December 2024 - 50

Intermediate Players
Mike's Bridge Lesson
Responder's bid after opener's reverse
H
ere's a question focusing on a
meaningful but uncommon
bidding situation. You won't
have this problem come up often, but
it does occur. Because a lot depends
on getting it right, you want to have
agreements in place.
None vulnerable, North deals.
West North East
1d
Pass
Pass 2h Pass
South
1s
?
sQ 9 7 4 hJ 6 dJ 10 9 cA Q 10 6
North opens 1d and reverses to
2h, showing a good hand. Most
players play a reverse is forcing for
one round but not to game. Some
partnerships play 2h is 100% forcing
to game. Do you have an agreement
with your partner? More to the point,
what should South bid over 2h?
While you're thinking about this
question, consider what you would
bid with this hand as well:
sA Q 6 4 hQ 6 dJ 10 9 cK Q 10 6.
I'll come back to this hand in the
postmortem.
On the first hand, you have 10
HCP; a game-going hand facing a
reverse, but not much of a hand for
getting higher than game. Here are
your choices:
2NT Generally, the bid of 2NT - or
the fourth suit, whichever bid
is lower - is played as showing
a weak bid of some kind
after opener reverses. This will
always be a bid at the two level.
3c This is a fourth-suit bid, showing
game values. It's usually
undefined.
3d Going back to partner's first
suit shows a good hand. This
bid is forcing to game. You have
the values to make this bid, but
with most of your points in the
black suits, raising diamonds
feels off the mark.
3NT This is the bid that shows what
you have. You have proper
stoppers and you have some
values. You don't have a dog.
I think 3NT is the right bid. The
important question is what partner
will think you have. Which range
of high-card points do you think is
correct: 8-12 HCP with proper stoppers?
9-11? 9-14? 10-15?
The point of this important question
is that when you bid 3NT, your
partner will often think of bidding
again, and his decision will be based
on what your bid shows. If you will
bid 3NT with 8 points and also 14
points, your partner's bid will be
more of a guess than an educated
decision. You need to have a definition
your partner can trust.
I suggest you play 3NT shows a fat
9 up to a so-so 11 points. You might
even do it with a wretched 12-point
hand with mostly queens and jacks.
This is a nice, descriptive range of
points. You won't often have more,
so this range caters to quite a few of
your decent hands.
The 10-point hand in the example
has balanced shape and the fourth
BY MIKE LAWRENCE
michaelslawrence.com
suit (clubs) well stopped.
You have only four spades. You
would rebid your major with five
most of the time. Importantly, you
have a spade stopper. Don't think
that just because you have bid spades
you will be safe against a spade lead.
You need a stopper in your own suit.
Further, 3NT says you don't have a
better bid to make (such as supporting
one of partner's suits). If you bid
3NT, your partner will know if his
hand is worth another bid. Here's the
complete layout:
North
s K 10 8
h A K 10 5
d A K Q 7 4
c 9
South
s Q 9 7 4
h J 6
d J 10 9
c A Q 10 6
Some important points. South's 3NT
bid denied five spades. North won't go
to 4s after South's 3NT bid. South's
bid shows 9-11 HCP. North has 19. He
won't consider going to 6NT.
Postmortem
Holding the second hand with 14
HCP, you should not bid 3NT. You
might start with 3c, the fourth suit.
Or you might start by bidding 3d.
This is a good hand; showing diamond
support may allow you to get
to 6d.
The most important feature of this
hand is that it should not bid 3NT.
3NT will often end the bidding, and
you have too much for that. 2
50 | Bridge Bulletin | December 2024
http://www.michaelslawrence.com
December 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2024
