"Sherlock Holmes Week" by Marti Ronemus

It is "elementary" that this week is designed for bridge players. Who interprets more clues than we do? Who has to work in tandem with our Watsons more than us? Who is better at drawing inferences than we are? Were he still around, Sherlock would love this game!

Let's see how we solve the problems before us today.

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ A 10 2
♥ 4
♦ K Q J 10 4 3
♣ K 9 4

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	Pass	Pass	Pass
1♦	Dbl	1♥	1♠
2♦	2♠	3♣	Pass
?

A: 3♦: This is a bit tricky. We infer that Pard's got 10 cards in two suits. While we'd like to be in No-trump (lots more money) we don't like the shortness in Pard's first-bid suit. With Pard's peculiar shape, we can't count on transportation. Let's live to detect another day. We'll hate ourselves if we can make 3 No-trump, and we might go there if we weren't vul.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ A K Q J 9
♥ K 8 4
♦ 5 4 3
♣ A 2

Q: 2 - South:

South	West	North	East
1♠	Pass	1 No-trump	Pass
?

A: 3♠: BUT!! We thought we couldn't rebid unsupported 5-card suits! Well, that's true normally, but holding four honors and an honorette, we're going to treat it as if it were one card longer. We certainly don't want to play in No-trump with this hand!

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

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

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♠	Dbl	Pass
?

A: 3 No-trump: We've got the Spades stopped. Pard promised us an opening hand. We've got game-going values. Ergo... Game. Elementary!

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ J 8
♥ 8 4 3
♦ J 10 9 8 7 5 4
♣ A

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♣	Pass	1♥
?

A: 3♦: Tough one. Pard is a passed hand and if we do indeed enter this auction with a preempt, he knows better than to advance. After all, we are already bidding for both of us. We hate to let this go, so let's make a try for it.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

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

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♠	1 No-trump	Pass
?

A: 3 No-trump: We won't be faulted for just inviting, but we really like our Clubs and give ourselves an extra point for length and quality.

Well, so far so good. Let's put our deerstalker hats on and see if we can foil Moriarity's plans to make his contract.

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.
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