What’s your call?
| 1♠ | 1NT | |||
| 2♣ | 2♦ | 2♥ | 2♠ | 2NT |
| 3♣ | 3♦ | 3♥ | 3♠ | 3NT |
| 4♣ | 4♦ | 4♥ | 4♠ | 4NT |
| 5♣ | 5♦ | 5♥ | 5♠ | 5NT |
| 6♣ | 6♦ | 6♥ | 6♠ | 6NT |
| 7♣ | 7♦ | 7♥ | 7♠ | 7NT |
| Pass |
Sanborn thinks she’ll be in the minority with 3♥, but she’s not – not at all! “If partner passes, we are unlikely to miss game. If one of my black queens were in hearts, I would bid 4♦ , but partner needs a lot of cover cards to make slam, so I’ll let her decide about that.”
Weinstein, too, opts for 3♥. “I’m just the ♥Q short of forcing to game with 3♠ or 4♦ . I’m more worried about partner getting us too high if I force to game than missing a game if I bid 3♥. I don’t think partner will pass 3♥ too often. And if he does, we’re probably not making game.”
“This hand is definitely not worth 4♥ or a splinter,” according to Rigal. “My secret choice is 2♥, but I can’t stand the disgrace and infamy that would bring on me, so I’ll settle for 3♥. It was Terence Reese who pointed out that when both opponents pass and they have spades, my partner won’t be weak. So we won’t miss game if I bid 2♥. I admit, however, we might miss slam. I hope we can get to 6♦ , but I’m not sure how. With one of my singleton honors an ace, I’d consider 4♦ , which would put the two suits in perspective. But still it’s a hard hand.”
Meyers: “3♥. Short on high-card points but lots of playing strength.”
Lee agrees. “4♦ seems like a massive overbid with only one key card in hearts.”
And Falk: “If my two queens were deuces and my hearts were ♥K 6 5 4, I’d bid 4♦ to show this hand. As it is, the opponents are silent, so partner probably has some goodies, and there is no value to grossly overbidding. I have but one key card for hearts, even though I have controls in three suits.”
From annoyed to very annoyed (and we’re only on the third problem) – poor Mr. Lawrence! “My hearts say to raise, and my diamond suit and two singleton queens argue that 3NT could be the winning contract. I am bidding 2♥, trusting in the opponents’ silence to infer that my partner has a good hand. Their silence, however, hints that my partner has four spades and four hearts. We might be able to veer into notrump after this start. Bidding three of either red suit risks partner getting excited with hands like:
♠A x x ♥A x x x ♦ x x ♣A J x x.
One problem with raising hearts is that if we belong in 6♦ (or 5♦ ), it won’t be easy now to shake the heart suit.”
2♥ is the right number of hearts for Robinson, too. “I don’t want to get too high if partner has bad trumps and no aces. I’m guessing that 2♥ will not end the auction.”
Boehm is a 4♦ bidder – classically showing a good, diamond suit of sixplus-cards, four-card heart support and game values. “This way, we don’t have to guess which splinter to acknowledge.”
“This hand is ominous,” says Stack, who bids 4♦ . “The opponents have at least eight spades and are not in the auction. This – in my mind – means partner probably has a good hand, which means any splinter or jump will probably launch partner into key card. A splinter would show more highcard points than I have. A jump to 4♦ shows less high-card points and at least a good six-card diamond suit and a good playing hand for hearts. I have a suspicion that partner will always bid over a raise to 2♥, but I will stick with my bid and hope we don’t end up in the dumper.”
