Get your GREEN PASS Card out more.
If you have given your partner a good idea about your hand, only BID again if you have a bit ‘extra’
This week’s tip mirrors what was drilled into many of us as kids – only speak when you are spoken to – which as adults translates to – only speak when you have something to say.
This can be tricky for those who like the sound of their own voice, or have ADD(ADHD) and cannot help themselves from having the final word in every conversation.
So let’s give some context so you can you know when it is right to PASS and when you just might win more if you BID ON.
General Competitive Bidding Advice – Low-Level Auctions
It doesn’t matter if your side has opened the bidding or is the overcalling side, there are lots of common situations where both sides are bidding. Knowing when you should bid and when you should pass is the main skill in contested auctions. Most of the low-level auctions occur when the high-card points are divided relatively evenly (each side has 18 – 22 points).
Let’s take a look at an example auction on a partscore deal with nobody vulnerable:
Imagine that you have a fit for Diamonds (don’t worry about how many points you have for now). You have two options here – you could PASS, planning to defend against 2♥ , or you could bid 3♦.
Let’s have a look at the possible outcomes of bidding 3♦ and compare them to passing 2♥
.
If you bid 3♦ there are several GOOD outcomes.
You might make 3♦ (+110), and unless the opponents were going down 3 or more (+150 or more), then that will be the best possible score for your side. You might go down by one or two (-50 or -100) which scores less than they would have scored for making 2♥ (at least -110). That would be a good sacrifice.
You might bid 3♦ and push them up to 3♥. The score for 3♥ making nine or ten tricks is the same as 2♥ making nine or ten tricks (-140 or -170). However, 3♥ requires one trick more to make. There is a much greater chance of taking them down in 3 than in 2♥.
Ishmael Delmonte, world class bridge player, teacher & coach
Competitive Bidding Tip: Your opponents have a tendency to bid over you if they think you are ‘stealing’ their hand.
You can frequently push them up a level.
If you bid 3♦ there are a couple of BAD outcomes.
You go down by 3 or more (-150 or more) which scores worse than letting them make eight or nine tricks in 2♥ (-110 or -140). That would be a very costly sacrifice. You go down one or two in 3♦ (-50 or -100) only to find out that the opponents were going to fail in 2♥ (+50 or more). That would be a ‘phantom’ sacrifice (sacrificing against ‘nothing’).
Ishmael Delmonte, world class bridge player, teacher & coach
Competitive Bidding Tip: A ‘phantom’ sacrifice is extremely rare at the two- or three-level if both sides have found a fit.
You do need to be careful in high-level competitive bidding situations of making a ‘phantom’ sacrifice.
The conclusion to this general idea is that if you have a fit for partner and haven’t bid yet, then bid freely to the two- or three-level to show the fit.
.Here are two examples of the power of bidding to show extras – in both cases the fit in the opener’s second bid suit.
On Board 17 South did not have the high card point values to bid again. However South is the only one who can see her hand – had she told her partner that she held four clubs, and given herself extra values for holding a spade singleton – North South might have reached the making 6 club contract.
On Board 1, North did show four clubs, and noticed their Aces in the suits not yet bid and bid 3Clubs. Which had the effect of preempting the auction so that East/West had not space to find their part-score in hearts or spades.