Daily Bridge on Friday... for Junior, Intermediate and Novice players..and others

Two “Rights” spells “Disaster”

The problem today is that both partners were correct in their interpretation of the key bid. It’s just that their views were different…and that spelt a terrible result.

What then would you bid with the following hand after a simple start to this auction?

You have more than enough for game and will probably head slam-wards. You are playing Pairs. You do want to find out a little more about your partner’s hand to decide which slam to play. So, knowing that you play a jump shift in your own suit here as forcing to game, you bid 3♠️. That seemed very reasonable until your partner did not respond and left you to play in part-score!

North presumed 3♠️ was invitational and judged they did not have enough to bid game. On this particular deal, playing the jump to 3♠️ as forcing to game would be much simpler. However, there are many hands South could hold, 10 or 11 point hands with 6 spades, where an invitational 3♠️ is required. Let’s see all four hands:

The above sequence is after South made a forcing 3♠️bid.

4NT was Key Card Blackwood with spades as trumps and 5♥️ showed the 2 missing Key Cards. 5NT asked for kings other than ♠️K and 6♦️ showed 1. South might  presume it was the ♦️K though could not be sure and thus, wisely, settled for 6♠️ rather than a level higher or even 6NT. An alternative response to 5NT is to bid the suit where the king is held, which would confirm the ♦️K is missing.

6♠️ is a much better contract than 6NT as in 6NT, declarer needs a second diamond trick even if West leads a heart. Here the diamond break is friendly but it might not be and only in 6♠️ can the diamond suit be set up by ruffing a losing diamond.

What if the jump to 3♠️ is invitational?

That is indeed my preferred approach. Then, South’s second bid cannot be 3♠️. The simplest way would be for South to launch into Blackwood, with diamonds being the presumed trump suit.

Alternatively, South can invent a forcing bid, 3♣️. It is better to invent such a bid in a minor, not a major suit which will not end up as trumps. The bidding might then proceed as follows:

North             South

1♦️                  1♠️

2♦️                 3♣️

3♦️                 3♠️

4♠️

and then proceed with Key Card Blackwood as above. Note that 3♣️ creates a forcing to game sequence on their partner. By bidding 3♠️ in this sequence, South must be stronger than the direct jump to 3♠️ i.e. stronger than 10-11 hcp and therefore no matter how weak the North hand is, they cannot pass.

The key to success is both partners having the clear understanding as to whether the jump to 3♠️ is invitational or forcing. Never make a forcing bid which your partner thinks they can pass! There are a choice of 3 making slams here and playing at the three level thus scores badly.

Saving Disaster

Of course, North could have saved the day. While they only had 11 hcp, their spade holding and side-suit kings opposite an invitational 3♠️ bid are good holdings. They might even have raised to game anyway.

Richard Solomon