Vil on 25WED

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Thu, 26/05/2016 - 18:16

This week, a couple of bidding problems. You are EAST and North is dealer, EW Vulnerable.
North opens 1S. What is your bid holding
Board 5 Dealer N EW Vul

AQ9
K764
54
KT94

You have decided to DOUBLE. That should be a 'no brainer'. You not only have an opening bid but you also have FOUR HEARTS, the latter being in my book pretty much compulsory unless you have a very good hand, which you haven't.

  • You double, South passes, and partner bids 2D. What is your next bid?
  • You double, South passes, and partner bids 3D. What would you bid?

If partner bids 2D in response to your takeout double, you must PASS. Partner should know that you have four hearts AND enough for a takeout double. Partner's bid is FORCED, so just pass and hope for the best. Don't even THINK about bidding 2NT just because you 'don't like diamonds' and have the spades stopped twice. A No Trump rebid after having forced partner to bid should be MUCH stronger, say in the vicinity of 19 HCP. WHY? Because you COULD have bid 1NT in the first place, which would have shown 15-18 HCP and spades stopped.

However, if partner jumps to 3D, that should show a good suit and about 10-11 points, so this time you are fully justified in bidding No Trumps. Passing 3D would be quite the conservative option because, while you have ONLY 12 HCP you do have the spades stopped TWICE and can hope to establish enough diamond tricks to make 3NT.