Bidding Battles
By Mark Horton In 44th World Bridge Teams Championships On 21st September 2019
If your bidding is as bad as mine, then there will be no shortage of deals where you are uncertain as how to proceed – the sort of hands that make good copy for series such as the Bridge World’s Master Solvers Club, or A New Bridge Magazine’s Masterpoint Press Bidding Battle.
I wonder if this problem from R20 might appear:
You have the South hand and the auction unfolds like this:
As far as I can see, there are five possibilities:
Pass The objection to this is that you only have one trump trick, so partner will need a decent number of high cards. On the other hand, the opponents are vulnerable.
4
Reasonable, but it fails to convey any strength.
3NT You have a stopper, but the lack of a high card in clubs is a concern.
4
This looks appealing – as apart from anything else partner might have four-card support.
5 Aggressive, but hardly ridiculous.
Have you made up your mind?
Here is the full deal:
29 Pairs played in 4, 31 in 5 and most of the rest in 3NT, the latter contract being easily defeated.
At my featured table South opted for 3NT, (as did his counterpart after a slightly different sequence).
Of course, any self-respecting Rabbi would make 12 tricks in 6!
