"That Says It All" Basic Responses by Marti Ronemus

English isn't the only language with colorful expressions. Today we bring you new ways to make your language sparkle.

From Japanese: "To have a wide face" means to be well-liked with lots of friends.

Deutsch: "To live like a bug in bacon" is living the high life.

French: "To have long teeth" means being extremely ambitious.

Ukrainian: "My cottage is at the edge" is for when one is only slightly involved in a problem.

And my favorite, from Polish: "Not my circus, not my monkey," for those times when it's not our problem.

HOWEVER!! Bidding IS our circus and IS our monkey. Today we're back to basics. We're going to take the same hand and bid it under a variety of different circumstances.

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ K 2
♥ K J 8 3
♦ Q 9 6
♣ J 6 4 2

Q: 1 - South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♣	Pass
?

A: 1♥: Simple, right? We've got a 10 point hand, but it lacks texture and should be treated as a 6-9. We lack intermediates and shape. We do have a doubleton, but... We are going to announce our four-card Heart suit and see what happens next. Our bid is forcing.

Your result so far:

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ K 2
♥ K J 8 3
♦ Q 9 6
♣ J 6 4 2

Q: 2 - South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	2♠	Pass
?

A: Pass: We don't have the extra trump needed to advance the preempt, and we don't have enough tricks either. Our cottage is at the edge of this one.

Your result so far:

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ K 2
♥ K J 8 3
♦ Q 9 6
♣ J 6 4 2

Q: 3 - South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	Pass
?

A: 3♥: We've got the ninth trump and 10 points. We don't have a lot of texture but we really need to give Pard a limit raise. Our bid is NOT forcing. We have limited OUR hand, and now it's Pard's circus and his monkey.

Your result so far:

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ K 2
♥ K J 8 3
♦ Q 9 6
♣ J 6 4 2

Q: 4 - South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♠	Pass
?

A: 1 No-trump: We can't support the Spades and don't have enough "money" to buy the two-level. 1 No-trump is perfect. Our response is NOT forcing.

Your result so far:

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ K 2
♥ K J 8 3
♦ Q 9 6
♣ J 6 4 2

Q: 5 - South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1 No-Trump	Pass
?

A: 2♣: We have, opposite a 15-17 No-trump opener, game-going values. We want to see if Pard has a four-card Heart suit before going to game.

And now, to ensure we "have a wide face," let's play this hand like a star.

Your result so far:

Play this Hand

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

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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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