[Kaitlyn S]

Hi - these problems should be very easy for experienced players but an I/N player needs to think about the right things in an auction. If you get them wrong, don't feel too bad as long as you understand the rationale for the answers. I'll provide the answers later but I'll put a hint as a spoiler. Try to solve the problem without the spoiler. Also, let me know if you would be interested in seeing more of these from time to time.

Assume you are playing Standard American (a natural system with 15-17 1NT openings and 5-card majors), IMPS, and nobody is vulnerable.

1.

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Spoiler

To your knowledge, what is your best fit?

2.

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Spoiler

What does partner have?

3.

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Spoiler

Do you think you can set 3H?

4.

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2D is waiting. 3D is forcing. 3S shows five spades.

Spoiler

Is partner's bid forcing?

If you don't know the answer to the spoiler question, look at the second spoiler for a hint:

Spoiler

Your 3S bid is unlimited so would you expect partner to jump to 5C when he can make it?

5.

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Spoiler

Why didn't your partner reopen with a double?

[akwoo]

Spoiler

I wonder about agreements for #2. I generally prefer to play that 2H denies a strong hand and almost promises 5 hearts - all strong hands double first as do most hands with 4 hearts, and many minimum hands with 4 hearts pass. But beginners might not want to put so much on the double, nor might they be willing to lean so hard on partner to balance when they have a minimum 5422.

Given my agreements, I go to 4H, but that's not nearly as attractive (though maybe still right) if partner could be KJxxx AQJx x Qxx

[Kaitlyn S]

Answers: (Material in blue may be too advanced for some novices.)

1.

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Hint: To your knowledge, what is your best fit?

Answer: Your partner has shown at least five spades and at least four hearts. It is unlikely that partner has more hearts than spades, but quite likely that partner has more spades than hearts. Bid 2S. You might ask, "Won't partner think I have something if I bid?" You already passed 1S; you have less than six points. Partner won't think you found a hidden ace, they will assume that you think spades is a better trump suit than hearts.

Some might have wanted to bid 2NT. First, even if you score a club trick, partner will need to promote spades and/or hearts and that will give the opponents time to take their clubs.

You virtually never bid 2NT just to play in a competitive situation. If it turns out that the opponents have more strength than your side, 2NT is quite easy to double.


2.

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Hint: What does partner have?

Answer: You might think that partner can have no more than 21 points and you have 2 (4 if you count your doubletons) so why would one think about anything but playing 2H?

However, you have a great-fitting hand for partner. The queen in partner's spade suit rates to be very helpful. Think of this, sometimes partner is going to be 5-5. Give partner as little as AKxxx in each major, and ten tricks are going to be easy. Partner could easily have more; and some 5-4's have excellent play for 4H. Consider that your right hand opponent didn't raise clubs, that means that partner is more likely to have three clubs which makes your doubleton more valuable.

Given the choice between bidding 4H and pass, I would choose 4H. However, I'm going to let partner off the hook if he bid 2H on a random 17-count with 5 spades and 4 hearts since he's not likely to make game anymore (e.g. S-Kxxxx H-KQJx, D-AK C-xx) so the suggested call is 3H.

One point here is that partner does not need to jump with 20 points anymore. When you respond, showing 6 or more points, partner needs to jump shift (or bid game) to make sure your side gets to game. Here with you having passed, from opener's point of view, your side is simply competing for the partscore and there is no reason to do more than bid 2H with 20 points. Your partner expects to play in 2H or 2S. Your raise is telling your partner that your hand is exceptional for a passed hand in that you still may have a game despite not having the suggested 26 (25) points between you. While your partner will probably go to 4 only with a maximum hand, he may realize that your hand fits very well with something like AKxxx in each major and bid a makeable game with only 16 HCP between the two hands.

3.

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Hint: Do you think you can set 3H?

Answer: Your partner's first double was takeout, and the fact that he doubled again didn't change that. The opponent's bidding and your hand says that your partner is probably void in hearts. Your prospects on defense are poor; it's better to go down in 4C (or 5C if partner raises) than to let them make 3H doubled. The recommended call is 4C.

Even if you had only two small hearts so that you couldn't tell partner was short, you would still respect the takeout double and bid 4C.

If East had raised to 4H instead of 3H, and partner doubled (still takeout), you should probably pass now, hoping that partner can take 4 tricks on defense rather than 11 on offense.

4.

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2D is waiting. 3D is forcing. 3S shows five spades.
Hint: Is partner's bid forcing?

Hint: Your 3S bid is unlimited so would you expect partner to jump to 5C when he can make it?

Answer: Your partner's hand is still unlimited and his 4C bid is forcing. Partner likely has more diamonds than clubs, and I would recommend bidding 4D rather than raising clubs. If partner has equal length, he can bid clubs again.

(Partner's hand is: S-A H-Q D-AKQT42 C-AKT95. If you pass 4C, you miss game which makes most of the time diamonds are 3-2. If you expect partner to jump to 5C, you get to play in a minor suit (or 5S) when your hand is S-QJ98754 H-765 D-3 C-32,

5.

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Hint: Why didn't your partner reopen with a double?

Answer: You might be thinking that having the safety of having your partner know you don't have anything would allow you to bid 3H here. However, bidding 3H is only a good idea if partner has three-card support. Think about this: your partner has spades; your partner has clubs; your partner has three hearts; your partner must have short diamonds, what would they have done over 2D? They would have doubled for takeout! Partner didn't double for takeout, therefore he doesn't have three hearts. You don't have exciting distribution for play in clubs, so 3C is high enough. Your ♦J might be a stopper but you don't want to play 3NT with at most 23 points between you and no good fitting suits and no entry to your hand.

The recommended call is Pass. Sometimes when you don't have anything, you should just pass.

In fact, most of the time you don't have anything, you should pass. Problems 1-4 were the exception rather than the rule. The times when you can bid are: you believe you are improving the contract, and your bid can't mislead partner because you have either already shown weakness, or you are being forced to bid.

[akwoo]

There is another reason to raise at least to 3H on hand #2.

Partner might have 3 clubs but is more likely to have 1 or 2. RHO can't have 3 clubs to an honor; otherwise he or she would have raised. This makes it quite likely LHO has 6 good clubs, which means, if you pass, he or she will bid 3C.

You ask: what's the problem? I'll just bid 3H then. But would you rather RHO be making the decision about playing in 4C or letting you play in 3H knowing about his or her partner's good clubs, or without that information?

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You don't have to think through all that. Here's the general principle:

When the opponents likely have more than half the points, your job is to make their life as hard as possible, and the way to do that is to pre-empt as high as you safely can as quickly as you can.

How high is safe? Keep in mind that down 1 doubled for -100 is likely to be a good score, since opponents can score 110 or 130 for making their contract.

As a guideline, you can use the simple version of the Law of Total Tricks, which says you can contract for as many tricks as your side has trumps. That says you can bid 3H here.

[Kaitlyn S]

 akwoo, on 2016-November-06, 15:51, said:

As a guideline, you can use the simple version of the Law of Total Tricks, which says you can contract for as many tricks as your side has trumps. That says you can bid 3H here.

The Law of Total Tricks is a good guideline for competitive auctions. That being said, when I suggested 3H here, I expected most of the players to assume it was looking for game, and not preemptive.

The Law of Total Tricks (explained in the next post) is used when you are pushed, or when you expect that the opponents are going to want to bid. An additional requirement is that either partner also expects the opponents are going to bid, or that partner is not going to take any action; for otherwise; or that partner is aware of the lack of game prospects; for otherwise partner may be convinced that your raise is based on a hope for game rather than simply competitive or preemptive.

Here's an example.

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The Law of Total Tricks says you should compete to 3H. Your doubleton spade gives you a sixth point so you might feel justified in raising. However, you are currently buying the hand for 2H and if you bid 3H, partner, whose overcall is limited to about 18 points, will think you are trying for a game and will bid an unmakeable game with close to a maximum for his bid.

I suggest a range of about 8-10 for the raise to 3H where 11 or more cuebids 2S showing a limit raise or better. (Others may disagree on the exact ranges but hopefully not on the principle.)

If the opponents bid more, you may compete to 3H on your nine-card heart fit, following the Law of Total Tricks. Partner will not be fooled since you did not raise immediately.

Occasionally, letting West bid cheaply will let E-W find a good 3S bid later, or be able to successfully compete to 4 of a minor. While this is a downside to not bidding 3H right away, I feel that more accurate game bidding more than makes up for the occasional loss that occurs when the opponents successfully compete over 3H because you let them in over 2H.

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Now it's different. If you pass now, you are no longer buying the contract unless partner bids again. Partner may play you for a bad fitting hand or a poor hand and may have no call over 2S. While it's generally a bad idea to let the opponents play in 2 of their fit, your partner might not have a good call to make, or may assume the opponents have underbid. So, having been pushed, you need to bid 3H here, following the Law of Total Tricks because you are competing over 2S. The fact that you may be defending 2S if you pass forces you to give up some of your accuracy in game bidding in order to buy the contract when you have nine trumps. Your bidding accuracy is made even worse by the fact that a cuebid now forces your side to game. I put the range for a 3H bid now at about 6 to a bad 11, choosing to just bid game with more.

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This was Problem 2 from this set. I believe the same principle applies here. When I bid 3H, partner does not know whether or not I expected my left hand opponent to compete further if I passed; so he can't say my bid was preemptive - since it is possible that I'm trying for game, and our side currently owns the hand, the logical meaning for a 3H bid is invitational rather than preemptive. If I held this hand:

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The Law of Total Tricks tells me to bid 3H but I don't intend to do it now, but only if pushed. I think game is unlikely (the SQ and the doubleton club in the other hand made a lot of difference, not the least of which it made 3H safer when partner didn't bid 4H), and I expect that because West only bid 2C and East didn't bid anything over 2H that partner likely has the maximum hand that would bid game over my 3H bid, and that bidding 3H now isn't likely to keep the opponents out of a making game.

I'm glad you brought up the Law of Total Tricks because it is a valuable concept for I/N players to understand, and is often misunderstood by players who have just learned it. I have heard a newer player not raise partner's 1H opening bid to 4H after a 3S overcall with 13 points and 3 hearts "because the Law of Total Tricks tells me I don't have enough trumps to compete!" The Law of Total Tricks should not alter your game bidding (except perhaps to consider doubling the opponents for penalties.)

While I hope that the expert community essentially agrees with what I've said here, it wouldn't come as a total surprise if they didn't and I'm willing to listen if what I have said doesn't match modern commonly accepted practice.

[Kaitlyn S]

As long as we are discussing the Law of Total Tricks, I should explain what it is for those that haven't heard of it. It's based on the theory that the total number of tricks that can be made by N-S in their best fit plus the total number of tricks that can be made by E-W in their best fit can be approximately predicted by the number of trumps that N-S have in their best suit plus the number of trumps that E-W have in their best suit. For example if N-S have 9 hearts and E-W have 8 spades, it's expected that they can make 17 total tricks; i.e. N-S can take 11 tricks in hearts and E-W can take 6 tricks in spades, or that N-S can take 8 tricks in hearts and E-W can take 9 tricks in spades, or well, you get the idea.

The really simplistic version of the Law of Total Tricks says:

(a) You try not to let the opponents play at the two level when you know they have an eight-card fit. The theory is that your side almost always has a fit as well so there are at least sixteen total tricks meaning that you likely have either down one against their make or you can make three yourself.

(b) Once they reach the three level, you need nine tricks to compete if pushed. If partner opens with a weak two bid showing six cards, you can raise to three with three cards as if you've been pushed because by agreement this does not show an invitational hand.

© You can bid to the four level if pushed with ten trumps. You may also raise preemptively to the four level with a known ten-card fit (such as raising 3H to 4H where you know partner isn't doing any more.)

Of course, you may bid game without ten trump if you are bidding game to make.

For those familiar with the Law of Total Tricks, you should be aware of the times where you should alter your total trick prediction.

(1) Hands with double fits (fits in two suits) normally can take more total tricks than the Law suggests.

(2) Good fitting hands normally take more total tricks than the Law suggests. Conversely, bad fitting hands would take less.

(2a) Singletons and voids opposite strength signify a bad fit and thus less total tricks.

(2b) Singletons and voids opposite little cards signify a good fit and thus more total tricks.

(2c) Fitting honors in partner's suits signify more total tricks. A rather glaring example follows:

West has shown both majors. In one, East has fitting honors, in the other, he doesn't.

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E-W have eight cards in their best suit and N-S have 9 clubs, implying 17 total tricks. However, assuming both majors split 3-2, E-W can take 11 tricks in spades while North-South can take 8 tricks in clubs, implying 19 total tricks. (Note that if the majors split badly, E-W can take less but N-S can make more in clubs so the total tricks would still be 19.)

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Here the distributions are the same and the Law says 17 total tricks again. However, with good splits, E-W can make 8 tricks in either major. Against clubs, E-W will can take 1S, 1H, 3D, 2C leaving E-W with 6 tricks, meaning only 14 total tricks. It's even worse if one of the majors splits badly as N-S still only take 6 tricks in clubs (assuming 3 diamond losers) but E-W won't even make 8 tricks in a major, meaning that the Law's prediction is off by at least four tricks!

These examples are extreme. The Law normally does a good job of predicting total tricks.

[akwoo]

 Kaitlyn S, on 2016-November-06, 16:44, said:

The Law of Total Tricks is a good guideline for competitive auctions. That being said, when I suggested 3H here, I expected most of the players to assume it was looking for game, and not preemptive.

The Law of Total Tricks (explained in the next post) is used when you are pushed, or when you expect that the opponents are going to want to bid. An additional requirement is that either partner also expects the opponents are going to bid, or that partner is not going to take any action; for otherwise; or that partner is aware of the lack of game prospects; for otherwise partner may be convinced that your raise is based on a hope for game rather than simply competitive or preemptive.

Here's an example.

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The Law of Total Tricks says you should compete to 3H. Your doubleton spade gives you a sixth point so you might feel justified in raising. However, you are currently buying the hand for 2H and if you bid 3H, partner, whose overcall is limited to about 18 points, will think you are trying for a game and will bid an unmakeable game with close to a maximum for his bid.

I suggest a range of about 8-10 for the raise to 3H where 11 or more cuebids 2S showing a limit raise or better. (Others may disagree on the exact ranges but hopefully not on the principle.)

If the opponents bid more, you may compete to 3H on your nine-card heart fit, following the Law of Total Tricks. Partner will not be fooled since you did not raise immediately.

Occasionally, letting West bid cheaply will let E-W find a good 3S bid later, or be able to successfully compete to 4 of a minor. While this is a downside to not bidding 3H right away, I feel that more accurate game bidding more than makes up for the occasional loss that occurs when the opponents successfully compete over 3H because you let them in over 2H.

I'm not an expert, but I'd rather play 3H as pre-emptive (with as little as Qxxx in support, a side singleton, and no other honors) here. You almost never get to buy the contract in at 2H with a 9 card fit, and in these kinds of competitive situations, your games don't come from having 25 points but from having distribution that fits well together, so telling partner your point count isn't so useful. In fact, my standard rule is that all raises in competition are pre-emptive.

Yes you lose some precision in game bidding. If you want it back, you could try using 2N as an artificial bid. So do the opponents.

A lot of my experience is playing MPs in games where I am not good enough to win if I play conservatively. Take my comments with this grain of salt.

[Kaitlyn S]

 akwoo, on 2016-November-07, 01:05, said:

Yes you lose some precision in game bidding. If you want it back, you could try using 2N as an artificial bid. So do the opponents.

A lot of my experience is playing MPs in games where I am not good enough to win if I play conservatively. Take my comments with this grain of salt.

I think that 2NT is too valuable as a natural call to give it up, but your comments about being anti-field in a strong field have much merit. If your partner and you can handle it, may I suggest that you play a weak notrump system in a strong notrump field (or vice versa?) You could also use carding that most of the field doesn't use.

There is an upside and a downside. The upside is that your results will be randomly good or bad so you will win once in a while. The downside is that, if you are receptive to critique from the better players, less of them will be familiar with your system so their comments could either be non-existent or wrong. An other downside if you are shopping for new partners is that they are unlikely to play your new way.

Note: I am not suggesting this for newer improving players. The benefit of having more partners that you can play with and learn from, and the benefit of getting excellent advice from better players is too much to give up.

However, if your improvement has slowed to a crawl and you play in an area where you are outclassed, there is much to be said to playing anti-field.

[akwoo]

I played weak NT for many years and it's still my favorite system, but I can't find anyone who wants to play it where I live.