You are in 1st seat, none vul., holding this hand:
What’s your call? Scroll down for my recommendation:
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Tag Archives: Points Schmoints
I had the misfortune of playing against South on this hand. South did a better job of bidding than the other South’s in a BBO pairs game. Here is the hand:
What would you bid in 2nd seat after East passed? Scroll down if you would like to see my recommended bid.
You have a rock crusher — 8 and 1/2 tricks in hearts plus 17 high card points. Bergen would value the hand at 19+ starting points. But be careful. You don’t have a hand that justifies a strong 2 clubs opening bid. For that you need 9+ tricks in your hand. Open the hand one heart, planning to not to fall in love with it should your partner be weak. Most pairs overbid in the game I was in.
*See Marty Bergen’s latest article on page 53 of this month’s Bridge Bulletin: “Secrets of accurate hand evaluation – part 10”. I recommend that you read all articles in his series on hand evaluation.
Here is a fun, freak hand I held the other day. I am in 1st seat facing favorable vulnerability:
I can’t open a preemptive 2 hearts when holding four or more spades. Instead, how about opening one heart? Okay, I do like holding the K 10 9 in each major, but that’s not enough to justify opening one heart with only six high card points. However, with 11 cards in the majors I don’t plan to go quietly into the night as the auction progresses (unless it becomes clear there is no fit with partner for either major).
Here’s how the auction proceeded until it got back to me:
At that point it looks like there is high likelihood of major suit fit with partner, so I overcalled three diamonds (Michaels cue bid for the majors). West bid four diamonds passed back to me. Having better hearts than spades I competed to four hearts ending the auction. When play ended I had made four hearts for plus 420!
Bottom line: Points Schmoints — this kind of a freak hand is much better than its high card holding suggests. It’s loaded with tricks. Those low cards in the majors are going to take tricks even though they don’t contribute to your high card count.
You hold this hand:
RHO passes in 1st seat, and you open the bidding one heart. LHO passes, partner responds one spade, RHO passes, and it’s time for your rebid. How good is your hand? What do you do?
You may have “only” 11 points, but it looks likely that you have seven tricks in hearts. Points Schmoints! I recommend you invite game in hearts. Three hearts is invitational. Two hearts is too timid.