"Heads Will Roll" - The Law of Total Tricks by Marti Ronemus

Imagine: You are going about your day (back in 1971) and you hear the US National Emergency System broadcast a Nuclear Attack Warning. The panic! The fear! Fortunately, it was of course an accidental warning, but I nominate this for the "Worst False Alarm in History," superseding even Chicken Little's "The Sky is Falling." You can bet someone's head rolled over THAT!

And speaking of false alarms ... Pard's overcall can scare us almost as badly when we've got a terrible hand. That's what we're going to deal with today.

Our main goal is to apply the Wonderbra Rule... with a minimum hand, support if you have support. With a bad hand, the level to which we raise our Pard shows the number of trumps we hold. Remember, Pard promised a five card suit when he overcalled and somewhere between 7 and 17 pts.

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ Q 9 8
♥ K 9 6
♦ J 10 9 8 2
♣ 3 2

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♣	1♥	p
?

A: 2♥: We are going to obey the Law of Total Tricks. We have an 8-card trump fit, and even though our hand is louse, we're going to advance the overcall. We are telling Pard we have a very minimum hand with only three Hearts. Pard may have as many as 17 pts., but we don't care. We see the sky falling if we go further.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ Q 9 8
♥ K 9 6 2
♦ J 10 9 8 2
♣ 3

Q: 2 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♣	1♥	p
?

A: 3♥: This hand is exactly like the last one except! We have now a nine-card trump fit. How great is that? We are going to raise Pard to the level of trumps in our combined hands. Nine cards, nine tricks, three level. This is partly preemptive. Again Pard will know our hand is weak, but we've got a nine-card fit.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ A 2
♥ 5 4 3 2
♦ 9 8 7 5 3
♣ 3 2

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♣	1♥	1 No-trump
?

A: 2♥: Boy, the sky is falling for sure. East's 1 No-trump bid shows Heart stoppers. Without that bid, we'd just jump in there with a pre-emptive 3♥, showing a 9-card fit and a bad hand. A case could be made for passing this hand, but we are members of the Clint Eastwood School of bidding. We've got shape, lots of trumps and an Ace.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ A K 3 2
♥ 5 4 3
♦ 9 8 7
♣ J 3 2

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♣	1♥	1 No-trump
?

A: Pass: I know, I know. We've got 8 pts, but let's think this through. Our hand is as flat as the Nevada nuclear test sites. The reason we like to play in a suit is to ruff losers as dummy. We have no ruffing value. We don't have shape. We don't have extra trumps. This is a time to pass and plan our defense.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ 5 4 3 2
♥ K J 9 5
♦ 4 3 2
♣ 3 2

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♣	1♥	1 No-trump
?

A: 2♥: No, we are not being inconsistent. We've only got 4 pts and we are bidding. Last time, we had 8 pts and passed. Wussup? We've got a GREAT trump fit, and look at the honors and honorette we are bringing with us. We have shape. Some would even jump to 3♥ with this. Give yourself credit if you did, but shame on you if you tried to pass.

And now, let's have some fun with a hand.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Play this Hand

Now that you've bid five hands, let's see how your play goes.

Overall Results

Your results: out of Average:

What next? You may enjoy playing our prepared hands series.
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