March 2024 - 45

right. Left-hand opponent might not
be able to run to their best fit. If they
do, I'll come alive with 3c. "
5. Bathroom break
IMPs. North-South vulnerable.
sA 10 5 3 hK J 8 2 d- cK Q 6 5 2
West North East
1d
Dbl(1)
3d
(1) Shows 4-4 in the majors
Call
4d
4s
4h
3h
3s
Dbl
Votes
10
2
1
1
South
1c
?
Award
100
80
80
70
70
40
This deal generated more than 800
votes and a lot of comments when
it was posted on Bridge Winners by
John Diamond on Dec. 25, 2021.
Cohen: " Whatever 4d means, I have
it. "
4d by Grossack. " Better to get to
our 5-4 fit than our 4-4. Partner
will have a good idea of my diamond
shortness, too. I don't think I promise
too much extra but I don't have a
horrible hand either! "
Boehm sees the same possibility.
" 4d. Might as well allow for 5-4 in the
majors and find our best fit. "
Rigal rebids 4d. " This isn't the
problem; it is what to do over 4M
(and I suggest you inquire of my
colleagues). I would pass 4M. Give me
the sQ instead of the s3 and maybe I
do more. Probably not. "
Weinstein says he's making up
for some of his earlier underbids by
" overbidding " 4d. " Love my majors
and my diamond void. "
Molson, 4d: " It's big. Maybe too big,
but such is life. "
Meyers's 4d: " Let partner pick one. "
" Whee! " exclaims Korbel with 4d.
" I was overdue for my huge overbid of
the month. "
Donn bids 4d. " I will let partner
choose a major and play this one so
that I can use the restroom. "
" I don't really understand this
problem, " says Colchamiro. " 4d.
Should be unanimous. "
Robinson selects the 4s card from
his bidding box. " I don't want to
confuse the auction by cuebidding
diamonds. Partner might think that I
don't have a four-card major. I bid 4s
so that I can later bid 5h. "
Meckstroth, 4s: " I want to be able
to ruff diamonds with small trumps. "
Lin explains her 3h: " A good principle
for readers to remember is that
once the opponents have taken away
our bidding space, the range for bids
like 3h and 4h widens, because 3h
now includes the 'best' 2h hands, and
4h will include the 'best' 3h hands.
I might just bid 4h at the table, too
tempted by being red at IMPs, but
constructing hands, I don't think a
light game rates to play well. Partner
is probably expected to be 4=4=(3-2)
or 4=4=4=1. We may not have many
losers, but it'll be difficult to set up
the clubs unless partner has some
help there, and we would likely have
limited entries to partner's hand to
draw trump. Defenders might succeed
by tapping with diamonds or playing
trump. The hands we care about are
the ones that would pass 3h but where
we still make game, something like:
sx x x x hA 10 9 x dx x x cA x.
Nothing in diamonds, the cA and
friendly breaks seem like a narrow
target. Another question is hearts or
spades. I think the default is hearts
because there are advantages to
staying lower. You have more space
and there is a nice minor advantage
if 4h gets doubled, you can pull to 4s.
Also, I think if partner has a weak
hand, they are more likely to have
five hearts and four spades than vice
versa because they can start with 1s
and rebid 2h. "
Sanborn bids 3s. " Probably not
popular, but I'm planning to bid 4h if
4d comes back undoubled. " 2
NEXT MONTH'S PROBLEMS
It's Your Call uses the Bridge Bulletin
Standard system. Enter the MyACBL
member portal at acbl.org and click on
It's Your Call on the left-hand menu.
You'll find a link to the system notes at
the top of the page.
1. Matchpoints. East-West vul.
sA 9 6 5 4 3 h5 dJ 5 2 cK 5 3
West North East
2h
Pass
Pass
South
?
2. IMPs. East-West vulnerable.
sA J 9 8 4 h- dA 9 8 4 3 cA 8 5
West North East
2s
4s
5c
South
1s
?
3. Matchpoints. North-South vul.
sK Q 9 6 3 h10 3 d- cQ J 10 9 4 3
West North East
2NT
3d
South
?
4. Matchpoints. None vulnerable.
sA Q 6 2 hK Q 3 dK Q J 8 6 5 c-
West North East
1s
Dbl
Pass
South
1d
?
5. Matchpoints. East-West vul.
sK 9 hJ 9 7 6 4 dA 9 5 4 cA 5
West North East
2d
Pass
Dbl
Pass
Pass
South
1h
?
Please participate in It's Your Call! Go
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under the MyACBL login tab at the
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given month until midnight on the 20th
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March 2024 | Bridge Bulletin |
45
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March 2024

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