Those Hearts Again… April 9, 2009
Posted by justinlall in Blog.Tags: Advanced, Convention
2 comments
I feel like the theory behind bidding as a passed hand is largely unexplored and strangely ignored by bridge literature.
For example, take the simple auction;
P (P) 1
(P)
2
What does 2 show? Should you always pull with a stiff? If so, how do you bid flawed preempts like x Jxxxxxx 
AJ 
Kxx (if this is a 1 opener for you adjust it slightly)? If not, how do you bid hands like Kx AQJxx xxx xxx? What about 2 suited hands like x Axxxx xx KQxxx?
The possible hand types for the 2 bid are just too numerous, so there can’t really be accurate bidding over it.
That is why I suggest having 2 bids to show hearts, 2 and 2. 2 is reserved for hands with 5 hearts, and 2 shows a flawed preempt with 6 or 7 hearts.
The bids over the 2 bid are natural, except for 2 being a relay.
Over 2 responder bids 2 with a doubleton, 3 of a minor with 56, or 2 otherwise. After a 2 bid, 2 asks again, and responder bids 2N with 15(43), and 3m with with 5 of the minor.
Over p 1 2 2 2, 2N relays and responder bids 3m with 5 of the minor. This way you always get to the right fit in the major, and always know the degree of the fit. If necessary you can find out about responder’s shape for game and slam purposes.
Over p 1 2 everything is forcing except 2. 2N is a general ask, and responder can show a side minor or a doubleton spade, or a seventh heart. Again, you almost always find the right fit.
You don’t lose drury completely by playing this, it is just 2 instead of 2. This is not a huge loss since you still have an in between bid of 2 to show some interest.
You do lose a natural 2 bid, but as is often the theme in this blog, we see that majors are much more important than minors.
Ask Justin 4 April 7, 2009
Posted by justinlall in Ask Justin.Tags: Advanced, Convention
4 comments
I recently had the opportunity to play a few sets with a dear friend who plays most often with an internationally-recognized household name. When my friend and I were filling out the convention card, we agreed that after partner opens 1NT, we’d play 3-level bids as “shortness,” something she said she plays with all her regular partners.
The 3-level bids come up so rarely that I was happy to write just about anything down on the card. But a couple of weeks later, I’m still thinking about it. Is “shortness” a pretty standard treatment? I’m familiar with 1NT-3M showing a stiff with three of the other major (game forcing) but 3m showing shortness is new to me. What’s the deal? What’s your favorite use for the 3-level when partner opens 1NT?
Stacy
I think that the 3 level bids should be there to fill holes in the rest of your NT structure, so it’s hard me to answer this question. Assuming you play 4 suit transfers, then you have bids for all your 1 suited hands as well as stayman for hands with 4 card majors and longer minors. All that’s left is 2 suited hands with the minors, and 3 suited hands.
It is very common to use 3 as 5-5 in the minors GF in this structure. Over that a 3 bid asks for shortness.
As you said, it’s common to play 3 of a major as short in the major bid with 3 cards in the other major, like 13(54). I would recommend an addition Bob Hamman likes to play, which is bidding 3 with 4144 also. Then opener bids 3 with 4 of them, and responder goes back to 3N without 4 of them.
This takes care of our almost all of our minor 2 suiters, and we’re left only with the other 4441s. I like to play 3 shows 1444, 4441, or 4414. 3 asks, and low middle high shortness.
Another common approach is to play 3 as puppet if you include 5 card majors in your 1N opener. This can be useful too, and usually you are fine with 44(14) by bidding stayman, though you lose 1444.
Finally, you could play 3 as both minors weak, or both minors invitational. The former can be taken care of by bidding 2N transfer to diamonds and passing partner’s response. The latter is very low frequency. I do not recommend either.
If you play 2 as minor suit stayman over your 1N opener then all of your minor 2 suiters are taken care of that way, and using all 3 level bids as shortness is fine albeit inefficient. Inefficient because you could just use your 2N bid as to play 3, or a 4441 (bid low/middle/middle/high over 3), and your diamond 1 suiters start with 2 then bid 3. Now ALL of your 3 level bids would be freed up for something more useful.
Playing that structure I would use 3m as a natural invite, and 3 of a major as 5/5 invitational and 5/5 GF respectively. This leaves you 1N 2 3 as an artificial bid, perhaps a 1 suited slam try in spades.
Again, the best use of the 3 level bids after a 1N opener is depends on the rest of your system
Five Uncommon Conventions You Should Play April 5, 2009
Posted by justinlall in Articles.Tags: Convention, Intermediate
15 comments
Generally I think most players, especially intermediates, play too many conventions. Most of the time they come up too infrequently or have very small gains that aren’t worth the trouble. However, there are a few conventions that are both frequent and useful that most people aren’t yet playing. Here they are in no particular order.
A jump cue as a transfer to 3N in the auction 1m-(1M)-3M. If you think about it, with almost every holding you have in overcaller’s major you want partner to declare the hand. Axx, AQx, Kxx, AKx are the most obvious examples. You give up a splinter to play this, but a splinter in support of a minor is very rare compared to an antipositional 3N bid.
Transfers after 1M-(X)-? starting with 1N. This is becoming more popular, and for good reason. Losing your natural 1N bid frees up two ways to raise the major. The direct raise is weak, and a transfer raise is constructive. This is very good, because with 3 trumps you always want to preempt the opponents, but you can’t jump to 3 the same way you can when you have 4 trumps. Being able to bid 2 and not have partner game try or jump to game is like having your cake and eating it too. Losing the natural 1N is not a big loss, with 10 you can XX and with 7 you should pass anyways, so you are only losing with 8 or 9 balanced without 3 trumps. In return you get not just 2 ways to raise, but also the ability to immediately show your suit regardless of whether you are weak or strong because you are guaranteed to get another chance to bid. You would hate to have to XX with a strong 1 suiter and be susceptible to preemption by LHO. You would also hate to have to pass with a good 6 card suit and nothing else. Another example of getting to have your cake and eating it too.
Jump cue as a mixed raise after an overcall. This is a convention I see misused all the time. The biggest question is, what the hell is a mixed raise? The best definition I can come up with is a hand too good for a preemptive raise, and a hand not good enough for a limit raise, with at least 4 trumps and offensive values. With nobody vulnerable if the auction goes (1) 1 p ?
KJxx x xxxx xxxx bids 3
KJxx x Axxx Qxxx bids 2
KJxx x Kxxx xxxx bids 3
The third hand is a common hand type that is very difficult to show. I see people bid 3 with hands strong enough for a limit raise, and hands that are more balanced and defensive (which should just bid 2) so often that it takes away from the value of having a mixed raise to begin with. You can get to a lot of light games by using these correctly.
Suit Preference in the trump suit. Ok, this is a carding agreement, but it’s a very important one that all top pairs and few intermediates use. The idea is simple, you show whether you like the high or low suit (sometimes the middle is in play) by the way you play your trumps. With 2 just play up the line with no preference. That way only a high low is a strong signal. With 3 play the middle for no preference. This extra signal can make all the difference for the defense.
Invitational jumps at the 3 level after partner opens. These apply when partner opens 1x, and you bid 3y where y is lower than x. This is also only for 2/1 players. The problem is an auction like 1 p 1N p 2 p 3. This could just be a weak hand with long clubs and isn’t invitational, so with 9 to 11 points and a good suit you need another way to bid. I propose bidding 1 p 3 with that hand type. It also protects you from preemption and sometimes has a preemptive effect of its own. Ideally you would have a good 6 card suit and not Hx in support of partners major, but you aren’t always dealt an ideal hand. Just remember partner will pass with a stiff and a minimum, because if he bids anything else it’s forcing.
I think if everyone reading this adds these methods my email will be flooded with thank you notes.
You’re welcome!
Hearts April 4, 2009
Posted by justinlall in Blog.Tags: Advanced, Bidding, Convention
6 comments
Today I had KQJ96 KQ643 AJ3 void. I opened 1 and partner bid 1N. Now what?
It is my opinion that it is right to jumpshift lighter when you have both majors than when you have a major and a minor. The reason is twofold. One, you are more likely to have a game when you have both majors. Two, partner is stuck more often over a 2 bid than over a minor.
Point one is obvious, but consider point two. If partner has a 1354 9 count they have to overbid massively with 2N, or pass 2. However with 1453 over 2 partner can bid 2. 2 endplays responder into making a big distortion much more often, so opener should be alleviating the pressure on him by jumpshifting more aggressively.
So should I bid 3 with the given hand? There’s one more catch. By bidding 3, I preempt my side. If partner bids 3N I don’t know what to do, since I haven’t shown 5-5 and we could still have a 5-3 fit. This can be solved by a special convention. I suggest using 3 as artificial, possibly containing hands with 4 hearts or hands with a normal club jump shift. Some people include spade one suiters as well. Over 3 partner relays with 3 to find out what you have. You lose some accuracy with normal club jump shifts, but it is very important to distinguish between 4 and 5 card heart suits as we have seen.
Playing this convention, I would definitely bid 3 even though if the clubs and hearts were reversed I would only bid 2. Unfortunately, I wasn’t playing it so I chose to bid 2 which made slam difficult to bid.
Lebensohl Over Weak Twos April 2, 2009
Posted by justinlall in Blog.Tags: Bidding, Convention
3 comments
Eugene Hung has posted some excellent and thorough notes about Lebensohl over weak twos. In fact, they are the most complete set I have seen on the subject.
This convention applies when the opponents open a weak two and partner makes a takeout double. The key feature is an artificial 2N response, asking partner to bid 3C. The major benefit is distinguishing between hands the very weak and medium strength hands. However, there are huge gains on game forcing hands as well which most people are not utilizing. Hopefully now that problem will be fixed!
The Dog That Didn’t Bark March 31, 2009
Posted by justinlall in Blog.Tags: Convention, Inference, Intermediate
3 comments
There is a nice inference available for players that play support doubles that they often fail to make. The inference is that when partner does NOT make a support double after opening a minor, he will always have 4 cards in that minor, and often 5.
Take the auction
1 (p) 1 (2)
p
Since opener has at most 2 spades, at most 4 hearts, and at least as many clubs as diamonds his worst shape is 2434 or 2344. For those who open 1D with 4-4 in the minors, the last shape is impossible too. This means partner usually has five clubs.
This inference can help responder greatly in competitive auctions. He can compete more freely in clubs, not worrying about partner having just 3.
Today I had Axxx xx xxx Axxx and heard the auction go as above. I was able to balance easily with 3.
Sometimes the best part of a convention is the inferences you can make when it is NOT used.
1C-(2D)-X… April 22, 2007
Posted by justinlall in Articles.Tags: Advanced, Bidding, Convention
9 comments
I have been thinking a lot lately about auctions that start 1-(2)-X-(p). This seemingly simple auction can quickly become one of the murkiest constructive bidding sequences in bridge.
The double can be made with both 4 card majors, one 4 card major, or a 1 suited hand with a major. It could even be made with 5-5 in the majors and a weakish hand. Opener can then bid a 3 card major himself or make a very nebulous cuebid. Fundamentally both the double and the cuebid are overloaded.
For instance, if the auction started 1-(2-X-(p)-? one might bid 3 with any of the following hands:
- KQ43 KQ2 A43 AJ2
- A2 A3 432 AKQJ32
- KQ32 KQ92 4 A652
- KQ3 AJ2 872 AKJ4
On hand 1 opener cannot just bid 4 as partner may have a 3 card suit, and 3N may be the right spot.
On hand 2 opener just needs a stopper and doesn’t want to bid 4 and bypass 3N.
On hand 3 opener has an invitational strength hand with 4-4 in the majors and wants partner to pick a major. Some people may even be planning to pass a 3M bid by partner!
On hand 4 opener is strong and balanced with no stopper. and is hoping partner can bid 3N.
So the cuebid covers a GF with 1 major, strong with clubs, invitational or game forcing with both majors, or strong balanced with no stopper. Great! The first thing that is clear is that the cuebid needs to create a force. With hand type 3 you just have to bid game or bid 2 of a major. What’s not clear is what responder’s duty is; bid 4 card majors up the line or bid NT with a stopper? If he bids NT with a stopper then a major suit fit may be lost opposite hand type 1 (the most common). If he bids majors up the line then hand types 2 and 3 are screwed. Not to mention that 5-3 fits are going to be very difficult to find.
We also have the issue of finding 3N when opener has one 4 card major and a stopper and responder has no stopper and the other 4 card major. For instance if you have hand 1 the auction might go 1-(2)-X-(p)-3-(p)-3-(p)-3-(p)-? Should responder always bid 3N here, with or without a stopper? This risks some silly 3N contracts as well as wrongsiding the contract if the stopper is Kx or the like.
These aren’t even the only problems with this auction. The other day I had an auction start 1-(2)-X-(p)-2-(p)-3-(p)-? My partner had 4 hearts and a diamond stopper and bid 3N, worried I had a hand like 4333 with no diamond stopper. I had 4 hearts and a game going hand and was worried my partner had bid 2 with only 3. If you don’t believe this is possible, ask yourself what you would do with a hand like Kxx AKx Qxx xxxx. 2N is horrible with this hand type and 2 is really your only choice. Anyways, I passed 3N and we missed our best spot of 4. I pointed out to partner that he should bid 3 and I would bid 3 with 3 hearts and no diamond stopper. While he agreed with this he wondered what would have happened if our fit was spades and not diamonds; I would be endplayed over a 3 rebid.
There are no great solutions to this problem, but perhaps with some artificiality we can improve on this auction.
Bob Hamman has played for a long time that jump shifts are forcing after a negative double. In this auction 3M can be forcing, and that eliminates hand 1 from the immediate cuebid. Over 3 partner can bid 3 without a fit or diamond stopper and opener can bid 3N with a stopper. There is still a guess over a jump to 3 though.
This would leave the direct cuebid to show a strong hand with clubs or a strong balanced hand without a diamond stopper. This would leave responder free to bid 3N whenever they have a stopper, and bid 3M with a 5+ card suit. Definitely a big improvement.
Even better would be to use 2N as an artificial bid. Really, bidding 2N with a weak NT is not a good option anyways, you may have only half the deck and would much rather play 2 of a major. 2N could puppet to 3, then 3 could show 4-4 majors invite, 3M could be that major plus a stopper in diamonds, game forcing. 3N would be 18-19 balanced with a diamond stopper. A direct 3 would simply be GF in clubs or strong balanced without a stopper, 3M would be natural and forcing, denying a stopper, and a direct 3N would be based on club tricks and a diamond stopper (so partner won’t pull with a 6 card major). This solves all hand types and eliminates guessing.
That would mean that 2M could frequently be based on a 3 card suit. Over the cue you only have a problem sorting out stoppers and 4-4 fits if opener has 4 spades and a stopper and responder has 4 hearts, less than 4 spades, and a stopper.
I think this is a great improvement for almost no cost on one of the worst auctions in bridge. You only lose a natural 2N (useless) and invitational 3 of a major bids (of very limited use), in order to gain a lot of clarity on the NT vs major decision. A nice advantage of forcing 3M bids is better slam bidding as well (as trumps are set earlier).
Forcing 2N bids March 27, 2007
Posted by justinlall in Blog.Tags: Bidding, Convention
4 comments
In recent years there has been a movement towards defining a lot of 2N bids as forcing in uncontested auctions. Bidding lots of suits with a strong, balanced hand leads either to convoluted auctions where you never reveal the true nature of your hand or requires you to jump to 3N killing an enormous amount of bidding space. In general with balanced hands you always want to describe that feature as early and cheaply as possible.
In an auction like 1-(p)-1-(p)-2 if responder happens to have 4324 or 4333 with 16 points he has to bid either 2 or 3 and later guess whether to go past 3N in order to raise diamonds. This leads to silly things like bidding THREE suits with a balanced hand and possibly never bidding NT. If you are willing to give up on an invitational 2N you can use 2N here as forcing, solving these issue and leading to much smoother auctions. Of course this leaves you stuck with a balanced 10 or 11 points, but some of those hands can game force and several can bid 3. It’s unlikely that 2N will be a much better spot than 3 anyways.
Auctions like 1m-(p)-2N and even 1M-(p)-2N can be played as forcing for similar reasons. The biggest advantage, though, is that the integrity of your other sequences is preserved as you no longer need to create auctions to handle the balanced hand type. Of course, barring artificiality, with 11 or 12 and a balanced hand you will need to either game force or make a non forcing bid. That may seem like a significant loss but keep in mind how narrow that range is. Much more often you will hold a balanced game force, and on those hands you will now be well positioned to reach an intelligent contract.
It occurred to me yesterday that this principle could be extended to times when the opponents overcall over a minor suit opening. In fact, it is much easier to do so after an overcall.
After 1m-(1M) experts will not bid 1N freely with something like a 7 count. This is mainly because it is now more dangerous to bid and you don’t need to keep the auction open for partner. So the range of a 1N bid is something like 8-10 when bid freely, but I have certainly seen people bid 1N with a bad 11 (usually when they don’t have a double stopper in RHO’s suit). I have also seen people bid 3N with 11 if they had something like AQTx in RHO’s suit because their honors are well placed.
This would seem to beg the question, what use does an invitational 2N have? If you just increase the range of 1N by a point and game force with 12 you can once again use 2N as forcing.
2N forcing is especially useful after an overcall because sometimes you will only have 1 stopper. For instance with Q832 KQ3 K32 AT2 after 1-1 you would hate to bid 3N as it could easily be a terrible contract opposite short spades. You have no good options though; a cuebid shows diamond support and doubling shows 4 hearts. Bidding 2N forcing allows partner room to describe his hand below 3N, and you can show some doubt about NT and perhaps get to 5 of a minor. The forcing 2N also aids your slam bidding significantly by giving you an extra level, and gives you a way to bid a hand like 18 or 19 balanced without having to invent a ridiculous auction and then guess what to do.
More Transfers January 11, 2006
Posted by justinlall in Blog.Tags: Convention
9 comments
I’ve really jumped on the transfers-in-many-weird-situations bandwagon. Here are two common problem auctions where transfers are better than anything else that I’ve seen.
1) 1M-(p)-1N-(p)-2N-(p)-?
Before I played transfers I played bids as natural and forcing and with a terrible hand you’re just out of luck. Transfers are a big improvement, though, here’s how they work after a 1 opener:
3=Diamonds. Over 3, responder can pass, bid 3 to show Hx of hearts to go with his diamonds, bid a black suit as a cuebid, or bid 3N to show a generic slam try in diamonds.
3=Hearts. Over 3 responder can pass with a weak raise, cue with a 3 card limit and slam interest, or bid 3N with a shape like 3334 to offer a choice of games.
3=Clubs. Opener can say he likes clubs by bidding 3 or otherwise bid 3N. Responder can now sign off in 4 or cue.
3=Both minors. Opener can bid a minor with slam interest or a hand that doesn’t want to play NT, or signoff in 3N.
Note there is no transfer to spades because 1N denied spades. After a 1 opener things are slightly different. There is no bid to show the minors and a 3 bid is a transfer to clubs. Opener either bids 3N or 4 depending on his hand type.
This method essentially loses room whenever responder has clubs but gains by being able to signoff in 3 of any suit other than clubs, offer choices of games, show some 2-suiters below 3N, and investigate slam below 3N.
2) 1-p-1N-p-2-p-?
This is a weird auction for transfers, but Lebensohl doesn’t get the job done. For starters, over a 2N leb bid if opener is 4513 and partner has clubs he may not want to just play 3. Secondly, if opener has extras he will have a hard time showing it and may be forced to punt out 3N knowing nothing about partners hand. With transfers responder can start describing his hand and opener can judge what to do. Here’s how transfers work in this auction:
2N=5+ clubs. With a minimum, opener bids 3. Responder can pass, bid 3N showing a concern about diamonds, bid 3 with a minor 2-suiter, bid 3H on Hx or 3 with 3 good spades. Opener will be well placed to know what to do. If opener has extras he can bid something other than 3 and will be better placed to know what that something is since he knows partner’s suit.
3=5+ diamonds. Again, opener accepts with a minimum and bids something else otherwise. Responder can pass or further describe his hand.
3=2+ hearts. This is either to signoff in 3, or a 3-card limit raise that would like to start cuebidding, or a balanced hand with 2 card heart support. Opener signs off with a minimum or tries 3N or 4 or a cue bid with extras and 6 hearts.
3=3+ spades. This would show an interest in the 4-3 and no good 5 card minor to mention. Opener bids 3 with a minimum or tries 3N or a pattern bid otherwise.
3=both minors. If opener happens to have a minor suit fragment he will bid it.
3N=to play, denies a doubleton heart.
This method isn’t perfect but it makes for much more accurate auctions than Lebensohl.
Inverted Minors January 9, 2006
Posted by justinlall in Blog.Tags: Convention
8 comments
Inverted minors are a great idea. The ability to establish a low level force and investigate level and strain is always a good thing if it doesn’t come at too high a cost. Sadly, the standard followup structure is woefully inadequate. Valuable space is wasted showing stoppers instead of degree of fit, shape, hand orientation or concentration of values. The fact is, stoppers matter very little when compared to the rest of the things mentioned. Even if you have no stopper in a suit they don’t always lead it (unless you tell them to with your auction). Here is a different suggested followup scheme that I think is a big improvement:
1-2= invitational or better raise
…………-2=minimum (note all weak NT hand types are considered minimum)
………………-2=GF relay
…………………….-2=5+ trumps balanced or semi-balanced
…………………………..-2N=relay
…………………………………-3=some 5332
…………………………………-3//=5422 with 4 of the suit bid
…………………………………-3N= 6322 or 7222
…………………….-2N=4 trumps balanced
…………………….-3=3 trumps balanced
…………………………..-3 relay
………………………………..-3/3 are 3433 and 4333, 3N is 4423
…………………….-3/3/3=shortness
………………-2=shortness
………………-2N=to play (opener can raise with 14 balanced)
………………-3=to play
………………-3x=shortness
………………-3N=to play
…………-2=suit, unbalanced/semi-balanced GF
…………-2=suit, unbalanced/semi-balanced GF
…………-2N=18-19 balanced, 4-5 clubs
……………….-3=waiting, start cuebids
……………….-3x=shorntess
…………-3=diamond suit, unbalanced/semi-balanced GF
…………-3higher=shortness
…………-3N=18-19 balanced 3 clubs
1-2=invitational or better raise
…………-2=minimum (note all weak NT hands are considered minimum)
……………….-2=GF relay
……………………..-2N=5+ trumps semi-balanced or unbalanced.
…………………………..-3=relay
…………………………………-3= 5332, 6322 or 7222
………………………………………-3=relay
……………………………………………-3=5332, 3N=6322/7222
…………………………………-3/3=5422 with 4 of suit bid. 3N=2254.
………………………-3=4 trumps balanced.
………………………-3=short clubs
………………………-3/3=shortness
………………………-3N=4432
……………….-2N=to play (opener can raise with a balanced 14)
……………….-3=to play
……………….-3x=shortness
……………….-3N=to play
…………-2=good suit, unbalanced/semi balanced
…………-2N=good heart suit, unbalanced/semi-balanced
…………-3=18-19 balanced 4-5 diamonds
……………….-3=waiting, start cuebids.
……………….-3M=shortness
…………-3=good club suit, unbalanced/semi-balanced
…………-3M=shortness
…………-3N=18-19 4432
Advantages: Minimum and non-minimum hands are sorted out immediately. Sometimes if opener is minimum responder can just sign off or jump to 3N which will make the defense harder as they are in the dark. After strength is shown it is clarified immediately whether a hand is unbalanced/semi-balanced or balanced. Balanced hands can clarify if they have 3,4, or 5 trumps, and semi-balanced hands can show exact shape. With unbalanced hands opener can choose to emphasize a side suit or splinter with shortness and scattered values or no side 4 card suit. Responder always has the option of showing his own shortness. This follows more fundamental bidding, strength, shape, trumps, and shortness/concentration as opposed to stoppers. In my opinion, it is a much better use of the space gained by inverted minors.
Disadvantages: Sometimes the contract is wrongsided (no emphasis whatsoever is put on rightsiding the contract), and sometimes you get to a 3N contract with no stopper in a suit. Stoppers are not addressed when opener is balanced (unless responder has a shortness that he can show). Unbalanced hands do not necessarily guarantee 5+ trumps as 4441 is always possible. The main disadvantage is the memory work required, this system is not recommended with a casual partner.
