Quiz Expert by Vu-Bridge

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ 4
♥ 9 5 4 2
♦ 9 7 6 4 2
♣ K J 8

Q: 1 - The deal comes from the England Premier League. What will you bid on these South cards?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	Pass
?

A: 3♥. Classically, a double raise in a major is a game-try. More and more players, nowadays, like to pre-empt on such hands as this, raising to 3♥. What do they do with a stronger hand, worth a game-try of some sort? They use Bergen raises of 3♣ and 3♦. Typically 3♣ shows 7-10 HCP and 3♦ shows 11-12 HCP.

Let's see what happened on this deal:

♠ Q J 10 7 2

♥ A Q

♦ A 3

♣ A 7 5 2

♠ A 8 3

♥ K J 10 8 7

♦ Q J 10 5

♣ 10

♠ 4

♥ 9 5 4 2

♦ 9 7 6 4 2

♣ K J 8

♠ K 9 6 5

♥ 6 3

♦ K 8

♣ Q 9 6 4 3

On this particular deal, the pre-emption was ineffective. West had enough to bid 3♠ and East raised to 4♠. How will you play this when North leads the ♣10? South clearly holds the king and jack of the suit. Would North lead from a ♣10-8? It’s unlikely. In any case, if clubs are 2-2 the contract will be easy. When you draw trumps, North is marked with the ♠A and cannot play hearts from his side; you will be able to clear the club suit to set up a heart discard. So, you must assume that the club lead is a singleton. How can you make 4♠? You must allow the ♣10 to win the first trick! Let’s say that North shifts to the ♦Q. You win with the king and play a trump to North's ace. When he tries a second diamond, you win with the ace and draw the remaining trumps. You can then play ace and another club, setting up the suit. South wins and switches to a heart. You rise with the ace and discard the ♥Q on the fifth round of clubs. If you make any other play in clubs at trick one, South will gain the lead twice in the suit (before you have set up a discard). The defenders will then make a heart trick for one down.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ 10
♥ Q J 9 4 2
♦ J 7 4
♣ 9 8 5 2

Q: 2 - The deal comes from the 2005 World Youth Teams Championships, with Poland facing the USA. What will you bid on Hurd's South cards?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	Pass
?

A: 4♥. A direct raise of one-of-a-major to game is pre-emptive. It suggests 5-card support and fewer than 10 points. There are many conventions available to indicate a sound raise (splinter bids, Swiss, Jacoby 2NT, Bergen Raises). Let's see how Hurd's 4♥ bid turned out:

♠ A Q 7 5

♥ 7

♦ Q 9 8 6 2

♣ J 7 4

♠ J 8 6

♥ A K 8 6 5

♦ K 10

♣ A K 6

♠ 10

♥ Q J 9 4 2

♦ J 7 4

♣ 9 8 5 2

♠ K 9 4 3 2

♥ 10 3

♦ A 5 3

♣ Q 10 3

East leads the ♠3 to West’s ace and the ♣4 is returned. How will you play? (You can see that it would not be an effective defence for West to switch to diamonds, putting declarer to a guess there. Even if he guessed wrongly, rising with the king, he would still be able to set up a diamond winner on which to discard a club.) When a club stopper is removed, declarer cannot afford to misguess the diamonds. East would win and clear a club trick before the remaining diamond honour was knockout out. However, Wooldridge spotted an extra chance. On the first round of clubs he played the six from his hand! By ducking a round of clubs into the safe hand (East, who could not attack the diamond tenace), he set up dummy’s thirteenth club for a diamond discard. Brilliant!

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ A 7 5 4
♥ 7 6 5
♦ 10 9
♣ Q 6 3 2

Q: 3 - The deal comes from the 2011 US open trials final between Bathurst and Diamond. What would you bid on the South cards held by both Hurd and (at the other table) Platnick?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♠	2♠
?

2♠ is a Michaels cuebid showing hearts and a minor.

A: 3♠. Both South players raised to 3♠, following the guideline that you should be prepared to describe your hand one level higher than you would without the intervention. This was the deal:

♠ J 9 3 2

♥ 10 9 4

♦ 5 4 3

♣ K 7 5

♠ K Q 10 8 6

♥ J

♦ A 7 6

♣ J 9 8 4

♠ A 7 5 4

♥ 7 6 5

♦ 10 9

♣ Q 6 3 2

♠

♥ A K Q 8 3 2

♦ K Q J 8 2

♣ A 10

As you see, East/West had an excellent contract of 6♥ available. Neither of them managed to bid it after the raise to 3♠! Bathurst (East) just rebid 4♥. Greco at the other table bid 4NT, hearing 5♣ and then signed off in 5♥.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ K J 10 8 4
♥ 10 9 7 4 3
♦ 6
♣ J 9

Q: 4 - Italy face Norway in the 2022 European Championship. What will you bid on the South cards held by Percario?

South	West	North	East
Pass	1♦	1♠	Dble
?

A: 4♠. There could hardly be a more obvious raise to 4♠. You have 5-card support and little defence. Meanwhile, the opponents have only an opening bid of 1♦ and a negative double in their information locker. This was the deal:

♠

♥ Q 6

♦ K Q J 10 7 3

♣ K Q 10 5 3

♠ A 9 7 6 5 2

♥ J 8

♦ 5

♣ A 8 6 4

♠ K J 10 8 4

♥ 10 9 7 4 3

♦ 6

♣ J 9

♠ Q 3

♥ A K 5 2

♦ A 9 8 4 2

♣ 7 2

As it happens, Helgemo (West) had an easy rebid of 5♣. Grude (East) bid 6♦ and this was passed out and easily made for 920.

At the other table, Brogeland overcalled 2♠ on the North cards:
1♦ - 2♠ - Dble - 4♠ - 5♣ - Pass - 6♦. But now South sacrificed in 6♠ going 500 down for a pickup of 9 IMPs.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ 4
♥ 9 8 7 4
♦ Q 10 9 8 5 2
♣ J 9

Q: 5 - Russia face Gupta in the 2020 European Winter Games. What will you bid on Gulevich's South hand?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	1♥
?

A: 5♦. Yes, indeed, Gulevich went all the way to 5♦, even when vulnerable. Zia and Gromov passed, with Meckstroth doubling on the East cards. This was the deal:

♠ A K Q 9 6

♥ J 10

♦ J 4

♣ 6 5 4 3

♠ 10 7 5

♥ 2

♦ A K 7 6 3

♣ K Q 7 2

♠ 4

♥ 9 8 7 4

♦ Q 10 9 8 5 2

♣ J 9

♠ J 8 3 2

♥ A K Q 6 5 3

♦

♣ A 10 8

In 5♦ doubled, Gromov lost only to the three outstanding aces, going one down for the loss of 200.

At the other table, Rosenberg bid only 4♦ on the South cards. West could then bid 4♠, North 5♦, East 6♦ and West ended it in 6♠. Khokhlov won the ♣K lead in dummy and made an overtrick. That was 15 IMPs to Russia.

Your result so far:

Open Question

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!

Removing bidding space (5) by David Bird

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Overall Results