The Rules of…Twelve

More rules in BridgeCast this week from Level 3. BridgeCast is Andrew's monthly j subscription service, join him as he presents a daily deal. To find out more click here. It is also Rule Ten, in Andrew's "Rules, Acronyms and Ditties" book which is, providing the inspiration, for his current series of Level 3 daily videos on BridgeCast.

The Rule of 12: Open the bidding with 12 points. When I first played Bridge (on my parents’ knee in the early Seventies), I was taught that 13 points were needed to open the bidding. Standards have slipped since those days of flared trousers and platform shoes. 12 is now the accepted number (and sometimes fewer – but you’ll have to wait for the Rule of 20...).

Out of every 100 12-point hands, you should open (about) 95. Here are three of the other five:

These are the factors that bring on the caution:
– Honours in short suits eg ♥ QJ + ♦ QJ in (i);
♠ K in (ii); ♣ KJ in (iii).
– Bad shape eg 4441 in (ii).
– No ace eg in (i).
– Poor intermediates eg in (iii).
– Tricky rebid eg 1 ♦ - 1 ♠ - ? in (iii).

A final category of 12-point hand that should not open (the other two hands out of 100) is a bad balanced 12 in third-position. Pass - Pass - to you often means that the fourth player is sitting on a fistful. If you open 1 NT, you may get doubled and go for a big penalty. And for what – because a bad 12 facing a passed partner cannot yield game; you risk going for 800 to win a part-score at best. Vulnerable – that’s madness!

On our – 3 NT – deal, West led ♥ 9 (leading high for hate rather than fourth from the top). East won ♥ A and found the one card in his hand to beat the game: ♣ 10 surrounding dummy’s ♣ 9 [on ♣ 5 lead declarer plays low from hand, West having to win ♣ Q, leaving declarer with ♣ AJ over ♣ K]. Declarer covered ♣ 10 with ♣ J, West winning ♣ Q and returning ♣ 6 to ♣ 7, ♣ 8 and ♣ 2. Declarer won ♣ K with ♣ A and tried ♦ K but East won ♦ A and cashed ♣ 5. Down one.

If East had opened 1 NT, he’d have played there doubled and would not have diagnosed the club layout. He’d win a third diamond with ♦ A, lead to ♣ Q, then back to ♣ 10. He’d score just three tricks – ♥ A, ♦ A and ♣ Q: -1100 points.

To reiterate: the default setting is to open a 12-point hand. However think twice about opening a 12-point 1 NT in third position.