Overtricks Bridge Club a place where every squeeze counts!

In the last round of the qualifying of the National open teams you are dealt:

KJ7

6

AKQTxxxxx

What do you open?

You pick up the following monster (Coffs Board 28 round 2)

A96

KQJ864

AKQJ

You open 1 strong and after a long relay auction your partner shows you 9-10 points, 4 2 4 and 3, and yes she has the A. What do you do ?

Board four of 3rd stanza of the final of the GNOT sitting west you hold:

KQJ965

KJ85

Q82

At all Vul 1st seat I opened 1 and the auction proceeded

South	West	North	East
-	1	2	Pass
Pass	3	3	4
X	4	Pass	5
X	Pass	Pass	Pass

I know I have, even so it is hard to beat this one that actually happened to my good friends this week.

The auction proceeds:

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	3
Pass	Pass	X	Pass

South looked at the bidding box and played the Jack of Diamonds instead of making a call.

"Director!".

The director rules that that has ended the auction and the J is the opening lead!

West: "Don't I get another bid??"

On rare occasions I have found that even very experienced players like to perform the "Hiding in the bush coup". Let me give an example. In the ANOT 2010 we had the following auction with myself as North and L Gold South.

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	Pass
1	Pass	4	5
4	X	Pass	Pass
Pass

Yes, East passed and then propelled himself to 5, he was hiding in the bushes. South was not expecting this and bid 4 insufficient, West accepted the insufficient bid with X. What happened next ?

Typically players from Sydney do not play Precision. In Melbourne it runs rife, probably largely due to the late great Jim Borin. Ever heard of "Our Precision Style", Norma Borin.

Anyway in todays hand you are playing Precision and YOU ARE VUL. You hold:

AJ95

AK764

K

AT6

The bidding proceeds:

South	West	North	East
Pass	Pass	1	3
5	Pass

Ok so you have shown 17+ any in your system and your passed partner has decided that 5 is the contract. Over to you?

I suppose it is normal to blog your triumphs, but I’m going to describe a disaster that is very instructive and raises many questions about cue bidding style. Dlr: East, E-W Vul, IMPs

	KQT954 A83 Q873
76 QJT54 T7652 A		AJ82 76 KQ83 652
	3 K92 AJ94 KJT94

South	West	North	East
-	-	1	Pass
2	Pass	4	Pass
4	Pass	4	Pass
4NT	Pass	5	Pass
6

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This deal is from the recent World Championship in Philadelphia. Zia Mahmood sitting West is playing with Eric Rodwell in the Finals of the Generali Open Pairs (matchpoint scoring).

	J82 QT8432 9 Q76
6 AKQJ8432 AKJ5		T97653 95 T75 T4
	AKQ4 AKJ7 6 9832