How to bid in the direct seat over a weak 2

There's a lot in this column, so bear with me.

Your RHO opens 2 Spades. Here's your hand:

♠ K972

♥ KT32

♦ Q5

♣ A75

What's your call? Many experienced players, counting the points and seeing opening hand values, will take action by making a takeout double. When this occurred and the player with the actual hand doubled,  doubler's partner jumped to four diamonds (the jump showed at least 10 HCP), the only suit for which doubler did not really have support, so he passed. Here's the entire layout:

                 North

                 ♠ 6

                 ♥ QJ654

                 ♦ T953

                 ♣ J98

West                           East

♠ K972                        ♠ Q8

♥ KT32                        ♥ A8

♦ Q5                            ♦ AK842

♣ A75                          ♣ KQ32

                 South (Dealer)

                 ♠ AJT543

                 ♥ 97

                 ♦ J7

                 ♣ T64

EW didn't find their cold games because they didn't bid in a way that would allow them to bid over the weak 2, so the weak 2 did what it was created to do, squeezed the bidding range so opponents failed to communicate. There are many different methods of bidding in the direct seat over a weak 2, so I'm going to tell you the one I use and I think it's the best.

The key is that if your RHO opens a weak 2, you only make a call if you have extra values, which means at least 15 HCP. With less, like with a typical opening hand with 12-14 HCP, you pass.

This means that if the weak two opening is passed around to 4th seat, the player in the 4th seat must make some kind of call with at least 10 HCP. With 9 HCP or less, she passes. With 10 HCP she must take action to protect partner who may have passed a minimum opening hand.

So here, after South opens 2S, West must pass with his 12 HCP. Here's how the bidding should go:

West          North         East  South

                                         2S

P               P               Dbl    P

3H             P               4D*   P

5D             P               P       P

* at least 17 HCP

I have to digress here to discuss takeout doubles. Generally, if a player doubles an opponent's opening bid, she promises either 1) one unbid four card major with shape or near opening values and support for all three unbid suits, or 2) a big hand if she doubles and then bids her own suit. So an auction of 1H-Dbl-P-2C-P-2D would mean that the doubler had at least a five card diamond suit and at least 17 HCP.

But savvy players today play that a double in this instance and then a bid of new suit shows one of two hands, either the big hand referenced above, or a simple opening hand with one four card major and a five card minor. If partner bids the four card major, doubler will either pass or support the major, depending on the strength of his hand. If doubler bids a new minor suit, he's promising no more than an opening hand with five cards in the suit he bids.

The point of the double is to discover whether or not partner has the same four card major that doubler has. If he doesn't, then doubler bids his five card minor. He could still have the big hand, but he might not. You won't know unless you continue bidding. However, this bid does not absolutely promise at least 17 HCP.

In this hand, East's double of the major suit opening of 2S, and subsequent bid of her own suit after partner bid the other major, hearts, showed a hand of at least 17 HCP, so West, with at least 29 HCP points between them (his 12 and partner's 17), can go to 5D with only two diamonds, since one of them is the all-important queen.

What if the East and West hands had been reversed with West holding the 18 HCP hand:

                 North

                 ♠ 6

                 ♥ QJ654

                 ♦ T953

                 ♣ J98

West                           East

♠ Q8                            ♠ K972

♥ A8                            ♥ KT32

♦ AK842                       ♦ Q5

♣ KQ32                        ♣ A75

                 South (Dealer)

                 ♠ AJT543

                 ♥ 97

                 ♦ J7

                 ♣ T64

West          North         East  South

                                         2S

3D             P               3N     P

P               P              

West would bid 3D over South's weak 2S opening bid, showing extra values. Since East knows that West is showing extra values, and since East has four cards in South's suit, including the King, it's pretty much a no-brainer to bid 3N, since you have at least 27 HCP between you (West's minimum of 15 and your 12). This is the great value of only bidding in the direct seat if you have extra values.

Assuming South leads the Jack of Spades, Declarer takes it with the Queen in dummy. Declarer knows that his RHO is out of spades at this point because if South had six to make her weak 2, Declarer and dummy have six between them, leaving only one in North's hand, so she need not worry about losing a trick to North and having a spade led back through her King. She tries the diamonds and finds that North has four diamonds, so she leads the AKQ and then throws North in with a diamond, setting up her fifth diamond in dummy. Clubs split, so she gets four clubs, four diamonds, two hearts and one spade, making five.

Either way, this hand must be in game and using this technique ensures game being bid. One important proviso. This is a special method of dealing with this problem and you must have a clear understanding between you and your partner. It won't work if one person isn't playing the same system.

Re-evaluating your hand due to bidding

Here's your hand, sitting West as dealer

♠ Q9653

♥ 942

♦ 5432

♣ 7

Here's the auction

West                North               East     South

P                      2D*                 2H       3D

?                                             

* Weak

You've got 2 HCP, not a quick trick in sight. What do you do? The first thing is to think about the auction. North opened 2 Diamonds, so probably has six Diamonds. Your partner made a free bid over a weak two, which should show extra values. South made a simple raise to 3D, so probably has 3 diamonds. Your hand is looking much better. Because of your 4 small diamonds if North has 6 and South has 3, you know that your partner is almost certainly void in diamonds so will have no diamond losers. She will probably get a diamond lead, so will take the first trick. Your singleton club probably promises only one club loser (assuming opponents don't lead a trump). So she's got a great cross-ruff, utilizing your three small trump to ruff her club losers. She has to have values to make her bid. Given all that, your hand is worth a raise to 3 Hearts just to show her that you have three hearts.

Here's the entire layout:

                        North

                        ♠ A84

                        ♥ T7

                        ♦ KQJ876

                        ♣ 65

West                                        East

♠ Q9653                                   ♠ KT

♥ 942                                       ♥ KQJ53

♦ 5432                                     ♦ Void

♣ 7                                          ♣ KQJ843

                        South

                        ♠ J72

                        ♥ A86

                        ♦ AJ53

                        ♣ AT92

Here's the auction:

West                North               East     South

P                      2D*                 2H       3D

3H                     P                    4H       Dbl

P                       P                     P         

* weak

Opening lead Ace of Diamonds.

East trumped the Ace of diamonds, and led the King of Clubs, which South took. You have to get rid of the Ace of clubs before you pull trump. South took the Ace and, seeing the board now void in clubs and three small trump, led the ace of trump and a small trump, trying to cut down dummy's ruffing power. East then ruffed a small club, led to the King of Spades, pulled trump and ran the Clubs, surrendering a spade at the end, making 4 doubled. This was a team game and at the other table, NS was in 3 no trump, making 9 tricks off the top.

Bidding commentary: North's bid of a weak 2 is questionable because she's got an outside Ace. It's generally a bad idea to open a weak 2 with an outside Ace. When you open a weak 2, most of your HCP should be in your suit. An outside Ace gives you better defensive values than partner might anticipate. Because she has a six card suit, this hand could be opened 1D, due to the two doubletons, the strong diamond suit and the outside ace. However, even with a 2 diamond opening 3 no trump can still be reached. Since South knows North has six diamonds, he also knows they have six diamond tricks off the top since he has 4 diamonds to the ace jack. All he needs is to know about spades, so he should bid 2N, asking for a feature. When North answers 3S, showing the ace or king of spades, South can easily bid 3N. Regardless, the key to the hand is West's bid of 3H. No matter what NS have, East should always go to 4H after West's free bid.

Normally, you should bid your longest suit first, but here East was right to overcall Hearts, looking for a major suit fit. She can always bid her Clubs later, although if she overcalls 3 Clubs first and south bids 3D, West will pass with a singleton in her club suit, as will North. If East then bids 3H, West is unlikely to go to four.

Play commentary. 4H cannot be beaten as long as East trumps a club after getting rid of the Ace before pulling trump. If she doesn't trump a club, South's Ten will hold up and keep East from running the Clubs, which she must do to make the contract. If NS is in 3N, it is cold, running 9 tricks off the top, 6 diamonds and the other three aces.

Michaels and Unusual No Trump

If there is one bid that is almost universally misunderstood and misused by experienced players, it's the conventional bid that shows two unbid five card suits, represented by Michaels and the Unusual No Trump. Michaels is a cue bid of openers' one level bid to show either both majors if the opening bid is a minor or the other major and an undesignated minor if the opening bid is a major. The Unusual No Trump is a conventional bid of a jump to two no trump over an opening one level bid that shows either both minors or the two lower unbid suits.

The problem arises because these players have heard from some "expert" that some people play these only with "good-bad" hands and with intermediate range hands they bid the two suits individually. There are two problems with this statement.

The first is that the "expert" never defines what a "bad" hand is. They tell you that the intermediate range is probably 10-16 HCP, but don't define a range for the "bad" hand. As a result, the "expert's" trusting acolyte defines bad as anything under 10 HCP.

The second is that it defies reason. Why would you want to force your partner to bid at the three level (in the case of unusual no trump) when you have a weak hand and she might be forced to bid a two card suit (or in rare circumstances a one card suit)?

This happened to me recently in a two table social team game. Here's my hand:

♠ QJ

♥ 5

♦ T9754

♣ KT864

The bidding went:

West          North         East  South (me)

                                           P

1D             2D             3C     Dbl

3D             P               P       Dbl

P               P               P

I'm salivating. We're going to kill this hand. My partner has the majors and I have the minors. At a minimum, I should get three tricks, two diamonds and a club and my partner should have at least two quick tricks to make her bid.  Well, to make a long painful story mercifully short, we were the ones who got killed. My partner had four points, one queen and two jacks, and couldn't take a trick. I got my three tricks, but that meant they made their bid with an overtrick, doubled.

When the round was over, the player at the other table who had my partner's hand, a more experienced player than my partner, said that she bid it the same way. Since her partner was not an expert, the final diamond contract wasn't doubled (one of the reasons experts do well is that they love to double partscores).

The reason they both bid Michaels? Because they had heard that it should be used with "good and bad" hands. Well, they certainly had a "bad" hand. But because the "expert" never defines the "bad" hand, people think that any 13 cards that are 5-5 in shape will suffice.

So, clearly, people don't understand this dichotomy and it's time to explain it. First, it makes no sense to only use it with good or bad hands and to bid intermediate hands by bidding the suit. Second, if you use these conventions, use them all the time in accordance with the following rules:

For Unusual No Trump:

Not Vulnerable: At least 5-5 in your two suits, not less than 9 HCP and two quick tricks in your suits, and if at the bottom of your range, you must have good suits. You may have any upper range of points, but this is the minimum.

Vulnerable: At least 5-5 in your two suits, two quick tricks, and generally, not less than 12 HCP; if both of your suits are good, however, you may do it with 11 HCP.

For Michaels:

Not vulnerable. At least 5-5 in your two suits and 8 HCP with the points all in your suits, if making the bid with the minimum.

Vulnerable. At least 5-5 in your two suits and 10 useful HCP, meaning at least two quick tricks, and they should be in your suits.

Let me explain why discipline is important. First, often when you have a two suited hand, your partner holds the other two suits, so you might find yourself in a defensive position where you can double for penalty, as I was. You must ensure that your partner can trust your bid and vice-versa.

Second, since you are forcing your partner to bid at a higher level with unknown shape and values, you are risking a bad contract that might be doubled, so you must have the values promised above.

Planning the Play at the Outset

Today's hand deals with planning at the outset. Here's your hand, sitting West:

♠ 3

♥ QJT98654

♦ A7

♣ A3

Here's the auction:

West          North         East  South

                                  P       P

4H             Dbl             P       P

P

Opening lead: Ace of Spades

The dummy comes down and here are your two hands:

West                   East

♠ 3                      ♠ 652

♥ QJT98654          ♥ A32

♦ A7                    ♦ Q54

♣ A3                   ♣ 9842

Before you play you must analyze your cards. How are you going to make this hand? It looks as if you must lose four tricks, one Spade, one Diamond, and one Club. And since South sat for the double, she probably has the King of trump. There's no way to finesse it, so you have to lose that, too. How can you make it?

The answer is that you must play North for the King of Diamonds, and you must set it up before drawing trump. Why? Two reasons. You have to lose a Club and you need to keep the Ace before you set up a way to get rid of your three of clubs. The second reason is that if you lead to the Ace of Hearts immediately, you have no entry to the board, which is where you are hoping to get a trick if you can set up the Queen of Diamonds.

So you trump the second spade in your hand and lead immediately to your Queen of diamonds on the board. If South has the King, which is unlikely since North doubled, showing the good hand, you are toast. But if North goes up and takes the King, no matter what North leads back, you can make the hand. If he leads a Club, you take the Ace, take the Ace of Diamonds in your hand. Lead to the Ace of Hearts. Play the Queen of Diamonds and sluff your three of Clubs. You lose the King of Hearts, but you only lost three tricks, making four, doubled.

Here's the four hand layout:

                     North

                 ♠ AKT84

                 ♥ Void

                 ♦ KT9832

                 ♣ K7

West                           East

♠ 3                              ♠ 652

♥ QJT98654                  ♥ A32

♦ A7                            ♦ Q54

♣ A3                           ♣ 9842

                 South

                 ♠ QJ97

                 ♥ K7

                 ♦ J6

                 ♣ QJT65

I'll close with a bidding commentary. When a player opens 4 hearts, a double by an opponent is for takeout. If a player opens 4 Spades, a double is penalty. If an opponent wants to make a takeout bid over a 4 Spade opener, he bids 4 NT. That asks partner to bid her longest suit. Here, after the hand was played, South asked me if she was correct to sit for the double and I explained her partner was asking her to bid. What should she have bid? Although a double often asks for the longest suit, it also generally implies four cards in the unbid major, so I would bid 4 Spades with her hand, even though she has 5 Clubs. If Partner doesn't have 4 spades, she will correct to her long suit. Here, NS is cold for 4 Spades. Actually they can make an overtrick, losing only the two minor suit Aces if they play the Diamonds correctly.

Managing transportation when playing No Trump

Playing and defending no trump is the most challenging part of bridge. It requires planning and doing things that are sometimes counter-intuitive. Here's today's hand:

 Dealer: East

Bidding:

South   West    North   East

                                   1D

P          1S        P          2H

P          2N        P          3N

P          P          P

Opening lead: 3C

First the bidding: When East reverses (bidding a higher ranking suit at the two level than the suit with which you opened the bidding at the one level; a "reverse" promises at least 17 HCP and is forcing for one round) by bidding two Hearts after her one Diamond opener, West is forced to bid again, so chooses the weakest response possible, considering that he has the unbid suit, Clubs, stopped. East likes her hand and raises to game.

Superficially, it looks like you can take three spade tricks, two or three diamonds, and a heart or two, plus one Club. But closer inspection shows that this is all dependent on transportation. You have to get rid of the Ace of Spades on the board before you take your King and Queen in your hand. Plus you have to take two diamond finesses for this to work. But your hand is woefully weak and the singleton Ace of Spades doesn't help transportation since your only real entries are spades. How are you going to get to your hand enough times to accomplish all this?

You take the first trick in your hand with the Club Jack. Then you take your first diamond finesse. If the honors are split, you can take three diamonds. When South wins the Queen of diamonds, she returns a spade to the board's singleton Ace. You now have to play South for the Ace and Jack of Hearts to get back to your hand. So you lead the Heart 6 to your Ten. South takes her Jack. Recognizing the transportation problems and wanting to keep the lead on the board, South takes her Ace of Hearts, figuring she'd then put the lead  back on the board (that would leave the KQ of Hearts on the board) and you'd be stuck with no way to get to your hand to take your two spades and the second diamond finesse.

Here is the key to the hand. You discard your King of Hearts on her Ace, so when she leads another heart, you are able to take the trick in your hand with your Heart Ten. Since you discarded your King from the board, you have the eight to play from the board to take the trick with the Ten in your hand (if you had discarded the eight on her lead of the Ace, you are left with just the King and the Queen on the board and you're blocked from returning the lead to your hand). That allows you to take the two spade tricks in your hand and the second diamond finesse, which works, and the King falls when you play the Ace, the diamonds splitting favorably, giving you your three diamond tricks. So you end up taking three spades, three diamonds, two hearts and a club, making three. If you do not discard your king of hearts on her Ace, the hand can't make, assuming a reasonable defense.

Think and Plan Before You Play

Today's deal shows two thinking plays outside of the box, one of which allows Declarer to make what appears to be a doomed contract, and the other of which allows a courageous, savvy defender to still beat the contract regardless of what Declarer does.

                        North

                        ♠ J62

                        ♥ A832

                        ♦ QJ8

                        ♣ 632

West                                        East

♠ Q9873                                  ♠ A54

♥ J976                                     ♥ QT5

♦ T2                                         ♦ 964

♣ 75                                        ♣ AT98

                        South

                        ♠ KT

                        ♥ K4

                        ♦ AK753

                        ♣ KQJ4

South               West                North               East

1D                   P                      1H                   P

2N                   P                      3N                   P

P                      P                                             

Opening Lead 7S.

Offhand, this looks hopeless. East wins the first Spade with her Ace and returns the 5. South takes the second spade trick with his King and can only see eight sure tricks, including the Spade he just took, before East gets in with her Ace of Clubs and returns a spade, which allows West to take her three Spade tricks and the contract is down 1.

But careful playing can make the contract, assuming West doesn't make an heroic play. When West leads the 7 of Spades and East plays the Ace, South must discard his King. His now bare Ten and the Jack doubleton on the board stop the suit. When East returns the 5, South is not forced to take the trick since he no longer has the King, so he plays his Ten. If West takes the Queen, Dummy's Jack  stops the suit on West's next Spade lead. But  the important part of this play is that by requiring three Spade tricks at the outset, when East gets in with her Ace of Clubs she no longer has a Spade to return to West and South makes the contract with a possible overtrick.

In order to defeat the contract, West must decline the second trick and allow Declarer to win the trick with his Spade Ten. That leaves East with one Spade to return to West's Queen when she takes her Ace of Clubs. But how many Wests will be courageous enough to decline the second trick?

More on Opening Leads When Defending Against No Trump

Here are two hands you hold from two different auctions. You are on lead in each hand. What do you lead?

Here's the auction for Hand 1:

S                      W                    N         E

1N                   P                      3N       P

P                      P                                             

Hand 1

♠ 83

♥ J96532

♦ AK4

♣ 75

Here's the auction for Hand 2:

S                      W                    N         E

                        P                      1D       P

1S                    P                      1N       P

3N                   P                      P          P

Hand 2

♠ Q63

♥ AK7

♦ T7

♣ 87653

These are two hands played by my partner or me recently. In the first, I eschewed the heart 5 lead. While it's true we might get lucky and my partner might have the Ace, King, or Queen of Hearts, and opponents might not be able to run nine tricks before I set up the Hearts, that's a long shot. The best lead here is the Ace and King of Diamonds and a low diamond. In the actual hand, my partner had Queen fifth of diamonds, we took the first five tricks and were the only pair to set the contract.

In the second, my partner led a Club and opponents ran off 11 tricks before my partner got her Ace and King of Hearts. Here, as in Hand 1, the lead should be the Ace and King of Hearts and the low Heart. In the actual hand, I held the Queen, Jack, and three hearts and we would take the first five tricks. Here's the actual hand:

 

I gave this problem to many people at all levels. None chose the winning lead of the Ace and the King followed by the remaining card in the suit.

Whenever you find yourself on lead defending 3 No Trump and you hold AKx with nothing else in your hand to try to set up and your partner hasn't bid, you should lead out the Ace and King and the little card. This has three desirable effects. First, you get two tricks you might not get if opponents can run the other suits, which is likely. Second, you might catch partner with the Queen and more cards in the suit, especially if it's an unbid suit, a fit you'll never find if you don't make the right opening lead. Third, if partner has 5 small cards in the suit, you will set up two tricks for her if she ever gets in by getting rid of all the other cards in the suit with your three leads.

If you lead the small card, you block the suit for your partner if you get in and win your Ace and King; you can't get back to her. While this should be obvious, if your partner has actually bid the suit, your leading the Ace, King, little will unblock the suit for her.