A drizzly day, but 11 nice tables. Congratulations to Jane and Cindy (66%) and Janet and Virginia (62%) for high scores of the day. You've all done very well.
Next Monday we'll start Lesson 3, No Trump Openings. Don't miss it.
Check back tomorrow and Wednesday for comments on today's boards.
See you next time. Dave
PS Comments added to boards 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 20.
It floats to West who opens 1 Diamond. North doubles, East responds 1 heart and South advances 2 Spades to show his best suit and 9-12 points. West rebids 3 Diamonds to show 6 or more Diamonds and 13-16 points. North competes to 3 Spades and East competes to 4 Diamonds. They may or may not compete further.
If they stop there, West should make it for the top. If North competes to 4 Spades, they make it for the top or go down for a poor score. If West competes to 5 Diamonds, they go down for a good score.
Ah! Competitive bidding.
West opens 1 Diamond and all pass. Everyone makes 10 tricks for a flat board.
The question remains, however, asto how three pairs got to 3 Diamonds? Please don't tell me.
South opens 1 No Trump and North responds 3 No Trump. It's a battle for overtricks with Cindy winning with plus three. Good job. That's how you win!
Five Souths failed to open 1 No Trump. Lesson 3 is coming just in time!
It floats to West who opens 1 Spade. East responds 2 Spades and West stops to reevaluate and think. He now sees 22 points with a fit opposites 6-9 points. Slam is not apparent, so he settles for 4 Spades. Another battle for overtricks and five pairs made plus 2 for the top.
Dave's Rule. Everything works when you don't need it.
West opens 1 Diamond (Not enough to reverse) and East responds 1 Spade to force partner to describe his hand. West rebids 2 Clubs showing his two suits and 13-18 points. East briefly ponders 5 Diamonds or 3 No Trump and chooses 3 No Trump, as would most, and it makes for the top.
Everyone's in Clubs, with two pairs making 11 tricks for the top. Unfortunately, the only pairs to bid the game went down.
The other half of Dave's Rule. Nothing works when you need it.
North opens 1 Spade and South is interested in game right away. He briefly considers 2 No Trump, but bids 2 Hearts to force partner to describe his hand. North still has 13-16 points, so rebids a disciplined 2 Spades. South again ponders No Trump, but probably sees 4 Spades as safer and raises to game.
If East leads the Ace of Hearts, dropping partner's Jack, he will probably lead another for the first two tricks and a decent score. Otherwise, declarer can score 12 tricks for the top.
South opens 1 Club and West stops to think. He has 13 HCPs but isn't well equipped for an overcall or a double, so passes. North passes and East stops to think in the balancing seat. He thinks South is in trouble, bit hates to let him escape for down one or two not vulnerable. Double would be for takeout, but partner might leave it in for penalty. If partner advanced Diamonds or Spades, he would have to leave it in. Is this okay? If he bids 1 No Trump, would partner expect 15 HCPs or would he be cautious of the balancing overcall?
As it turns out, either double or the No Trump overcall work out. Whether partner passes the double or advances, they'll be okay. Partner might not expect full value for a No Trump overcall, but will probably go to game anyway with his 13 HCPs.
Not an easy choice, but I don't think East can let South play 1 Club, not doubled or vulnerable.
North opens 2 No Trump and South stops to think. He considers just blasting to 6 No Trump, but the best they can have is 32 HCPs. The defenders could have 2 Sces or an Ace-King. He decides to start with a transfer to Hearts and proceed from there. He cannot use the Texas Transfer with only 5 Hearts, so bids 3 Diamonds, the Jacoby Transfer. Partner bids 3 Hearts as directed and now he can give partner a choice between Hearts or No Trump. Should he bid 3 No Trump to give partner the choice to pass or correct to 4 Hearts? Should he bid 4 No Trump to let partner decide to pass, correct to 5 Hearts, correct to 6 Hearts or 6 No Trump. He's still not sure if he wants partner to bid 6 No Trump with 22 HCPs, but he might have more points in Hearts.
He's only young once, so bids 4 No Trump and waits for the verdict. North has only 2 Hearts and 21 HCPs, so passes. They can make twelve tricks, but 3 No Trump plus 3 turns out to be the top anyway.
Such fun. You can't bid them all!
It floats to West who opens 1 Diamond. East stops to think. Either 2 Clubs or 2 Diamonds requires a 5-card suit and he's short one HCP for 2 No Trump. He decides that 2 Clubs is the safest and it forces partner to describe his hand. Now West stops to think. He doesn't want to raise Clubs or rebid Diamonds and knows nothing about Hearts, but wants to be in game with his 18 HCPs opposite partner's 10 or more points. He decides to just do it and bids 3 No Trump.
I have a coin to flip for decisions like this. Both sides say 3 No Trump.
It floats to North who opens 1 No Trump. South is leery about the Clubs, so bids 2 Clubs, Stayman, to try to find a suit. North rebids 2 Diamonds, South rebids his HCPs to 2 No Trump and North raises to 3 No Trump. Didn't need the coin for that one.
West opens 1 Spade. North doesn't have the requirements for an overcall nor a double, so lurks. East responds 2 Hearts to show his 5 or more Hearts, 10 or more points and to force partner to describe. West rebids 4 Hearts and all pass. Declarer makes anywhere from 8 to 11 tricks. Darrell got the overtrick for the top.
Some pairs got to 3 No Trump and Debbie made it. The only path I can see is open 1 Spade, double, redouble, pass, 2 Diamonds, pass, 3 No Trump. Not my first choice, but you never can tell.
West counts 13 points and decides to open his nice 5-card Clubs. If partner responds with a major, he'll bid 1 No Trump. North overcalls 1 Heart and East responds 2 Clubs. South competes with 2 Spades, West passes and North stops to think. He sees a Spade fit and isn't sure whether to go with that or to try his 7-card Hearts again. He has 15 points in Spades and figures his partner for 11. If he figures his Hearts to be self-supporting, he can come up with about 19 points. He can't risk partner passing, so bids 4 hearts, figuring partner can correct to 4 Spades if he thinks that is better. Fortunately either works for an overtrick and a top.
West opens 2 Spades and North doubles for takeout. East considers game, but can't see 10 tricks and passes. South wants to show his 9-12 points, but must choose between 4 Hearts and 4 Diamonds. Most players would choose 4 Hearts and probably go down one. If he chooses 4 Diamonds, North would probably raise to game and make it.
Jane and Cindy made 5 Diamonds for a top. Good job, but I'm not sure how they got to 5 Diamonds by North. If North overcalled 3 Clubs, South invited with 3 Diamonds and North bid 5 Diamonds, they got it done. I don't like the 3-level overcall with a 5-card suit, But whatever they did, it worked.
When you're hot, you're hot!
