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Who is the Boss?

Bidding is all about the exchange of information. A very wise statement, perhaps, except I am going to change one word in that sentence, replacing “all” with “often”. There are times when all you need to do is to answer the questions I, your partner, ask you. Those who play a relay system know exactly what I mean. Their only role in an auction could be to remember the correct response to a relay bid which their partner made. Their partner will do the thinking and contract placing.

Yet, this approach does not only take place in a relay system. When you use any version of Blackwood or Gerber, you, the asker will be placing the contract based on the replies they get. Take the following deal which occurred in a recent BBO session:

West                                      East

 KQ5                                  A63

 KQJ                                  A73

 K4                                    AJ96

 AKQJ2                             T83

West has an easy 2 opening. While there is some merit in playing the 2 response as a negative or a waiting bid, there is a time when you really have to make an announcement like “I have a really good hand, partner.” I play the 2NT response as a flat 10+ hcp. East above has that …and some!

What a perfect teaching hand for Gerber (after a no-trump call). All West wants to know is how many aces their partner has…

0 or 1 (impossible if 10+ hcp)                             We stop in 4NT

2                                                                         We rest in 6NT

3                                                                         We go the full way….and nervously look at the opponents to see if one of them finds an ace which my partner had shown! (That comment will cost me several drinks, daring to suggest partner could not count her aces!)

What..you were worried that the clubs might not break evenly? If you worry about that, you will die very young from worry!

The point is that West was the “boss”. There was no need for West to tell East which 13 cards they held. …and so it should be. The hand which opened 2 knows so much more about what is going on than what their partner does.

That brings us on to our problem from yesterday:

 

2 is what you think it is, a game-force hand. Three questions for you….

What could/should your next bid be and what two things are unusual about your use of that bid?

So, South has got a kind of interesting hand. Normally, at favourable vulnerability with such a hand, you will be trying to pre-empt the opposition with a high-level jump in clubs. Yet, wait. It was your partner who opened 2!

Somewhere in a few players’ artillery, there may be a jump bid to show around 5-7 high card points, a long suit, with all the points in the suit. This a good descriptive bid for this hand…or is it? Partner will not know whether you have just a six-card suit or what you hold. So, put that bid (a jump to 4) away for another 100 years and make a normal positive (what no ace and king? You certainly have compensating strength!) 3 response.

Partner bids 3, one of your singletons, no surprise in that. What now?

What’s the question you might like to ask? Is this hand about an exchange of information…or should be wondering whether this is one of those hands where one member of your partnership takes control.. “the boss.”  

Now, there is no perfect way to bid your hand. You could reply 4 and when partner bids your other singleton (they are like that!), you now bid 5. What would partner make of that? At least 7 clubs and a positive. Could they really know to pass that when it is right to do so? Would they continue to bid out their 6-5 shape? It is not clear.

So, it seemed time to take control of this auction. Show partner who is the boss…and it’s not the normal one, either, not the 2 opener! They are being told to just answer some questions with apparently their spade suit set as trumps. You know otherwise. However, time to take over.

Just like the “worrier” in our previous example who only bid 6NT because there might be a bad break in clubs, so, life is too short that we might be missing AK. Yes, we might. We might also be missing a cold grand slam in hearts if partner was 6-5 with hearts their second suit. Yes, we might though it seems really rare that you would want to play in a 5-3 heart fit when you have a pretty good looking 8 card club suit on the side.

Remember the rule. Never, ever, put down a good 8 card suit in dummy, it not being the trump suit. So, you are going to put down your 8- card suit in dummy (remember who opened 2?) but it will be trumps. At what level? Well, it depends on the number of key-cards partner produces. Oh, what about the number of clubs?

Partner may have no clubs or he may just have one, an important one….and that's the reason why you must take control.

Surely, most 2 openers have at least 2 key cards? (Fasttrack up to the one above..only one ace!). Therefore, though the heart suit is a concern, using key card is not such a risk. If partner produces all 5 key cards, then it is 7. With 4, you are in 6..probably with 3 as well (hopefully the right three though you could still sign off in an ugly 5!). If they only have two, just check out they did have a 2 opener before you accept all the blame! Partner did not disappoint:

 (5 showed one or four Key-Cards with spades as trumps.) It's OK. Partner only had 7 spades. Far too few to be the trump suit!

On a heart or spade lead, declarer plays two top spades, discarding their diamond, ruffs a diamond and then ruffs a heart with A, only losing one heart. A lead provides an extra discard for the extra heart. On a trump lead, the diamond loser is discarded and will result in an overtrick.

Do you see the very reason why you clubs had to be trumps? Even after the A lead to 6, the defence will find the trump switch to defeat this contract...and as for 6NT...how sad to have to discard all those winning clubs! Do you see why you had to be "the boss"?  Had partner a couple of small hearts to go with their A, and no A, then there should and would be places for quick heart discards.

It was time to take control….and those two unusual points about your 4NT bid?
Firstly, the 2 opener did not do the key-card asking.

Secondly, it is very rare for a hand with no key-cards to be asking. For that reason, most do not need, have, or maybe even know how to respond with 5 key-cards. (Do you and your partner? Perhaps 5NT.)

You may argue that Key Card was not a perfect bid here though it does keep control of the deal in the hands of the player who knew where this board had to be played…and that in itself is a good reason to ace/key-card ask.

Ironically, one of those two unusual points also recurs in tomorrow’s deal:

 

 

Notice how partner used Key-Card Blackwood holding no key-cards? Your 4 bid showed two 5+ card suits though not necessarily as strong a hand as you actually held. Partner bid 4 to play though when you bid 4 did well to have a rethink.

While you knew what you were showing (you had no firm agreement), rather than respond to Key-Card, you jump showing a strong hand and two good suits. Partner chose spades. You were playing Match-Point, after all.

West leads Q. Plan the play and justify your partner’s faith in your bidding.

Richard Solomon

 

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