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H. Anthony Medley is an Attorney, an MPAA-accredited film critic, and author of Learn to Play Bridge Like A Boss,Sweaty Palms: The Neglected Art of Being Interviewed, and UCLA Basketball: The Real Story. He is a Silver Life Master and an ACBL-accredited Director and the author of a bridge column for a Los Angeles newspaper.

Saturday, April 18, 2020

Two Minor suited hand response to minor suit open over a preemptive 3H bid


Here’s your hand sitting south:

 Void
 J
 AKQJ94
 J109754

Your partner, North, opens 1C. Here’s the bidding to you:

West          North         East           South
                  1C            3H            ?

You’ve got a terrific diamond suit and for all you know your partner might only have three little clubs and the AKQ are held by opponents, so you could lose two clubs and a heart, so a jump to 5C is not the best bid for two reasons; you might not make 5C and you might miss a slam. But a simple raise to four clubs doesn’t do justice to this hand. And to bid your diamond suit, which would be forcing, puts your partner in a bind if she opened with, let’s say distribution of 4-3-2-4. So what’s your call?

You have a perfect call, 4H! This is a cooperating call because you are a partnership and you should make decisions together, not unilaterally. This bid tells partner that you have a good hand with support for her suit. And if she goes to 5C, you have an easy call to six, thinking that you certainly won’t lose anything but a heart. You just have to hope that she’s got the AK of clubs. Sometimes you have to rely on instinct and take a chance.

Here's the four-hand layout:

North
                        ♠ AJ84
                        ♥ A6
                        ♦ 76
                        ♣ AK862


West                                        East
♠ KQ752                                 ♠ 10963
♥ Q98                                      ♥ K1075432
♦ 1083                                     ♦ 52
♣ Q3                                       ♣ Void

                        South
                        ♠ Void
                        ♥ J
                        ♦ AKQJ94
                        ♣ J109754

This hand was played 13 times in a club game. Five played it in 5C. Four played it in 3N. Two played it in 5D. Two pairs found the club slam and played it in 6. All pairs made seven except one who somehow lost a trick and only made 6N.


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