What should I Bid? - Best enquiry for September 2005

The best submission for the month of September was made by David Ouvrier.

Hand: Sitting North as dealer playing Matchpoints, at favourable vulnerability, I held:

	K95  K  AQ7432  AK8

Bidding:	West	North	East	South
		1	P	1
	P	2NT	P	3
	P	4	//

Comments: Playing with a new partner and lacking much in the way of agreements, the bidding went as above. I opened 1 and thought that 2NT (18-19) would show the strength of the hand though perhaps not the playing strength. I considered 4 but 2NT seemed the least of available evils. I thought that the 3 bid was warning me off NT. We ended in 4 instead of 6 when partner held: :

Partner held:

	3  AJ7632  K105  Q52

Any views on how to bid this would be appreciated.

And Peter's Response:

Hi David,

Good question, for which, for once, I have a systemic answer.

Many modern partnerships have an agreement that after opener starts with 1 /1 /1 and responder bids one-over-one, i.e. 1 /1 /1 , opener's immediate rebid of 3NT shows a hand that is too good for a jump re-bid of three of opener's suit (but was not good enough for a 2 opening). This will often be based on a seven card suit, but many good quality six card suits will qualify.

The bid is non-forcing, but does not show a balanced hand. It is not promised, but there will be a tendency, to be short in responder's suit. Certainly, primary support will not be held. With this gadget in the armoury, the auction becomes almost trite. -  

	West	North	East	South
		1	P	1
	P	3NT	P	4*
	P	4NT**	P	5***
	P	6	//

*    forcing, stronger than 5
**   Roman Keycard Blackwood
***  two keycards without the trump Queen

One advantage of this approach is that it takes pressure off the jump to 2NT. This bid now will now be more balanced and more precise in definition

Regards
Peter Fordham

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