Friday 21 October 2011

Agressive bidding

(1) Non vul, IMP pair.
C J3
D AKJT983
H K82
S 6
RHS opened 3S, what should you do?
A 3H implies a solid H weak jumping call, you can imagine his/her hand as H AKJxxx with no/useless side power. Then your H K might be a trick and a control. Considering the chance to win on hand, I called a [gambling] 3NT.
LHS called 4S and your partner called a non-invitative 4NT and all pass.
Your partner's hand is
C AK765
D 7
H 7654
S QT9
LHS lead C2, now you'll have to decide the route:
It seems easy but an uneven distribution will make the game risky because you have one and only one H control.The correct way is to keep finessing the D Q. It's safe because LHO probably holds S AK so your S Q is safe. You found the D is in a bad 4-1 distribution, but luckily LHO lacks Heart as well so 4NT is in justmade.
Besides this meaningless play, the controversal point is that whether we should bid this 3NT with two dangerous suit on opponent's hand:
- Gambling 3NT: solid 7 card suit; no side power
- Power 3NT: 25-27points, 8+ tricks with control on every suit
- Unusual NT is for 2NT/4NT, so it's not our interest.
And for me, a defensive gambling 3NT here make sense:
- Against strong opening: very solid 7+ solid suit with 1+ side control, 7.5 tricks
- Against weak opening: solid 7+ solid suit promising control on the weak-opened suit or 2+ side control, 7.5 tricks.
We can make this conclusion becoz the other case fits with a 4X jumping call like:
C K6
D 2
H AKJT9873
S Q2
Such a solid hand deserves a 4H opening.

(2) NS vul, IMP pair
Your partner (N)
C AKJ
D T
H AT842
S AK43
You (S)
C Q9763
D AKJ83
H 975
S ----

A rare 5-5-3-0 distribution; 6C is a good contract, Considering the misfit and poor C AKJ on your partner's hand, it would not be easy to be the final bid.
After N's 1H opening (no doubt for this), how can you describe the 5-5 minor powerful hand? If your partner have some good major power, that will be a 3NT; and with some good minor like:
C AKxxx
D xxxx
H Ax/Kx
S xx
Then 5 or 6C/D can be played.

My approach:
1H - 2D [1]
2S [2] - 3C [3]
4NT [4] - 6C
[1]: 10+P, 5+D, positive
[2]: reversal bid, game force, 4+S
[3]: At least 4-5 minor; do not prefer 3NT; opening power
[4] quantitative invitation, 19~21P
A splinter would not be suitable as your hand still lacks power from a 5X to slam force. Due to the lack of power, other slow approach might not be able to make such calls and stop the bidding at 4H.

P.S. I'm not an expert in bridge but a relaxing player, so I'll need more opinions : D

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