Do you play the ‘Weak No Trump’? And if so, how weak? And how do you avoid the pitfalls? Board 7 from Thursday 27/09/20118 Dealer S All Vul Some of the less adventurous like to play a ‘variable’ 1NT according to vulnerability: 12-14 Not Vulnerable
Some points of interest from this fairly innocuous looking deal. They are worth discussing. Board 4 from Thursday 20/09/2018 Dealer W All Vul Firstly, would you open the West hand? I know a number of people did open 1C. I wouldn’t, it’s just asking for
Let me now return to the readers’ problem set two weeks ago. No reader came up with all the answers I was hoping for, but let me answer my own questions first: Board 2 from Thursday 6/09/2018 What is East’s best opening lead against 4H
MrQ: Maybe I shouldn’t double not being particularly strong but I thought that I am showing diamonds and partial support for hearts and asking West to bid again (any 2-level rebid was cool with me). 3C rebid showed me only 10-11 points with club support
MrQ: Interesting 3NT bid from South with only 1 spade stopper over 2S weak overcall … anyway the moment West leads 5 of spades NS makes 5NT. Was it the best lead considering that South most likely showed 2 stoppers in spades? I think I
Bidding: North opens 1C – all pass MrQ: I passed North’s 1C which ended up to be 4 light and bottom board. Should I bid something/rescue thinking that we will eventually find a fit in a non-club suit? So bid 1S and rebid 2H and
Bidding: North opens 1H – 1S; 2C – 2D; 2H – all pass MrQ: Shouldn’t North bid 2S instead of 2H? When South rebids 2D (whether natural or forcing), South pretty much denies 3-card heart support so North knows that there is at most 5-2
MrQ: I don’t think 2NT rebid from East was good. With this kind of bidding from opposition (who showed something like 18+ points – although you never know as you can see) I expected East to have pretty strong hand (17 or good 16) and
MrQ: Good result but the bidding was a bit awkward and … risky? I didn’t want to just rebid 2D as I felt I need to force my partner to bid again. I was hoping she would rebid spades to show me 5 of them.
There were some amazing deals this week and I have selected one that I will be featuring in the first chapter of my new series “Evil at the Bridge Table”. I will describe the play and then set you another problem to solve. Board 4