2024 Retro Edition – August Week 4

What’s your call?

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
Click to reveal awards

Panelists
August Boehm, Larry Cohen, Mel Colchamiro, Allan Falk, Geoff Hampson, Betty Ann Kennedy, Daniel Korbel, Mike Lawrence, Roger Lee, Jeff Meckstroth, Jill Meyers, Barry Rigal, Steve Robinson, Kerri Sanborn, Don Stack, The Sutherlins, Steve Weinstein
Make them pay

A KISS from Lawrence: “My pass shows three clubs for the simple reason that, without three clubs, I would have had another bid to make.”

A vicious pass by Korbel: “Partner is showing clubs and the opponents have made a mistake.”

Rigal is almost gleeful. “We rate to score a lot of tricks on the crossruff, and one way or the other, we’re going to register a number we don’t see that often – and maybe own East till our next idiocy. Plus it’s only pairs.”

Hampson passes, saying, “Unless redouble is conventional, I assume it is natural. I have about the best hand I could have for 3♣.”

Pass by Cohen. “Happy to have Meckstroth on the panel (don’t let me down, Jeff). Seriously, partner shouldn’t risk redouble if he doesn’t mean business. Every once in a while, they have to pay for a pushy leaddirecting double. I’ve sure made my share of them over the years.”

Falk says he trusts his partner. “If partner doesn’t have four clubs of some decency, the redouble is nuts. I expect something like:

♠A x x x x x K x x ♣A J 10 8.

His clubs have to be such that he is not terribly worried about a lead through in notrump.”

Boehm passes. “I think redouble is an offer to play if I have some club length. I’ve already denied a stopper. Whatever the result, there should be an interesting postmortem.”

According to Stack, “Partner is twosuited and is inviting a pass if I have the right hand. This will be a super dummy for partner and it will be a joy to watch him score it up.”

Meyers, too: “Partner knows my hand. I think 3♣ is a suggestion to play and I am happy to pass.”

Robinson, on the other hand, does not think redouble is to play. He takes the redouble out to 3 . “I’ll make the cheapest bid and await developments.”

Here’s how Weinstein interprets the redouble: “It sounds like partner doesn’t have much to say and wants to hear from us. We can’t be 5–5 or 6–4, or we wouldn’t have passed over the double. 3 , the cheapest call, is the most flexible, telling partner we don’t have something useful to show him – such as honor–doubleton in spades or a good five-card heart suit or a club stopper.”

Sanborn hears the redouble as asking about a partial stopper. “Since I don’t have it, the next priority is to further describe.” She bids 3 . “I can’t have a fifth diamond, or I would have bid that last round. I don’t have good enough hearts to suggest playing that suit, and 3♠ should suggest a doubleton. Ergo…”

The Sutherlins bid 3 . “We have no secondary spade support and no club stopper. After 3♣ doubled, we would have patterned out. A 3 bid would show better hearts.”

Colchamiro, too. “This is not a widely discussed auction. I’m not willing to put the board up for grabs by passing 3♣ doubled. Besides, I think that the redouble is a ‘moving along redouble,’ akin to when a Jacoby transfer bid has been doubled and passed back around to the transfer bidder. Whether I should bid 3 or 3 is open for partnership agreement, but it seems like most would play that 3 is the ‘default’ bid here, not 3.”

Disappointing Cohen, Meckstroth bids 3 . “Maybe I am supposed to pass, but I am very unsure about that.”

Kennedy bids 3and leaves it at that.


The Zoom Room is available Monday through Friday, 3:30 pm-5:30 pm (Eastern).

Getting help is easier than ever with the ACBL Zoom Chat service.
Simply click the "Join Zoom Chat" button below to be taken to our dedicated zoom room.
Once there, click the "Launch Meeting" button to start your session. To hear us and vice-versa - don't forget to "Join with computer audio."

If the Zoom Room isn't available and you need answers, you can email us at membership@acbl.org.

Join Zoom Chat