July 2020 - 57

Better Bridge with Bergen
Intermediate Players
BY MARTY BERGEN
martybergen.com
P
Improve your bidding judgment - part 14
artner opens 1k and your RHO
passes. Favorable vulnerability.
What would you do with
these five hands?
As always, it's definitely in your
best interests to choose your answer
before reading on.
1A K 10 6 2 k10 9 7 l6 4 '5 4 2
A quality five-card spade suit; you
don't get these too often. If you bid 1
and partner rebids 2', 2l or 1NT,
it's obvious to bid 2k. What could be
easier?
Sorry, but I beg to differ. Regardless
of opener's rebid, a delayed 2k bid is
not a raise. It's a preference, showing
a weak hand with two hearts. After
opener gets the bad news, he'll usually
pass and hope to scrape up eight
tricks.
With this nice single raise, ignore
your spades and raise 1k to 2k. For
those who dreamed of a 5-4 spade fit,
a 1k opener has four spades less than
20% of the time.
2 J 6 4 2 k5 lA J 10 9 7 6 '5 3
" Marty, this is easy! It's too weak
for 2l, so bid 1. The end. " For all
you 1 bidders, I have a question.
If opener rebids 2', what are you
planning to do? You must remember
that 2l here is artificial and forcing,
and should be played as fourth-suit
forcing to game.
So if you respond 1 and opener
bids 2', your choice is pass or 2k!
Yuck! What's the answer? Instead of
responding 1 and being miserable
if opener bids 2', you should ignore
your spades and respond 1NT. If he
bids 2', you can bid 2l to show a
long suit and a weak hand, which is
what you have. And if opener rebids
2k, he'll have six of them. A 6-1
trump " fit " isn't wonderful, but it is
sometimes inevitable and is usually a
playable contract.
3 K J 10 kA 4 3 lK J 9 'Q 10 8 6
You definitely are strong enough to
force to game, but have no idea whether
you belong in 4k or 3NT. Regardless
of the form of scoring, it would
not be surprising if your side's best
contract is for you to declare 3NT.
If you respond 2' and then support
hearts, you have no realistic chance of
playing in 3NT. It certainly would be
nice if you could describe this hand to
partner and let him decide where you
belong. Is there any way to do this?
Yes there is. Make one of the Bergen
raises. My 3NT response to a major
shows 13-15 HCP with three-card
support and 4-3-3-3 distribution. It
gives opener a choice of games. With
an unbalanced hand, he'll bid 4k.
Otherwise, he is welcome to pass. Of
course, if he has slam interest, he can
express that with a control bid.
In my experience, in a noncompetitive
auction, this is by far the most
practical meaning for responder's
3NT response to partner's opening
bid in a major. Whether or not you
play Bergen raises, I heartily recommend
it.
4 7 kQ J 9 8 lQ J 10 8 4 '7 5 3
With this weak hand, it's normal to
bid 2k (or 3' if using Bergen raises).
However, with this excellent
offense but very little defense hand,
I believe there's a better bid. The
opponents definitely have a spade fit,
and their suit outranks yours. You
would love to keep them out. Your best
chance to achieve that is to respond
4k.
Nov. 24-Dec. 4
5 6 4 kK 10 8 5 lA K 10 9 4 '5 3
Only 10 HCP, but as much as I loved
this hand when I was dealt it, once
partner opened 1k, it got a lot better!
Why did I love this initially and
would have been happy to open 1l?
* All my strength is in my two longest
suits, including four well-placed
intermediate cards.
* 2 1/2 quick tricks.
* A quality five-card diamond suit.
Why did partner's 1k opening bid
make it even better?
* We have a nine-card fit or better
in a major suit.
* Because we have a known fit in
a major, I'm happy to add a point for
each of my two doubletons.
* My kK is now a " proven " honor.
So even though I want all of my
partners to open " light " (especially
with favorable vulnerability), with
this lovely hand, I'm ready to force
to game. So I'm responding 2NT
(Jacoby 2NT).
Coming in the August issue:
Information on the Fall NABC in
Phoenix
July 2022 | Bridge Bulletin |
57
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July 2020

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