Wednesday, December 20, 2006 4:33 AM

Sandwich Position II

PITBULLS:

The opponents are bidding the “bully suit” . The auction has gone 1♠-P-2♠ and you have

♠x ♥KQJ98 ♦AKJxx ♣xx so what do you bid ? This one is easy as its built for equal level conversion. You double and pull partners 3♣ to 3♦ and show your two suiter in the reds. How do you show the same hand with clubs ? ♠x ♥KQJ98 ♦xx ♣AKJxx . There are two schools of thought. Some would bid 2NT unusual and correct partners 3♦ bid to 3♥. Not me , I double with this hand also and I pull partners 3♦ bid to 3♥ . I am better off than the 3♥ overcallers as I got both my suits in. Any stronger & the Michaels Q bid enters the picture.

Is 2NT in the sandwich position natural or for the minors ? The answer is yes & no. Against strong clubers who are nv against vul who open on nothing & raise on nothing , I like to play 2NT natural. Two many times your side has 25 HCP’s and they buy the contract in two spades. On all other vulnerabilities , 2NT is unusual for the minors. In that one vulnerability , just bid one of your minors with a minor two suiter. An 11 trick game is quite far off anyway.

What about bidding in the sandwich position against the heart suit ? Doubling with one suited hands is not in my system . A suit bid here in the sandwich position can be light ( a pre balance if you will ) . A good one suiter is shown with a jump. This is not pre-emptive. I repeat. A jump in the sandwich position is not pre-emptive. You can get away with a double with the boss suit spades and a huge hand because spades are higher ranking than hearts. An immediate 3♠ jump would show a good hand with a good suit.

A strong NT hand with most vulnerabilities is shown with a pass. Partner is supposed to have nothing so lets defend. As stated previously , due to experience with sandwich NT’s , I like to play them natural on one vulnerability scenario only. This thinking applies here as well but at the two level. Since I am vulnerable at the two level , this 2NT bid will be chosen with care. Probably based on playability with a suit rather than just a scattered 16 HCP’s.