Bat Appreciation Day by Marti Ronemus

What eats its weight in bugs every day, works the night shift so not to bother us, lives in places no one else wants to live, lives to be 20-plus years old, only has one baby a year and makes a fabulous neighbor? BATS!! So why do they have such a bad rep? Just because they're ugly? Get caught in our hair? Suck our blood? Honestly. such confusion.

Let's see if we can get through the confusion on these five questions and hand.

Question 1

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

Q: 1 - As South, what is your rebid?

South	West	North	East
1♦	Pass	1♠	Pass
?

A: 2♥: What bid can you make that shows an intermediate or better opener, a hand at least 5-4 in the named suits with the first suit guaranteed to be longer? Yup, it's the Dreaded Reverse. As misunderstood as bats, a Reverse is a bid that names a second suit Pard bypassed (Pard went directly to Spades), a second suit that is higher-ranked than the initial suit opened and could force Pard to the three-level to take a preference.
By the way, Reverses are NOT a convention. They are absolutely basic Standard American bidding. What should alert you to their presence is the second bid is a suit Pard denied. Reverses are one of the few forcing bids opener can make.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

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

Q: 2 - What about this very similar hand. As South, what is your rebid?

South	West	North	East
1♦	Pass	1♠	Pass
?

A: 1 No-trump: This hand has the same shape as our last hand, but is only a minimum opener. We cannot reverse without an intermediate or better hand. It would be foolish to bid a suit Pard denied. We need to settle for a bid that shows our minimum.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

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

Q: 3 - What should South do?

South	West	North	East
-	1 No-trump	Pass	2♣
?

A: Dbl: Most partnerships play that the double of an artificial bid is lead directing. Some play that it can also be for penalty, but that is less common. Talk it over with Pard. You'll find that the lead directing treatment comes up much more often. It's not likely, given your holding, that Pard would arrive at a Club lead on his own.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ 6 3
♥ A Q 9 5
♦ A K 7 2
♣ A J 8

Q: 4 - And South says?

South	West	North	East
1♦	Pass	1♠	2♥
?

A: 2 No-trump: This one can drive you a little bats. You wouldn't have a problem if East had passed because a bid of 2 No-trump would show your 18-19 pts and shape. What does it show now? Well, it show the same strength, but with a Heart stopper. We do have 2, maybe even 2-1/2 stoppers in East's suit. Pard will know we have 18-19, and he'll know we have stoppers. It's his problem now.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ K 9 5 4
♥ K 8 3
♦ 7 4 2
♣ 8 6 3

Q: 5 - Now we are the partner of the reverser. What should we do as South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♦	Pass
1♠	Pass	2♥	Pass
?

A: 3♦: We know from Pard's reverse that he is guaranteeing more length in his first-bid suit than his second, so he has to have at least five Diamonds and four Hearts. We want to Pass and return to the Bat Cave, but no can do. We are better off showing our pathetic hand by bidding the known eight-card fit. How will Pard know we are pathetic? Who wants to play in a dumb 3♦ contract? If we had something good, we'd bid No-trump, 4♦, something a little more interesting.

Your result so far:

Open Question

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

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!