October 2018 - 50

Newer Players

Ask Jerry
BY JERRY HELMS

Dear Jerry,
We recently had a disaster on the
following auction:
1♣
Pass(!?)

Dbl
Pass

1♥

Pass

His thinking was that because I did
not redouble, my hand was weak. Of
course, we missed a game because I
had 12 HCP. I thought my 1♥ bid was
forcing. Help is needed.
Forcing or not?
Hi Forcing,
I suspect this is an area where others
are very confused. That being the case,
I will try to be gentle. It is standard
practice that a redouble by responder
in this auction does show 10 or more
points. It is equally important to realize that the failure to redouble does not
deny 10 or more points.
Just to review Bridge Basics 101, the
bidding process is all about determining where to play in terms of suit or
notrump, and how high to play in terms
of partscore, game, or slam.
A new suit by responder at the one
level after a takeout double is forcing
- not semi-forcing, not almost forcing,
just plain old forcing. A truth I hold
to be very important: When you have
suits to bid, you best start bidding your
suits as soon as possible.
Example:
1♣

Dbl

Holding:
♠7 ♥K 10 7 4 3 ♦A 4 ♣K 8 7 5 4

50 Bridge Bulletin October 2018

askjerry@jerryhelms.com

jerryhelms.com

Despite your impressive high card
point holding, which clearly equals
the 10 or more points for a redouble, I
cannot fathom bidding anything other
than 1♥! Something about my spade
singleton makes me fear that the opponents, who might be short on highcard points, could be long in spades
and have a lot of shape. If I were to
redouble, and my LHO jumped to 2♠
(which, by the way, should be preemptive, based on the auction) and - horrors! - partner passed, and RHO raised
to 3♠, then what? Here I am preparing
to introduce my heart suit, for the first
time, at the four level. Somehow this
feels very wrong. If, however, the auction had gone:
1♣
Pass

Dbl
3♠

1♥
?

2♠

I would happily bid 4♣, feeling that I
had shown a good hand with hearts and
clubs.
I think that a redouble should show
10 or more points, but much more balanced distribution and be a suggestion
that perhaps our best interest might
be in penalizing the opponents, even
at a low level. As a matter of fact, many
partnerships play that a redouble tends
to deny a primary fit for partner's bid
suit.
Try this auction:
1♠

Dbl

Rdbl

Holding:
♠4 ♥K J 6 5 ♦A 8 6 4 ♣Q 10 6 5,
this would be a classic redouble. On

this auction, you have no clear fit, and
it appears the opponents could be in
trouble playing in any suit. I think
that the message sent by a redouble
is: "Partner, we have the balance of
power. We should either play this hand,
or if the opponents play, they must be
doubled!"
After a redouble, the opening bidder
would tend to pass with any balanced
type of hand if his RHO passed. If his
RHO happened to bid a suit that he
has four cards in, he should double.
Opener, holding a weak distributional
opening bid, would act immediately to
warn partner about his lack of defense.
There is a conventional treatment
called "Jordan" which many partnerships employ to help find what they
hold after a takeout double:
1M

Dbl

2NT

The 2NT bid, after a major, shows an
artificial four-trump limit raise. This
means that when responder redoubles,
he always has at most three-card support in opener's suit.
1m

Dbl

2NT

After a minor, this can also be used to
show good support for opener's minor
suit with 10 or more points, although
there are variations.
By the way, in most partnerships, a
new suit at the two level after a takeout
double is not forcing - just when you
thought you were beginning to understand.
◾

http://www.jerryhelms.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2018