January 2004

FIVE-CARD MAJORS

Your hand is:

S) A K 8 7 3
H) 4
D) A Q 7 6 4 2
C) 3

What do you open? A general rule is with a minimum hand open the five-card major. While this hand may look like a minimum, it isn't. It is worth at least 17 points no matter how you count it, and more if partner has some spades and diamonds.

You can describe it by opening a diamond then bidding spades twice. Since you would never bid spades twice with less than five of them, partner can easily deduce that diamonds are longer than spades and you have a strong two-suited hand.

GIVING UP BRIDGE

VERSE 4

My partner's a dope and I'm losing all hope
And when she says "double", I know we're in trouble.
 

My points are not high, and I'm wondering why
She keeps on bidding right up to the sky.

A GUARANTEED FIT

LHO opens 2 hearts (weak) and RHO raises to 3 hearts. You have somewhat better than opening values and a fair five-card spade suit. There would be little risk in bidding spades if only partner has 3 or 4 of them. What to do??

It is a sure bet that your opponents have nine hearts between them.

An interesting characteristic of the 52 -card deck is that if one-side has a nine-card fit, the other side has an eight-card fit or better, and this you can take to the bank.

So bid your spades - partner will have three or four, usually!!

BridgeSnaps newsletter is produced by John S. Thomas, author of Standard American 21.