Tuesday, February 20, 2007 10:35 PM


Hand Evaluation - Q Bids ( Game before Slam  )

 

PITBULLS:

 

            As every Bridge player knows , Q bids are ambiguous . Q bids show a strong hand or a 1st round control or asks for a stopper in that suit or asks partner to pick a suit ( two suiters ) or a waiting bid or showing a stopper or sometimes in pre-emptive auctions Q bids can be KCB or Exclusion Blackwood. The most common use for a Q bid is showing a fit with limit raise or better values. How do you sort out this mess ? Q bids must have a priority pecking order . The guiding principle for Q bids is game before slam. This means that Q bids are to be interpreted in the context of games first & slams later.

 

Sometimes in Bridge , ambiguity is allowed. Bridge players know ambiguous bids confuse auctions. With minor fits & if you are below 3NT , you can make bids whose true meaning gets clarified later in the auction. The goal with minor fits is 3NT . This is a Bridge basic. Inverted minors ,  especially if you play them as limit raise or better , allows ambiguity. Was the bid a suit , a stopper or a Q bid ? Only time will tell.

 

            How do you interpret 2nd Q bids? . Partner makes a T/O double & you have ♠xxx ♥KJ ♦10x ♣AKQxxx so you Q bid 2♠. 1ST Q bids just say you just have a strong hand & creating a force. Partner bids 3♦ so now what ? You bid a 2nd Q bid so thinking game before slam , the Q bid should ask for a spade stopper to bid 3NT. Partner has one so she bids 3NT and +600 rolls home.

 

            OK same auction but change your hand ♠AKx ♥Jx ♦10x ♣AKQxxx . You still Q bid 2♠ but partner still bids 3♦. You still bid 3♠ , partner thinking game before slam will think it is asking for a stopper. She does not have one so she bids 4♥. You now bid 4NT which clarifies your 2nd Q bid as a huge hand with spade values. Can if be Blackwood in support of hearts ? Of course not ,  as you would have bid 3♥ after 3♦ as you set up a force with your initial Q bid. Partner’s hand is ♠x ♥A1098 ♦AQJ98 ♣J10x so carries on to 6NT which is a “positional make” as the diamond king is with the opening bidder.

 

            One of the side effects of “game before slam” is Q bidding partners or your own major. You have established a minor fit & either side bids 4 of the previously bid major. Games are more important than slams so they have priority in these auctions. This “Q bid” is in offer to play this contract. Q bidding partners or your own major suit is just not done in expert circles. Most of the time the Q bid is worthless to the partnership anyway as your void is not as asset to the partnership for slam purposes anyway. A major suit Ace can be found thru KCB so why waste an opportunity for a choice of contracts ? You should be allowed to play in a secondary major fit after finding a minor fit.

 

            Here is a “game before slam” interpretation that occurred recently. My partner opened 2♣ with ♠AKxxx ♥AJ ♦AJx ♣KQx , I bid 2♦ . Partner chose to rebid 2♠ with his balanced NT hand because he was all controls. I bid 2NT which in our system is forced after a 2♠ bid unless I wanted to break the relay to show a slam try in spades or a very good other suit.  Partner now made the descriptive bid of 3NT which showed the 22-24 HCP range. I now made a bid of 4♦ so what is that bid ? Thinking game before slams it is a diamond suit unless clarified later. Partner now bid 4♥ as he liked his hand in support of diamonds. I now bid 4♠ clarifying the diamond bid as a Q bid for a spade slam. Now partner has a judgment to make to go on to 6♠.

 

            Q bids need all the help that they can get to interpret them properly. Thinking game before slam helps out a lot.