October 2022 - 54

Intermediate Players
Mike's Bridge Lesson
A complete balancing auction
T
his article looks at a complete
balancing auction. You can decide
as the bidding progresses
what you think of the chosen bids. I'm
including all four hands because the
opponents' decisions on these hands
are worth discussing.
Dlr: East  9 8
Vul: None k K 10 5 4
l Q J 7 6
' K 8 6
 Q 4
k 7 2
l 9 5 3 2
' Q J 10 3 2
 A K 7 6 2
k J 6
l A 8
' A 9 7 5
 J 10 5 3
k A Q 9 8 3
l K 10 4
' 4
West North East
Pass Dbl
Pass
South
1 Pass
3k
All Pass
This is one of the more common
balancing auctions. One of the opponents
opens the bidding and their
partner passes. Your side has many
choices, one of which is to pass it out.
East opens 1 with his 16 HCP.
Normal enough. Some might open
1NT. Both bids would get votes,
although I think more would vote for
1 than 1NT.
South shouldn't bid. An overcall
here would be stretching things.
It would be OK to bid 1k over an
opening 1' or 1l bid, but two-level
overcalls need better hands.
West might dredge up a 1NT
response, but his pass is fine. This
decision is a matter of style.
Now the real decisions come out.
54 | Bridge Bulletin | October 2022
On this hand, North has takeout-double
shape, and the question is whether
he has enough to bid. The answer
is yes. He has fair-to-good support for
the unbid suits, and he has shortness
in spades. North's hand is minimum
but definitely in range for a balancing
takeout double. One huge thing he has
going for him is that West passed 1.
Opener rates to have a good hand, but
even if he has 16 or 17 points, there is
room for South to have some values.
East does have 16 points, but it isn't
a good hand. East has no spot cards
in his long suits, which is a big minus.
It's easy to imagine that East can't
make much. It's also easy to imagine
that West has a fistful of clubs, which
would let East make a partscore.
East makes a good decision to pass.
It's close, though. If East had the 'J
instead of the kJ, he would bid 2'.
It's South's turn. If North's double
hadn't been a balancing double,
South would have bid 4k for sure.
The trouble is that a balancing double
can be made with as few as 7 HCP
and a shapely hand. My guess is that
a majority of the South players in this
situation would bid 2k only. This is a
common error. South has good hearts
and a good high card in diamonds.
South also has a fifth heart, to say
nothing of the singleton club. Even
facing a balancing double, this hand
is good enough to jump to 3k.
West can't think of a bid now so he
passes.
What should North do? His double
was minimum. He has two spades,
not one. He has no aces. He does have
four hearts but it's hard to find good
news beyond that. North should pass.
East will pass. He can't take a
chance that West has a broken 2- or
BY MIKE LAWRENCE
michaelslawrence.com
3-point hand and mostly red cards.
So how does this sequence work
out?
West leads the Q. East signals
that he likes spades, but West has an
obvious shift to the 'Q. This wins so
West continues with the 'J, ruffed
by South.
At this point East should be regretting
his failure to bid. It seems that
East-West can make at least 4'.
The play in 3k is trivial. South
draws trumps and gives up a diamond.
He has nine tricks.
" I make 5' if South doesn't lead a
heart, " notes East.
Postmortem: What should South
bid with these hands if North balances
with a double of 1?
K Q 8 5 k5 4 lJ 7 4 'Q J 9 5
Bid 1NT. A notrump bid is a bit
vague as to values. It would also be
OK to bid 2', but with two spade
stoppers and some side values, 1NT
is OK.
Q 7 4 kK 5 4 3 lK 5 4 'K 9 8
This hand has 11 points, but it has
bad shape. The Q might be useful,
but it might not be. Bid just 2k.
Facing a balancing double, you should
be cautious on marginal hands. Note
that 1NT could be best if North has
a minimum hand with just three
hearts.
K 5 4 3 k4 l7 4 'A J 10 8 7 4
Bid 3'. Don't overlook this bid. You
have only 8 points, but they are good
ones, and your shape is terrific. 2' is
lazy, and 1NT is dangerous with just
three low cards in the red suits.
Q J 8 7 3 kA lQ J 7 5 'Q J 8

http://www.michaelslawrence.com
October 2022

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