What contract is partner heading for in this auction?
You Partner
1D 2C
2D 2H
3H 3S
You hold ♠K74 ♥K1064 ♦AQJ94 ♣3
Is he cuebidding for a heart slam? Showing spade honors? Asking you for spade values?
At this point, you can’t be certain. All you know is that you must bid again and that partner, who knows more about your hand than you do about his, is in charge of steering you to the final contract.
To give partner the information he needs, consider the reasons he hasn’t already made a decision. In auctions where you haven’t found a major-suit fit, notrump is always Plan A, so partner’s most common problem is missing stoppers.
Even though hearts were bid and raised, you haven’t confirmed a fit because partner's 2H rebid didn't promise four hearts. He had to find a forcing bid with ♠832 ♥A52 ♦K6 ♣AK974 to start the search for notrump. He counted on you to allow for this hand, which is why you didn’t jump to 4H at your third turn.
Your next decision will be easier if you rely on the game-before-slam guideline, which advises that ambiguous three-level bids should be interpreted as searches for game, not slam. For now, treat 3S as a request for a spade stopper and bid 3NT. If partner actually holds four hearts or has slam aspirations, he’ll tell you with his next bid.
Partner’s notrump problems can be harder to read in other fourth-suit auctions.
You Partner
1D 1S
2C 2H
3D 3H
You hold ♠Void ♥QJ2 ♦K108543 ♣AKJ9
Raising to 4H may seem obvious, as
it sounds like partner is 5-5 in the majors. If that’s your choice, partner will
do his best to keep a poker face, but he’ll know the auction is doomed. You’ll
understand his dilemma when you see his hand:
♠AK643
♥765
♦A9 ♣Q87 .
The only option partner had for finding notrump (and playing it from the right side) was “fifth-suit forcing” – a repeat of the fourth suit to ask you for a heart stopper. Your best (and safest) rebid is 3NT. It’s true that this could cause you to miss a superior 4H when partner happens to hold the 5-5 hand, but it won’t catapult you to a ridiculous contract when he doesn’t.
An expert treatment is a rebid of the fourth suit is natural if partner has bid notrump and artificial in all other auctions. Another solution is to use responder’s jump in the fourth suit to show 5-5 distribution. Either agreement will take the guesswork out of your decision.
Partner You
1C 1H
1S 2D
2S
You hold ♠Q63 ♥AKJ64 ♦K72 ♣A10
The hand you might envision for partner is a perfect ♠AKJ82 ♥53 ♦Void ♣KQ9754, which gives you a good play for 7S.
Or would partner bid this way with ♠AKJ8 ♥53 ♦654 ♣KJ75 ?
A critical consideration is that your 2D didn’t promise length or stoppers. Partner had to bid something, and lacking heart support and diamond cards, he may have had to improvise.
The stopperless 4=2=3=4 hand is a real possibility, which leaves you with an uncomfortable guess. A spade raise or another “cuebid” (3D) will prolong partner’s agony and could push you past 3NT. Partner may even pass 3S if you play 2D as invitational or better (new minor forcing) rather than game values (fourth-suit-forcing).
When you fear that the wheels could come off your auction – and they surely will if you play for the 5-6 hand and you’re wrong – take the path of least resistance. Here, that means invoking the oft-quoted Hamman’s Rule: If you have a choice of reasonable bids and one of them is 3NT, then bid it.
That probably won’t get you a top on this deal, but it doesn’t rate to be a zero, either. Even if partner has 11 black cards, slam isn’t a sure thing, especially with a lead through your diamond king. And if this is one of the times when partner holds the balanced 12-count, you’ll be his hero.
© 2009 Karen Walker