Tag Archives: Balancing

Thoughts on reopening the bidding with a balancing double

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Situation: You open the bidding one of a suit in 1st or 2nd seat, left hand opponent makes a suit overcall, partner passes, and right hand opponent passes. Notice that partner did not make a negative double. Do you keep the auction open and, if so, how?

Marty Bergen has guidance for us in this situation.  I will summarize his guidance below, but first look at two hands I recently observed. For each of them would you bid, pass, or make a reopening double?

Hand 1:

 

Hand 2:

What did you decide?

 

Here is Marty’s guidance:

Doubling in this situation is not “automatic” as some players seem to think. The main consideration is your holding in opponent’s suit.

  • Void: It’s rarely the case that you should double. Defending with a trump void is usually not correct. I was surprised to read this guidance. But on reflection “law of total tricks” may work in opponents favor on average, so our side may get a better score on offense than by defending. What do you think?

  • Singleton: Usually the ideal time to double.

  • Doubleton: Good time to double an overcall at a low level.

  • Three cards: Try to avoid making a double.

  • Four or more: Never make a reopening double.

Post mortem on the two hands:

  • Hand 1: South made the reopening double, partner bid two hearts, and South ran to three diamonds resulting in plus 130 for above average board.

  • Hand 2: South chose to rebid three clubs holding 10 cards in the rounded suits. A reopenng double would have resulted in 1100 points for NS. North had the ideal “trap pass”, and the partnership missed the opportunity for a top board.

Category: Exercises: It's Your Call | Tags: , , , ,

It’s Your Call

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You are South. Partner opens one club in 1st seat. RHO passes, and you respond one spade. Now West overcalls two hearts, and partner passes (minimum opening with fewer that three spades). RHO passes. What is your call with this hand?

Scroll down for my recommendation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With your good 10 points you know the hand belongs to your side. Double asking partner to bid or leave double in with a heart stack.

Category: Exercises: It's Your Call | Tags: ,

Balancing in Direct Seat

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In 2nd seat (none vul.) you hold:

balance1

RHO opens the bidding one club, taking away your opening bid. You wisely (in my view) decide to pass and await developments. LHO responds one heart, partner passes and RHO raises to two hearts. It’s your turn. Is it time for you to come into the auction? If so, what’s your bid?

It sounds like the opponents have found a heart fit of at least eight cards. That means your partner will have at most a doubleton in hearts, leaving at least 11 spaces in partner’s hand that can contain spades. Mike Lawrence gaves us the insight that you likely have a spade fit (because of the distributional value implied by your three little hearts!). You should pre-balance by bidding two spades. You likely have a fit, you’re only at the two level, and your high cards in the minors look like they are working.

Here is an earlier post in which I did not quite satisfy the logic for balancing in direct seat.

Category: Exercises: It's Your Call | Tags: ,

Misbid these hands with me

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We had another fun discussion in yesterday morning’s lesson. Subject was the reasoning that led to two of my bidding errors from Sunday:

Exercise 1. It’s Your Call:

You are the dealer (favorable vulnerability) and open the bidding one diamond. LHO passes and your partner responds one spade. RHO passes and it’s your turn. Bidding so far:

error1

Here is the your hand (the hand I held):

error1a

 

How good is your hand in view of partner’s response? And what is your rebid? Give it some thought before scrolling down to read my reasoning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My thinking was that partner must have five spades. Why? There are 13 missing hearts in the other three hands, and partner would have responded one heart with 4-4 in the majors. But holding five spades and four hearts, partner would respond one spade. And partner would also respond one spade with 5-5 shape in the majors. Since opponents were silent at their first turn (did not overcall or preempt in hearts), I concluded there was an odds-on likelihood that partner had five or more spades. With the presumed 8-card or better spade fit and my big hand, I invited game in spades by leaping to three spades.

That was a mistake. “Odds-on” does not mean it’s a sure thing. I failed to allow for the possibility that partner held only four spades. Much better would have been to show my invitational hand by leaping to three diamonds. We could still find an 8-card spade fit (or better) as the auction progressed from there. There was no need for me to be in such a rush.

BTW, do you agree that my hand contained invitational values? How do you evaluate the hand?

Exercise 2. It’s Your Call:

Put yourself in my seat as West enjoying favorable vulnerability. North deals and opens the bidding one spade. East passes and South responds two spades. Bidding so far:

error2

Now it’s West’s turn. West holds:

error2a

The question is should you “balance in the direct seat”? That sounds contradictory (and it is), but it’s sometimes done when you deduce from the bidding that partner is unlikely to balance in the pass out seat. In this case you are worried that the bidding will die with North-South in two spades. Why are you worried?  You think they can make two spades, and you would like to push them up one level. But is it right to pre-balance with your hand by bidding three hearts at this point in the auction?

Give it some thought and then scroll down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made the mistake of bidding three hearts. It was way too aggressive without a known heart fit and much better hand, including decent strength in my 5-card heart suit. There is good guidance for balancing in direct seat on Wikipedia (looks like Larry Cohen probably authored most of it). You can prebalance at the two level if the auction in not higher than two hearts and you have a reasonable prospect of finding a fit. The link has a nice summary of when and why you should consider balancing.

 

 

Category: Bridge News, Exercises: It's Your Call | Tags: