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How to Bid in Competition
For the Exciting Game of Bridge
Warren Watson
©2021
Last Revised July 29, 2021
. 1 . Preface
This book, like the rest of the Watson bridge series, is for all bridge players who actively seek improvement. They keep the game thriving and are the advanced and expert players of the future. This book was made with a new player in mind to bring him up to speed.
However, this is a good review for intermediate players to fill in the holes in their understanding of the game. If an advanced player does not know the basics, it is long overdue that they read a book like this one. Any player who makes minimum offshape doubles will never be a true advanced player. Doubling with two cards or fewer in an unbid suit without extra values makes the partnership less competitive.
When the opponents open, the fighting words not normally available are double, pass, and redouble. A good competitive bidder is an effective user of overcalls (suit and Notrump), doubles and pass. A player who understands competition including when to stay out, will have satisfying success at bridge.
Bidding the limit of the hand, balancing, and not delaying raises are concepts discussed here. The opponents should not be given clean auctions (uncontested) when practical. The strength of the hand should be defined to a small range as much as possible, so that partner can better judge when to compete.
The appendices are like those of the other books in the Watson bridge series. There are the Watson bridge book titles, links to Watson bridge resources, a Chicago scorer which is duplicate scoring, a glossary, and references.
The examples in this book give a player practice with fighting words in competition. They are brand new hands played online on BBO1.
1 Bridge Base Online is a bridge playing site at https://www.bridgebase.com/v3/
. 2 . Contents
Preface ...... 2
Contents ...... 3
1. Clean Auctions ...... 6 1.1 Please Stay Out ...... 6 1.2 Removing Their Bids ...... 10
2. When to Enter the Auction ...... 12
3. A Review ...... 21 3.1 Uncontested Auctions ...... 21 3.1.1 Balanced Hands ...... 21 3.1.2 Strong Hands ...... 27 3.2 Driven by Points ...... 38 3.3 Contested Auctions ...... 46 3.3.1 Takeout Double ...... 46 3.3.2 One-Level Overcall ...... 50 3.3.3 Two-Level Overcall ...... 54 3.3.4 Notrump Overcall ...... 57 3.3.5 Overcall of a Preempt ...... 61 3.4 Weakness ...... 62 3.4.1 Jump Overcall ...... 62 3.4.2 Michaels Cuebid ...... 65 3.4.3 Jump in Notrump ...... 67 3.4.4 Weak Notrump ...... 70 3.5 The Negative Double ...... 71
4. Passed Hand Bidding ...... 74 4.1 Passout Bidding ...... 74 4.2 A Passed Hand Cannot Force ...... 77 4.3 Passed-Hand Preempts ...... 79
. 3 . 5. Opponent’s Takeout Double ...... 83 5.1 Offshape Takeout Double ...... 83 5.2 Over a Takeout Double ...... 83 5.3 Three-Card Limit Raise ...... 85 5.4 Penalizing ...... 86
6. Opponent’s Overcall ...... 88
7. Both Opponents Bid ...... 91
8. The Law of Total Tricks ...... 94
9. The Elevator Game ...... 99
10. Point Adjustment ...... 110
11. Telling the Same Story Once ...... 114
12. Big Hand in Competition ...... 118
13. Notrump Openings ...... 121
14. Opponents in Trouble ...... 126
15. Conclusions ...... 132
Epilogue ...... 134
E.1 Declare or Defend? ...... 134 E.2 RONF is Not Automatic ...... 135 E.3 A Double Punishes a Bidding Mistake ...... 136 E.4 Preempting a Preempt ...... 137 E.5 Aggressiveness Pays Off Unless Doubled ...... 138 E.6 Passing with 6 to 9? ...... 139 E.7 Balancing When an Opponent has 15 to 17 ..... 140 E.8 North Would Raise 4 to 5 ...... 141 E.9 Making Use of a Void ...... 142 E.10 The Contract Need Not be 3NT ...... 143
. 4 . E.11 West Showed His Hand ...... 144 E.12 Always Compete and Never Surrender ...... 145 E.13 Point Location is Important ...... 147 E.14 Punish Them When They Misstep ...... 148 E.15 Not Surrendering to the One-Level ...... 149 E.16 The Five-Level is for the Opponents ...... 150 E.17 Jamming the Bidding ...... 151 E.18 Knowing When Not to Balance ...... 152 E.19 They Have a Heart Fit ...... 153 E.20 Lead Direction ...... 154
Appendices
A. My Titles ...... 155 A.1 Self Published ...... 155 A.2 Master Point Press ...... 155
B. Online Information ...... 156
C. The Chicago Scorer ...... 157
D. Glossary ...... 161
E. References ...... 171
. 5 . Chapter One
Clean Auctions
1.1 Please Stay Out
If the opponents stay out, the auction is an uncontested auction. If the opponents compete, it is a contested auction. It is obvious which the opponents would prefer, and since they are the “enemy,” they should be given what they do not like.
Example 1.1: Please Stay Out While We Bid
N-S vul. K5 KQ32 AKQ .10954
QJ1098 A 10982 .AK3 7432 --- 765 .QJ8762
A6 J10987654 J43 .---
W N E S 1NT P 2 P 3 P 5. 01122 Exclusion P 6. P 6 all pass
Does a player have the tools to get to the correct spot in uncontested bidding? He should or at the very least recognize how to bid the hand properly during the post- mortem.
Exclusion Blackwood is a valuable tool, but it needs to be a jump which is often impossible in a contested auction. If North has the Ace and four hearts, 7 is missed. However, getting to 6 with 6 HCP opposite 15 to 17 should do very well.
. 6 . It would be a shame to gamble and be down one in 7 when 6 gets most of the matchpoints. Bidding a hand properly is the subject of other books in the Watson bridge series like Slam Bidding.
However, the goal of this book is to make those methods irrelevant. The unintended consequence is also to stop the opponents from feeling badly that they did not know exclusion Blackwood.
South plans to take advantage of a long suit and a void, and so should East. Not only that, East should take advantage of the favourable vulnerability.
Example 1.2: Welcome to the Real World
The bidding for example 1.1 should go as follows.
W N E S 1NT 3. 3 3 4 4 5. P 5 all pass
Because of the 5. cuebid, North and South may still get to a slam in hearts, but it is a guess. North likes a club void (first round control), but where are the Ace and the Ace? The object is to maximize the situations where the opponents are on a guess. It will work out for the best in the long run for East and West.
The auction is an interesting one. It is important that South recognizes that his 6 HCP is a game forcing hand because of the eight-card heart suit. He also should recognize that slam or grand is a possibility if there are no wasted club honours in North’s hand.
West’s 3 promises clubs. With club shortness, he stays out of the auction. West could simply jump to 5., but without spade support from East, it may be -800. Both 4 and 5. are down -500 which is a nice sacrifice over -680 and -1430. Both bids keep the opponents from gambling on 6.
. 7 . Bidding to 4 worked well, and 5 risks -800 and pushing them to a makeable slam. East and West need to recognize the likelihood, that just bidding to 4 was sufficient. South likely says, “Enough is enough,” and bids 6 if East and West push too far with 5.
Example 1.3: Same Hands, Different Declarer
What happens if South is in first seat in the previous example? Does he preempt? No, of course not. He cannot guarantee that his hand remains less than 10 points. Further problems are presented because of the suit quality. The hand may have difficulty drawing trump on offense, and it may get partner off to a costly lead on defense.
South passes in first or second seat. He must recognize that preempts are not made to obstruct his own side. Preempts are the subject of the Master Point Press book called Preempts (as shown in Appendix A).
Example 1.4: Jump Over a Preempt Shows Strength
N-S vul. A8 AK6 3 .AKJ10865
3 Q87 AJ9842 .Q93 752 10943 KQ7 .742
KQJ10964 J52 1065 .---
W N E S P 2 5. P 5 P 6 all pass
Does North just have a club preempt? No, of course not. A jump over any preempt shows strength unless preceded by a pass. South is not bidding to save North from
. 8 . the club void. He is trying for a better score in a major. He does not care if North returns the favour of a spade void. North’s outside strength will be enough.
. 9 . Example E.10: The Contract Need Not be 3NT
N-S vul. 863 J9765 104 .932
KQ95 K A7653 .A107 107 A1084 KJ98 .K64
AJ42 Q32 Q2 .QJ85
W N E S 1 P 1 dbl P 1NT dbl 2. dbl all pass
Normally, West would redouble showing extra and a desire to defend the opponents doubled. However, they are playing support doubles. Therefore, a pass says, “Let’s see if we can double them.” West’s singleton heart in East’s bid suit, his extra values and the vulnerable opponents make a pass extraordinarily easy. The opponents are in a world of hurt.
Should South make a takeout double? No, the soft values in the red suits bid by the opponents suggest that he should wait to see if it is a balancing situation. What is the hurry to tell the opponents how to take the red suit finesses? Pass is a fighting word.
Furthermore, his black suits are not very playable. AQJ10 432 2 .KQJ109 would be a better hand with which to act.
Did North ever intend to play 1NT? No, of course not. It tells his partner he has equal length in the unbid suits, and that South must choose the battlefield on which to die. If North passes, East redoubles, and that is where he plays. All roads lead to 100%. As an exercise, the reader should calculate what 1xx+2 gives or refer to Appendix C. 3NT by East or West is such a boring contract when 1Exx or 2.Sx get close to 100% instead of around average.
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Trail, BC, Pencil on Paper, 24.5cm x 17.5cm, 2016
Warren Watson is a former Aerospace Engineer and is currently an artist, with a diploma in Fine Arts from Okanagan University College in Kelowna, BC, and an avid bridge player. He is an ACBL Diamond Life Master, an ACBL accredited bridge teacher, a writer of 347 columns in the Trail Times, a published author, an ACBL director, an accredited ACBL tournament assistant and the Kootenay Jewel Bridge Club manager (10+ years). He currently resides in Trail, BC, and in winter, likes to ski Grey Mountain of Red Mountain Resort. Self Portrait, Pencil on Paper 25cm x 20cm, 2015
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