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“Truscott” is a very useful convention, whichever way you play it. When East opens 1H and South doubles, West bids THREE hearts instead of just 2H. That is how the original version of Truscott worked: when you have a fit for partner and an opponent makes a takeout double, raise to one level higher than you would normally, and the 2NT bid now replaces a normal raise to three. Simple enough and very useful.

Board 8 from Thursday 17/01/2019
Dealer N Nil Vul

	A964 Q5 965 J752
KT7 J864 QT73 43		J3 AKT9732 42 A9
	Q852 AKJ8 KQT86

I just had to discuss this hand because a number of our junior players from Wednesday have been asking, and it is important that they understand the points system of evaluating the potential of any hand you hold, and why getting what I call ‘point fixated’ by basing all your bidding on points is not the way to get the best results. There is also an ulterior motive, because this particular deal is another that would be ideally handled by those who have taken up my “Evil Acol” way of bidding. So, let’s take a look:

Board 18 from Wednesday 09/01/2019.
Dealer E NS Vul

	732 AK98 J873 Q9
J QT72 AT64 8643		AK9854 9 AKJ752
	QT6 J6543 KQ52 T

The East hand has 15 high card points but is HUGE in potential. The best way I can persuade you of its strength is to suggest you do an experiment: deal out the East hand and then randomly deal out the other three. Do that ten times. How many times out of ten would the EW hands be able to make either 6C or 6S?

Hi all - I hope you’re looking forward to next year’s bridge and don’t forget to keep your questions coming!

Now to continue with our discussion on the 1NT opening and what happens after that. I must set the reader straight on one thing: overcalling when an opponent has opened 1NT is quite a different matter to overcalling when an opponent has opened in a suit.

Hand evaluation is not something that can be based just on point count alone. Assessing your losers and a bit of visualisation is always necessary, especially on distributional hands. Witness the following deal:

Board 13 from Thursday 13/12/2018
Dealer N All Vul

	Q75 A76 98762 93
T42 KQ9842 5 A72		83 JT53 Q KT8654
	AKJ96 AKJT43 QJ

The very first board I looked at gave me food for thought. I have always avocated that a 5-3 major suit fit with game values should be preferred to 3NT. The problem is that not everyone has the ability to locate a 5-3 fit, nor the desire, and some will argue vehemently that it is better with balanced hands to play in 3NT. But how do you decide which is best? For those who don't want to or need to, just bid 3NT and hope you get a good result. This deal illustrates very well the value of the 5-3 fit, plus a number of aspects that should be discussed with your partner.

Board 1 from Thursday 6/12/2018.
Dealer N Nil Vul

	T9 Q854 T93 9863
AK542 T7 Q65 KQ2		Q87 A96 AJ4 AJT5
	J63 KJ32 K872 74