Bid a suit to a suit. Avoid jumping to 2NT over a one-of-a-suit opener.
Deal 15
Think of bidding as a conversation. A stratospheric leap in notrumps by responder at his first turn is premature and often causes headaches for opener.
What happened
Against 3NT West led the
4 to East’s
J, and declarer correctly delayed winning his
A until the third round, exhausting East of diamonds. With seven top tricks, he needed to establish the long spades without West winning the lead.
He crossed to dummy’s
Q and led a low spade to his king, and a second spade to the jack and ace. He led a third spade and hoped that it would be East who held the queen. No good: West won and cashed his two long diamonds. One down, unavoidably.
What should have happened
If South responds 2
. This shows that he has at least five spades (with 4–4 in the majors he would open 1
, and in any event 4–4 hands would open or rebid in notrumps). Knowing the partnership holds an eight-card spade fit, South jumps to 4
.
On the
Q lead, declarer wins the
A, cashes the ace-king of trumps, then, leaving the master trump outstanding, plays out his hearts. It does not matter that West can trump the third heart. Dummy’s remaining trump takes care of the fourth heart and ten tricks are made.
Tip 15
Wherever possible, bid a suit to a suit as responder. Do not leap to 3NT in response to a one-of-a-suit opener. It will probably give partner a problem.
Deal 16
Responder to a one-of-a-suit opener should bid a suit to a suit wherever possible, in order to locate a fit. A ‘one-over-one’ response (e.g. 1
– 1
) does NOT show more than four cards or more than six points. If you have enough to respond, then you have enough to change the suit at the one-level. There is a common misconception that a 1NT response is weaker than a one-of-a-suit response. Nonsense! The confusion arises because whereas there is no maximum point count for a one-over-one suit response, there is a maximum of nine points for a 1NT response. The 1NT response should only be made when you have a weak hand with no higher ranking four-card suit.
What happened
It is doubtful whether North would have bid even 2
AK and
AK, before switching to
10. Declarer won
Q, cashed
AK and simply played on clubs, later conceding
Q. Eight tricks and contract made.
What should have happened
Against 3
West leads
K, to avoid East overtrumping. He cashes
A, crosses to
J, then plays his top diamonds. Nine tricks and contract made.
Tip 16
Respond a suit (four(+) cards) at the one-level in preference to 1NT.
Deal 17
Unless he can support – top priority – the basic principle for responder is to bid a suit to a suit. He does this in order to locate a fit. To this end, with two four-card suits, he should bid the cheaper, that is to say the one he reaches first as he works up the bidding ladder. If responder bids four-card suits ‘up the line’, no fit can be missed.
a length winner. Nine tricks and contract made.
