Friday, May 11, 2007 10:39 AM

Choice of Q Bids

PITBULLS:

A Nancy Cook auction sparked a great deal of discussion. The opponents opened 1♥ and partner doubled and RHO bid 1♠. Nancy held ♠xxx ♥xxx ♦xx ♣KJ10xx & as she had paid her card fees she freely bid 2♣. Partner now bids 2♠ so what is going on ? A 2♥ Q bid normally would say I have a strong hand with good clubs. Normally in Bridge when you have a choice of Q bids with a minor as trump , the Q bid is a “telling Q bid instead of an asking Q bid.. Therefore a 2♠ Q bid says I have a stopper in spades and asks partner to bid NT if she has hearts stopped.

Can 2♠ be natural even though the opponents have bid the suit ? Yes it can , however the bid must be strong , forcing one round and to be clarified later. Think about it. If partner had a weak hand with spades & diamonds , she would just pass 2♣. Why improve a partial ? What if partner had a hand in spades too strong to overcall ? LHO has bid 1♠ on xxxx so you belong in spades. You would bid 2♠ and whatever partner bids you would bid spades again. This exposes a psyche thereby showing the true nature of your hand.

Partner misbid her hand. She held ♠xx ♥AJ10 ♦AKxx ♣AQxx and with all the controls rightly felt that the hand was too strong to overcall 1NT. Therefore, she doubled and with this auction she should have bid 2♥ as a Q bid as this is a telling Q bid. Nancy with a spade stopper would have bid 2NT and the correct contract of 3NT reached. Western Q bids are different when there are two suits involved. A western Q bid magically turns into a telling Q bid instead of an asking Q bid. One thing you can not do is to be ashamed of your 2♣ bid and pass. Partners 2♠ bid is forcing one round so she can clarify the bid..