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 Balancing by Paul Bowyer

This is a quiz on balancing overcalls.

The opponent on your left opens the bidding and this is followed by two Passes. Should you bid?

This is an area of the game that needs some understanding.

You don't want to allow the opposition to steal the deal at the one-level. In general, you should strain to bid, sometimes just to make the opener bid to an uncomfortable level.

However, there are risks involved with bidding - one being that you may allow the opposition to find a better spot.

You are relatively safe if you do overcall, though. You know that your right-hand opponent has seaweed, so you cannot be sandwiched between two good hands and thus can't be socked for zillions.

Note that a 1NT overcall is now much weaker than an opening bid (or a direct overcall); 11 to 14 being about right here.

Question 1

  Your Hand
 K J 8 6
 6 4
 10 8 7 4
 A Q 3
 
Q: 1 - Your left-hand opponent opens the bidding and this is followed by two Passes.
Do you balance, Yes or No?
If so, with what?
SouthWestNorthEast
-1PassPass
?


 Your choice:
A: Dble. You wouldn't Double a 1 opening bid (well, we wouldn't) but this is a perfectly acceptable balancing Double.

Partner is marked with something after East's Pass, so this allows him a chance to bid it.

North shouldn't take you too seriously here - you are, after all, only balancing.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 2

  Your Hand
 K 8
 A 6 4
 Q 10 7 6 4
 K 7 4
 
Q: 2 - Your left-hand opponent opens the bidding and this is followed by two Passes.
Do you balance, Yes or No?
If so, with what?
SouthWestNorthEast
-1PassPass
?


 Your choice:
A: 1NT. You might Pass, but that would be hoisting the white flag by allowing West to steal the deal at the one-level.

2 is a vague possibility but the suit is poor and the shape (5·3·3·2) unsuitable.

1NT shows 11 to 14 points or so, and is designed merely to prevent East-West from winning the auction too cheaply. You do expect North to have something good over there...

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 3

  Your Hand
 A K J 9 7 3
 Q 6
 9 3
 A 6 3
 
Q: 3 - Your left-hand opponent opens the bidding and this is followed by two Passes.
Do you balance, Yes or No?
If so, with what?
SouthWestNorthEast
-1PassPass
?


 Your choice:
A: 2. You should certainly bid Spades - but how many?

1 would be bid on anything in this position.

What should you do when you have a decent hand, then? The answer is that a jump bid is NOT a weak pre-empt (why would you want to pre-empt against a hand that's known to be a broken reed?)

2 shows a good six-card suit and an opening bid, distinguishing it from weak re-opening overcalls.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 4

  Your Hand
 K J 8 6
 A 6 4
 K 7 4
 A Q 3
 
Q: 4 - Your left-hand opponent opens the bidding and this is followed by two Passes.
Do you balance, Yes or No?
If so, with what?
SouthWestNorthEast
-1PassPass
?


 Your choice:
A: Dble. You'd open 1NT and you'd overcall 1NT if your right-hand opponent opened 1.

Unfortunately, if you balance with 1NT your partner is not going to take you for a whole 17 points. So you must Double first and then bid 1NT over a minimum response.

Partner should now take you for this sort of hand.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 5

  Your Hand
 J 8 5
 A 6
 K J 9 5
 K J 6 2
 
Q: 5 - Your left-hand opponent opens the bidding and this is followed by two Passes.
Do you balance, Yes or No?
If so, with what?
SouthWestNorthEast
-1PassPass
?


 Your choice:
A: 1NT. You might Pass, but 1NT (showing 11 to 14 points) is the practical bid.

Sure, your Spade stop is not up to much, but partner may well have something in the suit to help out.

If not - and the opponents rattle off six Spades and an Ace or two - you could console yourself with the knowledge that you weren't going to defeat 1.

Double, inviting partner to bid Hearts, would be a horrible call.

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

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