June 2014 - 43

1♣	by	Abdou.	"This	hand	has	lots	
of	potential,	but	it	seems	like	partner	
has	many	major-suit	cards.	I	want	to	
be	able	to	show	my	suits	and	judge	the	
auction.	Starting	with	a	higher	bid	will	
jam	my	own	auction."
Sanborn,	too.	"1♣ planning on a
reverse	or	some	competitive	notrump	
bid	to	show	the	minors.	The	clubs	look	
more	than	one	card	longer	than	the	
diamonds."
Boehm	calls	a	2♣	opening	"shortsighted,	since	the	opponents	may	
compete.	Opening	1♣,	I	can	get	my	
suits	across."
Colchamiro	bids	1♣,	but	muses,	"1♦
is	certainly	possible	to	prepare	for	the	
likely	spade	barrage	from	the	opponents."
Stack	observes,	"It	is	not	often	you	
will	hold	two	cards	in	the	majors	and	
it	goes	three	passes	to	you.	If	this	hand	
is	held	in	first	seat,	then	probably	a	1♦
bid	should	be	used	in	anticipation	of	
spade	preempts.	Now	it	seems	that	1♣
followed	by	bidding	diamonds	twice	
will	accurately	describe	the	playing	
strength	of	this	hand."
5.	Matchpoints.	East-West	vulnerable.
♠K	Q	7	4	2			♥A 9 8 7 3 ♦K	Q			♣6
West
	 Pass	
	 Pass	

North
1♦		
2♦		

Call
2♥
3♥
4♥

East
Pass	
Pass	

Votes
17
1
0

South
1♠
?
Award
100
80
40

Bridge 101
Once	again,	too	easy.
Cohen:	"I	can't	even	guess	what	the	
alternative to 2♥	would	be."
"This	round	of	the	auction	is	not	the	
problem,	is	it?"	asks	Rigal.	"Unless	you	
think 2♥	is	nonforcing,	in	which	case	
we	send	you	back	to	bridge	basics	with	
a	slap	on	the	wrist	and	a	request	to	
clean	the	erasers	after	school."
2♥	from	Falk,	who	at	least	takes	a	
minute	to	explore	all	the	options.	"As	I	
do	not	have	any	forcing	diamond	bids	
other than 4♣,	splinter	-	which	is	nuts	

-	and	possibly	4♦,	which	is	so	unclear	it	rates	to	get	me	to	a	committee	
in	a	bad	way,	I	have	to	bid	something	
clearly	forcing.	I'm	going	to	game	and	
hoping	for	slam,	but	I	might	as	well	let	
partner	take	one	more	call	with	no	particular	pressure.	His	2NT	will	dampen	
my	ardor	substantially.	2♠	will	allow	
me	to	bid	3♦	forcing.	A	heart	raise	will	
just	tell	me	partner	had	a	hand	unsuitable	for	a	1NT	rebid	-	nothing	in	clubs	
(good!)	or	spade	shortness,	like	a	void	
(not	so	good).	I'll	still	try	4♦ over the
heart raise. A 3♦	bid	by	partner	will	
allow	me	to	bid	4♦	forcing."
Vandy	champ	Meckstroth,	dryly,	succinctly: "2♥.	I	assume	this	is	forcing."	
Hampson	explains	that	he	plays	2♥
as	forcing,	but	not	necessarily	natural.	"You	need	to	be	able	to	force	with	
just	spades	or	a	diamond	fit.	So	I	will	
probably	need	to	repeat	my	hearts	or	
possibly	just	raise	diamonds	and	see	if	
partner	can	offer	a	heart	preference."
Robinson	bids	2♥. "Even though
it	might	not	be	natural,	it's	forcing.	
Later,	I	can	decide	whether	to	support	
diamonds	or	bid	my	hearts."
Sanborn	opines:	"2♥	should	be	my	
force	in	this	auction.	It	isn't	clear	that	
we	want	to	be	playing	in	a	major	even	
if	we	find	an	eight-card	fit.	I	am	not	
excluding	a	diamond	slam	with	these	
cards,	so	I	don't	want	to	get	too	high	
by	bidding	3♥	now.	That	would	leave	
me	poorly	placed	on	the	next	round	if	
partner	bids	3NT	-	I	couldn't	be	sure	
whether	to	bid	4♦	or	not."
Korbel,	too:	"I	like	to	play	2♥ as
forcing	for	one	round,	and	then	a	3♦
follow-up	as	game	forcing	if	partner	
bids	2♠, 2NT or 3♣."
Stack	believes	slow	is	the	way	to	go.	
"2♥	is	forcing.	This	hand	should	be	
bid	slowly	because	of	the	two	big	cards	
in	partner's	suit.	It	is	possible	there	is	
no	major-suit	game,	but	there	may	be	a	
game	or	slam	in	diamonds.	Going	slow	
allows	partner	to	give	the	best	description	of	his	hand."
The	Bridge	Bulletin	Standard	system	
notes	are	silent	on	the	nature	of	3♥ in
this	auction	-	invitational	or	forcing?	
It	is	a	topic	worth	partnership	discus-

sion.
"2♥	-	keep	it	simple,"	the	Sutherlins	
urge. "3♥	intending	to	show	a	5-5	major-suit	hand	with	extras	is	more	descriptive	if	it's	part	of	the	partnership	
agreement.	But	many	people	would	
play	this	as	a	splinter	for	diamonds.	
Let's	go	slow	and	avoid	a	partnership	
misunderstanding."	
"Going	the	slow	route	seems	fine	to	
me,"	agrees	Lee.	"If	3♥	shows	a	gameforcing	hand	with	5-5	in	the	majors,	
I	think	that	bid	would	be	fine,	but	2♥
should get us to the right strain anyway."
Lawrence	bids	2♥.	"I	can't	bid	3♥
since	that	shows	invitational	values.	
With	some	of	my	partners,	3♥	shows	a	
singleton.	Neither	meaning	works.	My	
hope is to reach 6♦,	but	it	is	premature	
to	emphasize	the	♦K	Q."
Abdou	bids	3♥,	forcing.	"We	could	
have	a	nine-card	heart	fit.	If	partner	
raises to 4♥,	I	will	complete	my	pattern	description	with	5♦.	I	don't	care	
if	pard	thinks	I	am	cuebidding	or	patterning	out	-	he	knows	I	am	not	showing	shortness	in	his	suit.	That's	my	best	
shot	at	slam."
Please participate in It's Your Call. Go
to www.acbl.org and click on It's Your Call
under the MyACBL heading. You may
submit answers for a given month until
midnight on the 20th of that month, at
which point the next month's problems
will be available. The top scores for April:
Wafik Abdou, Bakersfield CA
Christopher Gibson, Beaverton OR
Zachary Grossack, Newton MA
Ronald Vickery, Tucson AZ
Zizhuo Wang, Minneapolis MN
William Woodfine, London ON
Jarek Wyganowski, Fargo ND
Erli Zhou, Stanford CA
Robert Buchner, Coral Springs FL
Amy Casanova, Portland OR
Howard Cohen, Oceanside NY
Thomas Devine, Ferndale WA
John Friedl, Signal Mountain TN
Sherman Gao, Pomona CA
Monty Gray, Seattle WA
Linda Green, Fairfield CT

500
500
500
500
500
500
500
500
470
470
470
470
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470
470
470

continued on page 61 ➤
June 2014 Bridge Bulletin

43
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2014
