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Question: How should I bid the hand below to get to game? I think I recall you saying I need 9 ½ tricks in a minor to open 2♣, so I opened 1♣ (East). South doubled, West passes, North bid 1♠, I bid 2♦ (reverse), South bid 2♠, I bid 3♣ and everyone passed. Should I have jumped to 3♦ instead of just doing a reverse? Also, once South bids, can West pass even though I did a reverse?
Answer: The expert treatment of a strong 2♣ opener with a long minor is a minimum of 9 ½ tricks. East’s hand would count up to 10 tricks – 4 diamonds and 6 clubs. When counting tricks in deciding when to open a strong 2♣ bid, when holding a five-card suit or longer, you get to count each card as a trick and then subtract one trick for each of the missing A, K or Q. When holding the top three honors in a five-card suit or longer, you count one trick for each card in the suit. I would open East’s hand with 2♣.
North
♠ K 9 8 6 5 2
♥ 7 4 2
♦ 9 7
♣ 9 7
West East
♠ J 10 ♠ 3
♥ Q J 8 5 ♥ K
♦ 10 6 5 3 ♦ A K J 8 2
♣ 8 6 4 ♣ A K Q J 3 2
South
♠ A Q 7 4
♥ A 10 9 6 3
♦ Q 4
♣ 10 5
If I were to open East’s hand 1♣, then I would rebid 2♦ and then cuebid 3♠. So the auction would look like this:
East South West North
1♣ DBL Pass 1♠
2♦ 2♠ Pass Pass
3♠ Pass 4♦ Pass
5♦ AP
East has “game” in his own hand. So making any non-forcing bid (3♣) below game does not adequately describe the hand. Starting with 2♣ makes it a lot easier to get this point across!
