Thoughts from the European Zone:
A. Pass (but 3
is apparently not quite dead yet). I’d go into the tank here deciding between one of two calls; should I summon a fever specialist or psychiatrist for my partner? While the sirens approach, I’d reach for the green card. Funnily enough twice recently I’ve responded 1
with an awful 4c suit – 8xxx – so I guess this is what happened here and p has AKJxxx. Even so, this looks like a 20/20 hand (17/23 at best), and nothing I can do (aside from alerting medics) will make the situation better. My inner Mad Hatter might briefly consider 3N, but with my
holding, East with AKxxx can run the suit. A still small voice is whispering "3
" - partner has 6133 and all our high cards are working - delusions, dementia or (for once) stunning instinct? [Ed: we know the answer to that].
B. 2
. BWS seems to offer two options. A cue-bid shows “
at least game interest” and “
2N is forcing”. Presumably, the latter would show a
stop. I’m a bit shy of game values but partner (the stronger hand of the two of us) is over the opponent who opened, so why not? We know shrinking violets just get trampled into the dust in BWS bidding quizzes.
C. 2
. According to BWS there are two routes to invite: “
single raise [of a 1m opener] is game invitational or stronger … and denies a 4-card major” and “
a 2N response is natural and invitational”. How to choose? My
suit is decent so 3
might play better than 2N?
D. 3N or 4
? We need to be in game somewhere. My hand makes 3
too weak and 4
too zealous. I’m offering no ruffs – with a 53 M fit and a 4333 hand don’t you experts often prefer 3N to 4M?
E. 3
(probably). North could be starting a Walsh-type sequence over a 1
opener holding a GI+ hand with 4M and 4
, possibly even 4441. I rarely like misleading p about M suit length. Sure, if I have AKJ maybe, but not AJ3. So, I don’t really like a 1
rebid here. It might lead to a Moysian 4
when 3N is better: if say p held 4342 with KTx in H or 4441.
F. 2
. If a partnership plays Walsh over a 1
opener, 2-way XYZ is tremendously useful. The continuations take up an awful lot of brain cells, but it is a wizard scheme. After 1x-1y-1z: 2
= GI (and forces 2
, unless opener is 17+) and 2
= GF (and asks for more info). BWS doesn’t seem to mention it, but I would expect the pros on the panel to use it. In which case 2
is automatic. If we are not playing 2-way XYZ, why the hell didn’t I respond 2N in the first place?
G. x or 3
? West and partner are passed hands, but figure to have 18 points between them, so each will have 8-10. 3
seems like selling the hand short because partner may well pass. Another option is x – does that start a Lebensohl sequence? If so, partner with 8-10 will be making an invite bid: either a slow (via 2N-3
) 3M or a direct 3
(unlikely, perhaps, but ya never know). The question then is what the devil do I do over 3
? A third option comes from BWS: “
Against a natural pre-empt a three-level cue bid asks for a stopper for notrump.” That’s fine – partner may well have Kxx – but I have the same problem if he bids 3
.
H. K
. By now my incompetence at opening leads should have become starkly apparent. What do the 3
and 4
bids mean - 1st and 2nd round control? West skipped over 3
and East as shown x in
, so as
blubayou says, let’s cash our
. I’ll lead the K (rather than Q or J) so that when it wins, I can make a safe exit (from the point of view of the post-mortem) of the J
.