A quick query from last night at pairs. I held Jxx xxx 109xx AQJ at favourable and heard LHO open 1H (4 card majors), pard bid 2S (WJO can be very light) next hand bids 3H. Obviously I can bid 3S here but I thught (against a fairly weak pair) that they have probably got game (eg. partner with SKQxxxx and zilch outside) so I thought I wouldn’t risk bidding 3S (the obvious move) and getting 4H but would pass and see if they missed game; if they bid 4H I’d bid 4S as a save but I thought conceding 170 would be good. See below.
End of bidding and minus 140 with 4S making (!) our way on a combined 14 count. My clubs are sitting over K10xx, part has C9xxx and SAK109xx while spades are 2-2 so we just lose 3 red tricks. 4H is one off losing 2S and 2C as declarer downgraded Qx AJxxx AKQJ xx as he didn’t like the S holding. Was I unlucky or was this a case of trying to be far too clever by half? I had to pass in rythmn of course, but next time I’m bidding 3S with the rest of them.
My scratch partner was very sympathetic.
Iain
bobbywolffApril 26th, 2024 at 7:19 pm
Hi Iain,
While your result is, no doubt unlucky, I tend to disagree with your approach.
Obviously I understand your intent, but by deciding on it, you take your partner
out of the hunt as to what to do. At least to me, depending on the value of your club holding, anywhere from three defensive tricks to just one and depending on his overall distribution, a wide variance as to your offensive potential.
IOW, you are defying what a partnership needs to be, a non-final decision maker, but with this type of holding I think a 3 spade raise is about right to allow what then happens to allow partner to take care of what follows. I do understand that, depending on the talent and experience of your then partner, you are allowing the inferior player to be the chief cook and bottle washer, but good bridge is all about partnership, so my answer is totally reasoned by that fact and should fly in the face of others who don’t.
IOW, you need to sit back and allow partner to take it from there, and to plan then to bid 4 spades later just, at least to me, is making decisions which definitely, after your three spade raise, becomes your partner’s responsibility.
Naturally, every bridge game has extenuating circumstances, but I am clearly talking about what to do, while participating with everyone at your table totally able to take care of his seat. At least to me, you’ve brought up an extremely critical source of what high level bridge is all about, with you having the ability, which you do, to hold your own.
Having said the above, I refuse to speculate what anyone should bid when there are different types of players sitting around the table. I’m only speaking about what I consider
definite rules to follow, when all four are justifiably confident, therefore your question cannot really be settled by my answer, since we know of only one that is.
Iain ClimieApril 26th, 2024 at 8:06 pm
HI Bobby,
Thanks for that and, next time, I’m definitely bidding 3S instead of trying the “trick cycling” approach!
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HI Bobby,
A quick query from last night at pairs. I held Jxx xxx 109xx AQJ at favourable and heard LHO open 1H (4 card majors), pard bid 2S (WJO can be very light) next hand bids 3H. Obviously I can bid 3S here but I thught (against a fairly weak pair) that they have probably got game (eg. partner with SKQxxxx and zilch outside) so I thought I wouldn’t risk bidding 3S (the obvious move) and getting 4H but would pass and see if they missed game; if they bid 4H I’d bid 4S as a save but I thought conceding 170 would be good. See below.
End of bidding and minus 140 with 4S making (!) our way on a combined 14 count. My clubs are sitting over K10xx, part has C9xxx and SAK109xx while spades are 2-2 so we just lose 3 red tricks. 4H is one off losing 2S and 2C as declarer downgraded Qx AJxxx AKQJ xx as he didn’t like the S holding. Was I unlucky or was this a case of trying to be far too clever by half? I had to pass in rythmn of course, but next time I’m bidding 3S with the rest of them.
My scratch partner was very sympathetic.
Iain
Hi Iain,
While your result is, no doubt unlucky, I tend to disagree with your approach.
Obviously I understand your intent, but by deciding on it, you take your partner
out of the hunt as to what to do. At least to me, depending on the value of your club holding, anywhere from three defensive tricks to just one and depending on his overall distribution, a wide variance as to your offensive potential.
IOW, you are defying what a partnership needs to be, a non-final decision maker, but with this type of holding I think a 3 spade raise is about right to allow what then happens to allow partner to take care of what follows. I do understand that, depending on the talent and experience of your then partner, you are allowing the inferior player to be the chief cook and bottle washer, but good bridge is all about partnership, so my answer is totally reasoned by that fact and should fly in the face of others who don’t.
IOW, you need to sit back and allow partner to take it from there, and to plan then to bid 4 spades later just, at least to me, is making decisions which definitely, after your three spade raise, becomes your partner’s responsibility.
Naturally, every bridge game has extenuating circumstances, but I am clearly talking about what to do, while participating with everyone at your table totally able to take care of his seat. At least to me, you’ve brought up an extremely critical source of what high level bridge is all about, with you having the ability, which you do, to hold your own.
Having said the above, I refuse to speculate what anyone should bid when there are different types of players sitting around the table. I’m only speaking about what I consider
definite rules to follow, when all four are justifiably confident, therefore your question cannot really be settled by my answer, since we know of only one that is.
HI Bobby,
Thanks for that and, next time, I’m definitely bidding 3S instead of trying the “trick cycling” approach!
Regards,
Iain