When it’s your turn to bid, your main focus is on finding the call that best describes your hand. That’s a good start to your deliberations, but it’s not the only factor to consider. It’s important to remember that a bid that’s technically correct at this point in the auction isn’t necessarily the one that will lead to the best result.
If you have a choice of actions, you need to judge not just how accurately each call shows your values, but how it will affect the rest of the auction and the play. Will it leave you with a good rebid? Does it give the opponents too much bidding room or tell them too much about your hand? Will your meaning be clear to partner?
The challenge is to do all this thinking in just a few seconds, so you have to zero in on the most relevant issues. Which should draw your attention on this deal?
Partner RHO You LHO
1C 1H 1S 2H
3C 3H ?
Vulnerable vs. not at matchpoints, what’s your call holding ♠AJ1043 ♥J653 ♦A4 ♣K8 ?
Although 3NT could make, a club contract is a safer and potentially more rewarding choice. This is quite a good hand for a club game or slam, and you can send precisely that message by cuebidding 4H. Before you commit to that bid, though, ask yourself what you hope to accomplish.
The critical issue here is partner’s rebid. You already have strong inferences about his hand. His only first-round control is the likely heart void, and he may have stretched a bit to compete to 3C. A possible hand is ♠Q5 ♥Void ♦K862 ♣AQ109654 ,
That gives you an idea of the problem he’ll have at his next turn. Your 4H would show a good high-card raise to 5C, but it doesn’t guarantee full values for slam. With minimum high-card strength and no aces to show, partner will be reluctant to bid past game. It’s almost certain that he’ll retreat to 5C, and you’ve learned nothing.
Once you realize that partner probably can’t be talked into bidding 6C, you can see the futility of cuebidding 4H. If you want to play slam, you’ll have to bid it, and you might as well do it at this turn.
Streamlining the auction can also be wise at lower levels. Suppose you open 1S with ♠KJ8765 ♥AKQ97 ♦93 ♣Void and partner raises to 2S. The heart suit is a big feature of your hand, so your first impulse may be to bid 3H.
You’ll rethink that choice if you consider partner’s options after 3H. Since your hand has all the top heart honors, he’s unlikely to have a holding that justifies accepting your help-suit game try. He’ll almost always rebid 3S, which doesn’t change your mind about the final contract. You’re going to bid 4S eventually, so do it now, without telling partner – and the opponents – about your second suit.
These extra bids – the 4H cuebid and the 3H game try – may seem harmless, as you can always bid your intended contract later. At best, though, they’re stalls that extend the auctions and force partner to make extra decisions.
Our powers of concentration are limited and
easily depleted when we have to solve multiple problems in a short period of
time – making decisions about 75+ bids and hundreds of tricks in a three-hour
bridge session, for example. If you see an opportunity to reduce the amount of
information partner has to process, consider taking it. Partner and his brain
cells will appreciate the break – and you’ll both have more energy for solving
tougher problems later.
© 2016 Karen Walker