DON’T bid a second suit without five cards in your first

When you open One-of-a-suit, you show merely four cards – you may be planning to rebid notrumps with a flat hand. But when you then introduce a second suit – showing an unbalanced hand – your first suit should contain five(+) cards.

Exercise: What is your bidding strategy with these opening hands:

Answers:

(i). If you open 1 ♣, you will be in a quandary over a 1 ♥ response. To show the spades – and imply an unbalanced hand with five+ clubs – would be wrong. But to rebid 1 NT (better) risks missing a spade fit. The solution: open 1 ♠. You plan to rebid 2 NT over a 2 ♣/♦/♥ response.

(ii). Open 1 ♥ but do not rebid 2 ♦. Instead rebid notrumps at the lowest level (1 NT over 1 ♠; 2 NT over 2 ♣), 2 ♦ showing 15-16 balanced.

(iii). You do not have to worry about your rebid here. Open 1 NT and get the hand off your chest. Now you do not have to make a rebid at all.

Exercise: Partner opens 1 ♥, you respond 1 ♠, partner rebids 2 ♦. What next with these responding hands:

Answers:

(i). 4 ♥. Partner is 5 ♥-4 ♣ so you have a heart fit. Your queens facing partner’s length look good and as do your aces facing his shortage. Upgrade to 4 ♥, although you might be a point short of the 25.

(ii). 3 ♥. 10-12 points. Support the major in preference to the minor.

(iii). 2 ♥. A preference bid (not to be mistaken with support) back to the five-card suit showing 6-9 points.

Click to play this deal

On our deal West’s 1 ♠ overcall directly led to South being pushed to 5 ♥. It did not matter that 4 ♠ would have gone (at least) down two, for, as so often, the auction tempoed in such a away that doubling 4 ♠ – rather than bidding on to 5 ♥ – was practically impossible.

West led ♦ 4 to ♦ A and declarer tried ♠ 5. West rose smartly with ♠ A and East played ♠ Q, a brilliant wake-up call, asking for the unusual trump return (also suit preference, asking for the higher-ranking suit). East won West’s ♥ 4 with ♥ A and returned ♦ 7, West trumping. Down one.