BID WITH THE EXPERTS

 

This is a bidding problem presented in the April ACBL Bridge Bulletin.  This is one of a regular series of bidding problems where you compare your bidding to the experts.  It provides good bridge bidding practice.  You are South with this hand:

 

S) Q J 9 5 4      H) 9 5 4 2       D) K 7 5       C) 8

 

The bidding so far was:

 

WEST           NORTH          EAST          SOUTH
1D                1H                   Dbl *                 ?

 

Your partner overcalled one heart.  East’s double was “negative”, for takeout.  It is your turn.  What do you call?

Of course none of the experts elected to call one spade, and you shouldn‘t be surprised that none wanted to pass. You don’t have a good hand, but it certainly is good enough to raise partner’s hearts.  So the discussion focused on the choice of raising to two hearts or to three hearts.

The experts considered a jump to three hearts as preemptive, and thought this hand might be a little too good for a preemptive jump raise.  Even so, almost all decided to do that anyway because it made it much more difficult for the opponents to find their best contract.  This of course is good defensive bridge.

My attitude is a little different, but produces the same result.  South’s hand is a little better than a single raise (the fourth heart and singleton club being of considerable value here), so I would jump raise to three hearts as a low-risk way to make life more difficult for the opponents.

It should be obvious to all that this jump raise is not forcing.  In fact in my book the jump raise is always invitational, interference or no.  This practice is contrary to the early Goren standard where the jump raise was a game force.