September 2019 - 47

Newer Players

Startup Bridge
BY LYNN BERG

lberg@cfl.rr.com

Who's in charge here?
Opener bids 1NT. His partner bids
2♣ (Stayman) or 2♦/2♥ (transfer).
Responder has taken charge. Stayman asks the question, "Do you have a
four-card major?" A transfer bid tells
opener what he must bid next. Opener
should cooperate and perform the task
demanded by his partner's bid.
I frequently get asked the question,
"Do I have to accept a transfer?" What
if partner bids 2♦ and I have this hand:
♠K J 9 4 ♥8 6 ♦A K 8 ♣A J 7 2?
Why shouldn't I bid notrump when I
have all the other suits well covered
and I don't like hearts? The flippant
answer is, "Because you're not in
charge!" Opener has no idea what his
partner's hand looks like. It could be as
bad as:
♠2 ♥10 9 7 5 4 3 ♦4 3 2 ♣8 6 5.
If opener has been foolish enough to
bid 2NT, what's responder to do? He
knows notrump is a disaster and will
have to crawl unwillingly to the three
level to save partner from his error.
Of course, responder could have a
much better hand:
♠A 8 ♥K J 9 5 3 ♦Q J 2 ♣K 8 4.
In this case, after opener has dutifully bid 2♥, responder will jump to 3NT.
Opener looks at his doubleton heart
and passes happily.
Maybe you haven't thought about it,
but when you open 1NT (or 2NT for
that matter), you've made a limited bid.
Partner knows within narrow limits
your distribution and your point count.

In fact, any time one partner limits his
hand, he cedes the "captaincy" to his
partner. This is true with many other
bidding situations.
Your partner opens 1♠. You answer
2♠ with:

One of the hard decisions to make
can be which bids are forcing and
which you are allowed to pass. If you
don't know which bids are limited
and which are unlimited, how can you
figure this out?

♠9 7 4 ♥A 7 4 3 ♦A 2 ♣8 7 5 4.

⦁ Opener starts with notrump, or his
first rebid is notrump.

You have limited your hand by making a single raise - for most partnerships, responder has 6 to 9 or maybe
a bad 10 HCP. You don't expect to bid
again unless partner makes another
move; you've described your hand
already. But partner isn't quite ready
to stop. She has a hand worth 16-18
points, so she bids 3♠ to ask you, "Are
you at the top or the bottom end of your
single raise?" Your hand is actually
worth 9 playing points in support of
spades, so you should accept the invitation and continue on to game.
You also limit your hand when you
make an invitational raise: 1♥-3♥, for
instance. These days, partner expects
10-12 points and four-card support for
that "limit" or invitational raise. The
term "limit" gives away my point: You
have limited your hand rather narrowly - the range of points is smaller
than when you make a single raise. It's
up to partner to add together the values
of your two hands and decide whether
to go on.
As my friend Frannie Strawn says,
"The one who knows, goes." When she
heard this at a bridge seminar (probably one of Jerry Helms's - she's a big
fan), she says it finally clarified that
idea for her of who's in charge.

⦁ Responder makes a single or
double raise.
⦁ Opener makes an invitational bid,
1♥-2♥-3♥.
These are all limited bids which
partner is allowed to pass if no further
action is warranted by his hand.
On the contrary, think about the
range when opener starts with 1♣ and
responder bids 1♥. Responder could
have as little as:
♠6 5 ♥J 9 7 2 ♦A 8 4 3 ♣J 7 6,
or a much better hand like:
♠A 6 ♥A J 9 7 ♦A 8 4 3 ♣J 7 6,
or even:
♠A 6 ♥A K J 7 ♦A 8 4 3 ♣J 7 6.
The range is vast, from as few as 6
points up to 17, 18, maybe even more.
That's why a new suit by an unpassed
partner is forcing.
If responder has already passed, the
range for his response is known to be
much narrower, 6 to not more than 11.
If opener has opened light, he may well
pass now. He doesn't even need to take
off his shoes to add up the maximum
combined value of their two hands. ◾

September 2019 Bridge Bulletin

September 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2019