Andrew:

Competitive Bidding

In modern Bridge, more and more auctions are competitive – ie both sides bidding – as the requirements for entering the auction get less and less.

Whether to enter the bidding, how to enter it, how to cope with opposing intervention and much, much more. There is little doubt that competitive bidding judgement is the single most important skill that discriminates winners and losers at our game. Your declarer play technique may be only ordinary, but you can do very well if you judge when and how to enter the competitive auction, whether to bid on, pass or double.

By way of an introduction to some of the important themes we will be discussing, what would you do as South after this start (Neither Side Vulnerable, playing Rubber Bridge / Chicago / Teams):

South	West	North	East
1♥	1♠	3♥*	3♠
??

*Limit raise, four hearts & about 10-11 pts or an upgrade.

Hand i)

Hand ii)

Hand iii)

♠ Q T

♥ A J 9 7 4

♦ K J 4 2

♣ Q J

♠ A 3

♥ A 9 6 4 2

♦ K 9 7 4

♣ K8

♠ 2

♥ A J T 4 2

♦ K J 7 4 2

♣ A 7

(i) Pass. What junk! ♠ Q10 might as well be ♠ xx – ♠ Q10 is worse in fact as these are cards the opponents don’t have (so they’ll have compensating values/shape elsewhere).

(ii) 4 ♥ . You expect to make this most of the time. You have good defence to 4 ♠ and little chance of making 5 ♥ , so you will double their 4 ♠. You do not need to involve partner in the judgement process.

(iii) 4 ♦ . If you bid 4 ♥ , the opponents will surely bid 4 ♠. Whether it is right for your side to bid on 5 ♥ will depend largely on partner’s diamonds. So bid a natural (not slam try) 4 ♦ enlisting partner’s cooperation.

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South Deals
None Vul

♠	7 4 3 2
♥	K J 3 2
♦	A 10 3
♣	6 3

♠	K J 10 8 6
♥	9
♦	Q 8 6 2
♣	A K J

N
W		E
S

♠	Q 9 5
♥	8 7 6
♦	7
♣	Q 10 8 7 4 2

♠	A
♥	A Q 10 5 4
♦	K J 9 5 4
♣	9 5

West	North	East	South
			1 ♥
1 ♠1	3 ♥2	3 ♠3	4 ♦4
4 ♠	5 ♥5	Pass	Pass
Pass

Prefer 1 ♠ to double with five decent cards.
Upgrade in competition. With a Two-and-a-half Heart bid, go 3 ♥.
Stretch to support in competition.
The key bid, natural and enlisting cooperation for the decision over 4 ♠.
Great red-suit cards, plus ♠ xxxx are sure to be facing shortage: no wasted values.

5 ♥ by South

Lead: ♣ A

West cashed ♣ AK and switched to ♠ J. Winning ♠ A, declarer drew trumps and reflected that West having just one heart made it more likely he had longer diamonds; plus East’s 3 ♠ bid on skinny values suggested a singleton diamond.

Declarer cashed ♦ K, finessed ♦ 10 (key play – East discarding), cashed ♦ A, ruffed ♠ 3, ruffed ♦ 9, ruffed ♠ 4 and cashed ♦ J. 11 tricks and game made.

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Andrew:

Competitive Bidding

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