November 2022 - 66

Advanced Players
Mike's Advice
A smattering of interesting bidding problems BY MIKE LAWRENCE
michaelslawrence.com
O
n the following problems,
assume no one is vulnerable
unless otherwise noted. You
are South in each of the following
hands.
1 A Q 4 2 kA J 6 3 lA Q J '8 3
West North East
South
1NT(1) ?
(1) 15-17 HCP
2 J 10 9 3 k7 3 l6 5 3 'K J 10 4
West North East
1k 1 3(1)
(1) Splinter
3 Q 7 4 kA J 8 4 l8 7 4 '9 6 3
West North East
1l 1 2(1)
South
?
(1) Game-forcing diamond raise;
probably balanced hand
4 K 3 k8 6 5 3 l4 3 'K Q 10 5 2
West North East
4k Dbl(1)
South
?
(1) Takeout
Answers
1 If a double by you is for penalty,
you can do that, but don't expect to
kill them. You have points but you
don't have tricks, and your opening
lead will be a bit of a guess. If declarer
or dummy has a five-card club suit
that will run, you will have a tough
time defending.
If a double by you is conventional,
then you have to pass. If using DONT,
you might bid 2k, showing the majors,
but this bid won't be successful if
your partner doesn't have a four-card
major. It's funny that such a strong
hand can be a problem.
66 | Bridge Bulletin | November 2022
South
?
2 When your right-hand opponent
bids 3, showing a game-forcing
heart raise with a singleton spade,
you would like to show a fit for
partner, but your hand isn't good
enough to bid 4. The answer is to
double. When your partner overcalls
and your RHO immediately makes a
splinter bid or a cuebid that shows a
raise, you can double to say you wanted
to raise but you don't have a strong
enough hand to go to the next level.
Your double says you have something
like 7-9 support points, not enough to
raise over RHO's bid.
This is an important agreement
to have. Don't double just to make a
noise. These doubles should be treated
with intellectual respect.
3 This sequence is similar to the
previous sequence. West opened
1l and your partner overcalled 1.
East's 2 cuebid showed a strong
hand with diamond support. You
would like to have raised to 2 but
you can't do that, and your hand isn't
good enough to bid 3. The answer
it the same for this auction as for
the previous one. Double, showing
that you wanted to raise to 2. Your
partner may be able to use this information.
4
Your partner opened 4k, which
suits you just fine. East's double is
for takeout. What do you think they
are going to do? The answer is that
West will probably bid 4. You can
do something about this. Bid 5' over
the double. When your partner preempts
and they make a takeout double,
a bid by you should not be natural:
It should be lead-directing. Your bid
says you want a club lead, but you also
have support for partner's suit.
By bidding 5', you do two good
things. You give your opponents a
five-level guess, plus you get your
partner off to the best lead. You can
tell that a heart lead doesn't rate to
do much for your side, but a club lead
might.
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November 2022

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