One hand, seven questions – March 2025
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This month, you’ll have a single hand and will have to answer a series of questions on a variety of themes, ending with a dummy play.
Sitting South you hold:
♠ QJ5
♥ AQ
♦ AJ853
♣ A32
1
What is your opening bid?
1♦: We pick up a nice balanced hand, with five Diamonds and 18HCP. This is too strong for a 1NT opening and not enough for 2NT. You thus have to go between the two and open your better minor, here 1♦. If partner bids a major we can jump to 2NT to show a balanced hand in the range of 18-19HCP.
2
What do you respond if your partner opens with 1♦?
2♣: Playing standard, we need an artificial bid to make this sequence forcing, a little bit like when we show a delayed fit when partner opens 1 of a Major and we have a strong hand with a fit. Here, it is the same thing: we can neither say 2♦, which is weak, nor 3♦, which shows
a limit hand. We cannot bid one of the majors, and not No-Trump either. We therefore must start with 2♣ before showing the Diamond fit later.
Note
Some pairs, including my dad and I, play a convention called Inverted Minors, which uses the simple raise of a minor suit 1m-2m to show a game-forcing hand with at least five cards and the double raise 1m-3m for weak preemptive hands. This allows you to describe your hand better and bid more naturally (this is still relatively new in France but already used by many players in other countries).
3
What do you do if your right-hand opponent opens 1♣ before you?
Double: When we overcall 1NT, that normally shows 16-18HCP but, in modern bridge, it can go down to 15 or even 14HCP, sometimes with a beautiful long minor. It goes without saying that with 18 beautiful points and a five-card suit, one cannot also overcall 1NT. Thus, it is preferable to start with a Double and then to bid No-Trump to show a hand of 18+-20HCP.
4
Your partner opens 3♥. What do you say?
4♥: Opposite partner’s pre-empt, passing would be quite pessimistic whereas thinking about a slam would be a little too optimistic. It is reasonable to play game and signing off in 4♥ is both the simplest and the most effective. Saying 3NT is conceivable, but the success of the contract could depend on whether partner has the Jack of Hearts or not, and we have no way of knowing. 4 Hearts should be bulletproof.
5
You open 1♦, your partner responds 1NT, what is your rebid?
3NT: We said that after opening 1♦ we would rebid 2NT to show 18-19 points, but that was after a 1♥(♠) response from partner. By saying 1NT, partner shows between 6 and 10 points, so with 18-19HCP, we can just sign off in 3NT. But if that is so, what does 2NT mean? This bid cannot come from a regular hand with 15-17HCP, because we would have opened 1NT. It shows a hand with 16-17 points and an unbalanced hand (usually with shortness in the other minor).
6
Your right-hand opponent opens 3♠. What do you say?
3NT: After this pre-empt by our opponent, it isn’t very easy to imagine passing with our 18 points. But it is difficult to make a take-out Double with only two Hearts: there is a good chance that the bidding comes back at 4♥, which would not help us at all! With a balanced hand and a Spade stopper, the most probable game and therefore the contract we want to play is 3 No-Trump. It is time to be courageous and bid 3NT, hoping for at least some values in partner’s hand. Over-cautious players will tell us that this can go wrong if partner has no points at all and we get doubled, but that is a risk worth taking because there’s still a chance of making 3 No-Trump and, if one player has to stick his neck out, it is not the one with 8-9 points but the one with 18! I promise you that in the long run with this hand you will win more than you lose by saying 3NT rather than Pass.
7
You play 6 No-Trump by South after the following auction:
| W | N | E | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♦ | |||
| Pass | 1♥ | Pass | 2NT |
| Pass | 3♣ | Pass | 3♦ |
| Pass | 4NT | Pass | 6NT |
Against 6 No-Trump, West leads the 9 of Clubs. Over to you!
Here you are at the helm of 6 No-Trump. The leap to 6NT is debatable, let’s say it was very optimistic 🙂 but no point in arguing, the bed is made, now you must lie in it! Good news, you have escaped a Spade lead. You have nine tricks on top: one Spade, five Hearts, one Diamond and two Clubs. It is therefore enough to get three more tricks in Diamonds. After the Ace of Clubs, cash the Ace of Diamonds to guard against the singleton King. Here, West follows with the 9, which should put you on alert. When you next play a Diamond towards the Queen, West discards and East ducks (if he wins, you can later finesse the 10). You insist with another Diamond to the King and East plays the Queen of Clubs to dummy’s King. All that is left to do is to unblock the Ace-Queen of Hearts, cash the two established Diamonds and cross to dummy with the Ace of Spades to enjoy your three remaining Hearts.
Note that if West has King-fourth in Diamonds, having scored a trick with the Queen of Diamonds, your only chance of making now is that West led from 9865 in Clubs. In that case, the second honor will fall under the King of Clubs, and you can then finesse against the 8.
The full deal
