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 "It's a Miracle!" by Marti Ronemus

In eastern France the local people worshipped a saint who was thought to protect infants from illness and danger. There was only one catch... the saint was a dog. No, literally! A dog. A nobleman's greyhound had saved his son and died doing it, and a legend that those visiting the dog's grave would find miracles for their children began.

Naturally, this "saint" was not recognized by the Church, but St. Guinefort was venerated through the end of WWI, and in fact some reverberations of the belief continued through the '60s.

We bridge players often find ourselves praying for a miracle, but instead, we should be polishing our basics...

And that brings us to the Dreaded Reverse. Why do Reverses cause so much trouble? Maybe they can't see through the disguise. A reverse can quickly be identified because a) it is a two-level rebid IN A SUIT RESPONDER BYPASSED, and b) the second named suit is HIGHER RANKING than the first.

A reverse promises a fat intermediate hand or more, and the first named suit MUST BE LONGER than the second named suit. And a Reverse is forcing for one round.

So let's take the disguise off the spinach and see if we would reverse with these hands or not.

Question 1

  Your Hand
 3 2
 A K 10 4
 A 10 9 3 2
 Q J
 
Q: 1 - South?
SouthWestNorthEast
1Pass1Pass
?


 Your choice:
A: 1 No-trump: We have a minimum opener. While we have the right shape for a Reverse, we don't have the points. If we rebid Hearts, Pard will have to go to the three-level to return to our original suit.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 2

  Your Hand
 3 2
 A K J 4
 A Q 10 9 3
 K 5
 
Q: 2 - South?
SouthWestNorthEast
1Pass1Pass
?


 Your choice:
A: 2: NOW we have what it takes to reverse! We have 17 high card points and our first-named suit is longer than our second. Pard will be wondering why we are bidding a suit he bypassed/denied when he bid 1. He will know where nine of our cards are and that we have 16-plus points. No miracles needed with this hand!

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 3

  Your Hand
 K 9 8
 A K J 4 3
 A K J 4
 8
 
Q: 3 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
1Pass1Pass
?


 Your choice:
A: 3: With this shape, we make a Jump Shift. Easy Peasy

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 4

  Your Hand
 A K 4 3
 A 4 3
 8
 A K J 4 2
 
Q: 4 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
1Pass1 No-trumpPass
?


 Your choice:
A: 2: Another opportunity to Reverse. Pard denied holding Spades when he bid 1 No-trump, so we'll show him that we've got a big hand with more Clubs than Spades.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 5

  Your Hand
 A K 4 3
 A 4 3
 8
 J 9 8 4 3
 
Q: 5 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
1Pass1 No-trumpPass
?


 Your choice:
A: Pass: What, you say? You've only got a singleton Diamond? Well, not to worry. Your Pard doesn't have Hearts or Spades, so he's certainly rated to have some Diamonds. Besides, just where do you think you're going? Be quiet and pray.

Time for 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

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