The 12 Habits of Highly Effective Bidders (February 2009)
One of the cardinal rules of bidding used to be that 4-card majors should be bid “up the line”. That’s still the right approach with most hands, but there are some situations where bypassing a 4-card major will be the best way to describe your hand. A good partner will recognize the auctions where you might have made this choice and he’ll find your hidden major if he needs it.
One of the most common situations
is opener’s rebid with a balanced 18-19 points. If you open 1C and partner
responds 1H, you can’t show everything when you hold
♠AK95
♥K8 ♦K72
♣AJ104
The recommended tradeoff is a 2NT rebid. This temporarily hides the spade suit, but it pinpoints your strength, shows your balanced pattern and puts partner in charge. If you instead rebid 1S, partner may bid 1NT and wrong-side the contract. If he shows a stronger hand, you risk missing a slam because you’ll have no clear way to show this exact strength.
Keep this possibility in mind when
you’re responder. After 1C-1H-2NT, don’t give up on a 4-4 fit when you hold a
hand such as
♠10742
♥AQ74 ♦85
♣Q93
Instead of hastily raising to 3NT, rebid 3D (artificial) to check on opener’s major-suit length. If he has two hearts and four spades, he’ll rebid 3S and you’ll find the best game.
Change opener’s hand to ♠AK95 ♥K82 ♦K7 ♣AJ104 and he now has a different problem. Over your 3D checkback, should he show his 3-card heart support or the 4-card spade suit?
On most deals, showing support for partner’s major will lead to a simpler auction because that’s the information he’s most likely to need. Responder will hold 5 hearts and 0-3 spades more often than 4-5 hearts and exactly 4 spades.
If opener rebids 3H with the 4-3-2-4 hand, the spade fit isn’t lost. You’ll follow with 3NT, and opener will now know you were looking for 4-4 spades rather than 5-3 hearts.
Note that by rebidding 3NT instead of 3S, you assure that opener will declare the final contract, whether it’s 3NT or 4S. Your entire, perfect and partnership-friendly auction will be:
Partner You
1C 1H
2NT 3D
3H 3NT
4S Pass
Your system may require similar accommodations over opener’s 1NT rebid. Many pairs agree that if you open 1C and rebid 1S, you guarantee at least 4-4 in your suits. The problem hand in this structure is the minimum 4-3-3-3 opener, which must skip the 4-card spade suit and rebid 1NT over partner’s 1D or 1H response.
If your partnership uses these
methods, you’ll occasionally miss a 4-4 spade fit when opener rebids 1NT and
responder is too weak to bid on. With invitational or better values, though,
responder can find opener’s spade suit. After 1C-1H-1NT, bid 2D (new minor
forcing) with
♠QJ63
♥KQJ7
♦65
♣A43
If opener rebids 2H (3-card support), you’ll continue by making a value bid in notrump – 3NT with game strength or 2NT with invitational values.
Your message is the same as in the auction where opener rebid 2NT. Since you showed no interest in opener’s heart support, it will be clear to him that your reason for bidding 2D was to check for a spade fit. If opener has the 4-3-3-3 hand, he’ll bid 3S or 4S over your notrump rebid.
Here’s a Stayman auction where opener voluntarily bids his “hidden” major:
Opener Responder
1NT 2C
2H 3D
3S
It’s obvious to most that opener is showing two 4-card majors, but that message may escape those afflicted with “cuebiditis”. If either partner interprets 3S as a cuebid for a diamond slam, this auction could spin out of control.
Even the simplest auctions can become tortuous if you’re looking too hard for problem hands that don’t exist. When in doubt, assume partner has the “easy” hand. If there’s a natural, standard meaning for his bids, go with that and save the deep inferences for unusual auctions where you’re truly perplexed.
© 2009 Karen Walker