"This Little Piggy" by Marti Ronemus

From our unending supply of Strange-but-True useless facts, how about this? There is only one pig in the entire country of Afghanistan. His name is Khanzir and he lives in the Kabul Zoo. Islamic law forbids consuming (and often even touching) pork so Khanzir is probably the only pig most Afghanis will ever see.

Poor Khanzir's life hasn't always been easy. At one point, he had a mate and a litter, but some idiot forgot to lock the bear enclosure, and... well, enough said. He was also in danger of execution during a Swine Flu epidemic. Honestly.

But before you feel too sorry for him, he is much-loved and fussed over by his caretakers, and one of the most-visited animals in the zoo, with his own fan club.

We have lots of pigs in the bridge world, don't we? You know them... those people who will NOT let their Pard play the contract! They grab the bidding no matter what. That's not us, though. Our bids are considered, and considerate.

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ A 10 8 2
♥ Q 8 7 6 5
♦ 4 3
♣ K 9

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♠	Dbl
?

A: Redouble: In an uncontested auction, we'd cheerfully bid 3♠, but in a contested auction, raising your Pard's suit, regardless of level, is usually showing a weak hand and revealing the number of trump we are holding. The redouble makes it very possible for the opponents to get in big trouble. We can always support Spades later.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ A 6 5 4
♥ 5 4
♦ 8 7 6
♣ Q 6 5 4

Q: 2 - South:

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

**Reverse, showing a big hand with more Diamonds than Hearts. Forcing. A very hog-ish bid.

A: 2 No-trump: This is artificial, and asks Pard to rebid his first suit. We will then Pass. If we bid the Diamonds ourselves, it would be forward-going.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ K 10 4 3
♥ 2
♦ 9 8 7 6
♣ 8 7 6 5

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♦	Dbl	1♥
?

A: 1♠: What? Isn't bidding with only 3 HCP a very piggy thing to do? Not really. Let's think this over. Pard is short in Diamonds and we're short in Hearts. This hand is going to be fun.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

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

Q: 4 - South:

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

A: 2♠: Many would cuebid Spades, showing a HUGE hand, forcing, and then bid Hearts, showing our suit. This is a good solution when your hand is a giant. BTW, we realize Pard is broke.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ 2
♥ A K Q 10 9 7 2
♦ A 4 3
♣ A 8

Q: 5 - South:

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

A: 3♥: Our jump after our double shows a monster with a self-sufficient suit. The cuebid, like last hand, shows a monster with flexibility on suit. Pard will raise our Hearts with a nice King or even a Queen.

We've gobbled up all our quiz. Let's start on our second course, 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.

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Overall Results

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What next? You may enjoy playing our prepared hands series.
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