January 2025 - 39

West opened 1c with the long suit,
and East responded 1h for the reasons
already discussed. West rebid
2c, as did his counterpart. Some
players might rebid 3c which would
not be far wrong, but the singleton
heart and lack of club interiors suggest
that a 2c rebid is enough. East rebid
3c to invite game. Because West had
the unbid suits stopped, he decided to
immediately bid a simple 3NT.
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Bridge Bulletin auction: Pass-1c;
1h-2c; 3c-3d; 3s-5c; 6c-Pass.
It looks a little inconsistent for East
to raise to 6c at the end, but West
is suggesting a complete maximum
with short hearts, so it seems calledfor
with the great cards and extra
trump support.
Scores: 6c 11; 5c 7; 3NT(E) 4;
4c 3; 3NT(W) 2
Binder-Watson 11;
Aquino-Cappelli 13
Problem 3
South deals. E-W vulnerable.
West
East
s A Q J 8 7 3
h A 9 4
d K 3
c Q J
2NT
Pass
s K 6
h 8 7 2
d A 9 5 4
c 10 7 3 2
Binder Watson
1s
1NT
3NT
West opened 1s on the nice
17-point hand. East responded 1NT,
which a player would do whether
it's forcing or not. West next made a
very nice decision to rebid 2NT. 3s
wouldn't be wrong, but the hand is
flat with scattered values, and on
such hands there are frequently the
same number of tricks available in
notrump as in a suit contract. East
also judged very nicely to raise to
3NT. Despite the minimum in high
cards, the ones that are held are
worth their weight in gold. West
passed, reaching the best game.
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bidding compared with the experts
and the full original article for analysis.
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contests. Download the app bid72
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Box contest with your partner (for a
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compared with the experts and the full
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Aquino
1s
3s
Pass
West opened 1s, East rebid 1NT
and West rebid 3s. This is certainly
a normal choice, with 17 HCP and six
good spades. East raised to 4s, having
no real chance to bid 3NT given
the two weak side suits, either of
Cappelli
1NT
4s
which might even have been opposite
a singleton. Unfortunately, a heart
lead or switch sinks this contract.
Bridge Bulletin auction: As
Binder-Watson.
Scores: 3NT 11; 2NT 8; 2s 6; 3s 4;
4s 1
Binder-Watson 22;
Aquino-Cappelli 14
Problem 4
West deals. Both vulnerable.
West
East
s K Q J 10 9 6
h Q J 3
d A 9 8
c 6
s 7 4 3 2
h 6 5
d J 7
c K Q 10 9 2
Binder Watson
1s
2NT
3s
Pass
West had a normal 1s opening,
which East raised to 2s. Some pairs
have a way to show a four-card raise
immediately through some sort of
Bergen raise, but many other pairs
don't. West rebid 2NT, artificially
showing a short-suit game try in any
suit. East rebid 3c to ask which was
the short suit. Unfortunately, the pair
then had a misunderstanding. The
question was which bid by opener
shows shortness in which suit. There
are two common methods. West
thought they were playing the " natural
with substitution " method (3d =
short diamonds, 3h = short hearts,
3s = short clubs), while East thought
they were playing the " suit order "
method from low to high
(3d = short clubs, 3h = short diamonds,
3s = short hearts). So West
thought 3s showed club shortness,
but East thought 3s showed heart
shortness. This means the actual
fit was much worse than East realized,
and East bid game. It's too bad
because this method could have
worked well on the given hand. It just
January 2025 | Bridge Bulletin |
39
2s
3c
4s
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January 2025

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