Openers "Much Ado About Nothing" by Marti Ronemus

For sheer and utter boredom, not much beats the 1986 opening of Al Capone's secret vault, hosted by Geraldo Rivera. For a mind-numbing two hours we watched and waited to see what was in there, and it turned out to be... an empty bottle. It was the highest syndicated TV program of its time.

Oh, but wait! You thought THAT was bad? How many of you were willing to watch the "flight" of the white Bronco during the OJ Simpson trial? (I admit it... I watched too.) Don't we have anything better to do with our time?

Like perfect our bridge game? Let's get to work! We're going back to basics today, looking at opening bids. One of my bridge mentors told me when I was a beginner that we should be planning our rebid when we make our opener. Let's keep that in mind today.

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ A J
♥ 6 5 4 3 2
♦ A K J 10 2
♣ 4

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
?	-	-

A: 1♥: I know, I know. You are thinking about bidding the Diamonds, but don't. If you do, you'll find it almost impossible to convince Pard you have five of them. Open 1♥ and then we'll rebid Diamonds twice.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ A K J 9 8
♥ 7 5
♦ 7
♣ A K Q J 9

Q: 2 - South:

South	West	North	East
?	-	-

A: 1♠: We open our higher-ranking suit, and plan to make a jump-shift in Clubs on our second bid. We have a big, big hand and can show it on our second bid. Remember that when opening in a suit, we can't really show our complete hand until our second bid.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

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

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
?	-	-

A: 1♦: Yes, there are only three of them, but you have no other choice. There are still pockets of humanity that would open a "short Club" with this because they will not open 1♦ unless they have four of them. This species is fast becoming extinct. This hand, 4-4-3-2, too small for 1 No-trump, in opening seat only occurs 7% of the time. Just do it. Our rebid is simple... if Pard bids a major, we raise it. If Pard bids No-trump, we pass.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ A Q 9 4
♥ A Q 3 2
♦ A 4 3
♣ J 2

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
?	-	-

A: 1 No-trump: Same shape as last hand, but we tell our whole story with one bid. We have no plans to bid again unless Pard forces us with either Stayman or a transfer.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ A 8 4
♥ 8
♦ A Q J 10
♣ Q 9 8 7 5

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
?	-	-

A: 1♦: Surprisingly, we aren't opening our longer suit. Our reason? We have a rebid problem. If we were to open 1♣ and Pard responded 1♥, we couldn't bid our Diamonds, because that would be a reverse. Pard will be a little confused about the shape of our hand when we rebid the Clubs, but we don't want to be in a minor anyway, do we?

Let's go see what's in the vault when we play our 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.
More informations on our website: www.VuBridge.com

Rate yourself:

0 - 40%	We applaud your effort. Review the subject and try again. You'll be surprised how much better you'll do. We're here for you!!
41 - 50%	Buy your mentor a cuppa and ask for clarification on the ones you got wrong. No mentor? Make finding one a priority!
51 - 60%	Nice improvement! One more review and you'll have this down solid!
61 - 80%	What a good job! All that's left is some fine tuning
Over 80%	Wow! It's time for you to become a mentor. Find someone who needs help and share your knowledge!