You LHO Partner RHO
1S Pass 1NT Pass
2D Pass 3D Pass
What’s your call holding ♠A10764 ♥A3 ♦AQ753 ♣6 ?
When you know what the final contract should be, it’s usually best to get to it quickly. Here, you have the values for game and you’re sure you’ve found your best fit, so jumping to 5D is a sensible choice. The easier you can make the auction for partner, the more mental energy you’ll both have for solving tougher problems later in the session.
It’s possible, however, that partner has the right hand for 6D. You have plenty of room to make a try by bidding 3H, so there’s little risk of getting too high. The potential cost of your extra bid is that it may help the opponents find the best lead. Less important, but still a concern, is that it also forces partner to make another decision.
This is a choice between being practical and being patient. To make the right decision, you need to weigh the tradeoffs and recognize the types of hands and auctions that are best suited to each strategy.
In constructive auctions, a get-there-fast bid is called for when you’ve identified a good final contract and no realistic expectation that anything better is available. In these cases, even if you have room to show other features of your hand, doing so accomplishes nothing other than taxing partner and helping the opponents.
The situations that need more thought are those where a superior strain or higher-level contract is possible. An extra bid may help you find 3NT instead of 4 of a major, a 4-4 fit instead of a 5-3, a slam instead of game.
Some searches are essentially “free” because there’s no risk of propelling the auction too high. After you open 1S and partner raises to 2S, your first inclination might be to jump to 4S with ♠KQ976 ♥KJ8 ♦A104 ♣AQ or ♠AK873 ♥KQJ4 ♦3 ♣A54. If you slow down and think about all possible contracts, though, you’ll rebid 3NT with the first hand and 3H with the second. If partner passes 3NT or raises 3H to 4H, you’ve probably found a better spot. If not, 4S is still available.
More difficult are hands that have borderline values for inviting a game or slam. In addition to the possibility of turning a plus score into a minus, an extra bid can create an extra chance for a misunderstanding. There’s seldom a problem if you make a game try or control bid after you’ve bid and raised a suit, but more subtle tries – picture bids and advance cuebids, for example – may be harder for partner to interpret.
To decide if your hand is worth an invitation, try to construct possible hands for partner, then go with the odds. How likely is it that he has the high-card values or specific honors that you need? If he can’t accept, is your plus score still safe opposite a typical minimum?
Another way to think through these problems is to rely on a guideline developed almost 80 years ago by Ely Culbertson. Originally proposed for slam decisions, his idea was that your hand is worth an invitation if a perfect minimum from partner will make the contract cold.
Try applying
Culbertson’s advice to the problem at the beginning of this article. Partner has
shown around 9-11 points, so imagine a hand at the bottom of that range with
fitting honors and helpful distribution. Even an 8-count
-- ♠3 ♥KQ4
♦K10865 ♣8754 or ♠2 ♥K54 ♦J10962 ♣A874 –
makes 6D
virtually laydown and justifies a 3H rebid. With either of these possible hands,
partner will like his heart holding and cooperate -- and thanks to Ely, you’ll get to your 22-point slam.
© 2017 Karen Walker