November 2022 - 58

Intermediate Players
Mike's Bridge Lesson
A complete balancing auction
T
his article continues the series
on balancing.
This auction shows how
far players can push in a balancing
situation:
Dlr: East  K 10 6 5 3
Vul: None k K J 5 3
l 3
' J 8 5
 8 4 2
k 9 4 2
l A J 10 2
' K 6 4
 A Q 9
k Q 10 8 6
l 9 8 4
' Q 10 7
West North East
2l Pass
South
1l Pass
Pass Dbl
Pass 2 3l Pass
Pass 3k All Pass
The auction is full of close decisions.
East
opens 1l. Nothing strange
about this. Weak notrump bidders
would lean to 1NT. They like to bid
1NT whenever they can.
South shouldn't think of bidding
over 1l.
West has the first decision to make:
1NT or 2l? 1NT shows the values of
the hand, but it could be a bad idea
given he has zero high cards in the
majors. West's choice of 2l has considerable
merit, assuming the partnership
does not play it conventionally.
If opener has a good hand, he can
keep bidding, and may end in 3NT
from his side. If the bidding becomes
competitive, East may benefit from
knowing of the diamond fit.
58 | Bridge Bulletin | November 2022
 J 7
k A 7
l K Q 7 6 5
' A 9 3 2
North should want to bid, but this
hand isn't up to it. Any bid North
makes would show greater values. He
correctly passes.
East passes. An enterprising East
might bid 3l if it was understood to
be competitive and not an encouraging
bid.
Back to South. Should South bid?
When you are balancing after the
opponents bid and raise a suit, you
should look for reasons to bid, not
reasons to pass. South has 10 points
plus three or four cards in the unbid
suits. South makes a balancing double.
Keep in mind that if the opponents
play in 2l, they tend to make
it and your score will tend to be poor.
Your goal is not to make a contract
but to push the opponents a level
higher. If you do make a contract,
that's a bonus.
West has no reason to act. His pass
is fine.
North is fortunate enough to have a
five-card major, always a good asset.
He bids 2.
East now does something he might
have done earlier: He competes to
3l. He knows he has a good fit and he
expects that 3l will have a play. East
should be happy to make this bid.
South passes. He made his little
contribution and has nothing to add.
Usually when the auction goes
this way, the bidding ends. When
South passes and West passes, it is
uncommon for North to bid again.
Here, North has something to think
about. He knows that with 5-4 in the
majors, he has a good fit somewhere.
If South has four spades, there is a
nine-card fit.
On this hand, no one is vulnerable.
North can trade on that a little by
BY MIKE LAWRENCE
michaelslawrence.com
bidding 3k. If he is doubled and down
one, it is only 100, a tiny triumph if
East-West can make 3l.
Assuming North bids 3k, East will
pass. He has done what he had to. He
failed to buy the contract for 3l but
he pushed North-South up one level.
South should not view North's bidding
as constructive. North is clearly
competing by pushing to 3k. South
should pass and hope that the operation
was successful.
West has a fair raise but because
East was willing to play in 2l, it
would be quite poor for West to bid
4l now. It turns out that 4l would
be down one, which is better than
having North make 3k, but that reeks
of hindsight bidding.
Like I said, when one side bids and
raises and tries to pass it out, it isn't
always the end of the bidding. It may
be that the bidding is just getting
warmed up.
Postmortem: When you are playing
bridge, you should always try to look
confident. Some of the North-South
bids were speculative. When making
one of these bids, you should not show
weakness. Show confidence. This
can win in a big way if an opponent
decides you know what you are doing
and bids on when he shouldn't or
perhaps fails to double you when he
should.
http://www.michaelslawrence.com
November 2022

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