 8 7 4 ࡗQ J 10 7 5 4 ࡔK 4
2. ࡕK 4 ࡖ3 ࡗK Q 10 9 7 6 3 ࡔ9 8 3
3. ࡕK J 4 ࡖ8 7 ࡗA K J 8 3 ࡔQ 10 7
4. ࡕ8 7 6 3 ࡖ2 ࡗK Q J 8 7 4 ࡔ9 4
Hand No. 1 is worth a 2ࡗ bid over
opener's 1ࡕ rebid. You should be
safe in bidding 2ࡗ and that may turn
out to be a good thing. Again, the
most important feature of this bid is
that their side won't like it. West may
have wished to bid something on his
second turn. He may have wished to
bid 1NT. Now he can't. He may have
wished to bid 2ࡔ, the fourth suit.
Now he can't. If he was hoping to
bid 2ࡔ, it means he has some kind
of good hand and you have deprived
him of making a fourth-suit forcing
bid. There are many reasons to expect
that West won't have an easy decision
over 2ࡗ.
Note that your hand is not good
enough to bid 3ࡗ over 1ࡗ. That
would be a thoughtful bid but you
would really like either better diamonds or longer diamonds.
With Hand No. 2, you should bid
3ࡗ, natural and preemptive, over 1ࡗ.
Put it to them right away.
With Hand No. 3, you should not

Mike Lawrence
www.michaelslawrence.com

bid diamonds at any time. You have
a balanced hand with a five-card suit
that has already been bid by the opponents. If you enter the auction, you
might get doubled, and that won't be
good. One problem with this hand is
that you have so much, you suspect
they do not have a game, so if you go
down 300, it will be a bad result.
Acting with Hand No. 4 is dicey. I
would consider bidding 3ࡗ over 1ࡗ.
One big thing you have going for you
when you make one of these threelevel natural bids is that your opponents won't often be sure what to do.
They should play negative doubles
when you bid 3ࡗ, but most players
haven't discussed this auction. You
should make a note of it right now so
you will be prepared when an opponent does this to you. Still, in spite of
all the good things that can happen,
I would refrain from overcalling 3ࡗ.
Add the ࡗ10, and it becomes a fair
idea. So if you are not willing to bid
3ࡗ, you might pass, and if given a
second chance, bid 2ࡗ on the second
round. This bid, as noted in the discussion of Hand No. 1, will give West
some headaches.
continued next page ➤
April 2013 Bridge Bulletin

http://www.michaelslawrence.com

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