By Valerie Rhead
You pick up your newly dealt hand and sort the cards into suits. You have an amazing six-card Heart suit, Ace, King, Queen, little, little, little, and nothing else. It is a perfect hand for a pre-emptive bid. However, your opponent opens Two Diamonds. Well, it makes sense. If one player has a long suit, the cards won’t be divided equally. Other players are also likely to have a long suit. We all know that you are not supposed to bid a pre-empt over a pre-empt because your partner has no way of knowing whether you have a full opening or a weaker bid. So unhappily, you are supposed to pass.
In one of his classes at the recent Halifax Canadian-Atlantic Tournament, the professional bridge player, Robert Todd, gave us a solution. If you have a strong suit, and preferably are not vulnerable, you DO pre-empt the pre-empt with a JUMP bid over the opening Weak-Two bid. Eg. Two Diamonds followed by your weak bid of Three Hearts. Of course, if you did have a full opening in Hearts, you would just bid Two Hearts.
With a slightly stronger hand, and if your hand contains some stoppers in the unbid suits as well as your solid six suiter, make a Texas Cue Bid of the opponent’s suit at the three level asking if partner has a stopper in the opponent’s suit. If partner has a stopper, he is to bid Three No-Trump. If he has no stopper and a modicum of support for your suit, he bids it (Three Hearts). Failing that, he bids his own strong suit.
If you wish to promote an activity in your bridge group or ask a bridge question, send the information to vrhead23@gmail.com and I will include it in this column.
HUNTSVILLE DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB
Games for the Huntsville Club are Tuesdays, 7:15pm, Trinity United Church 33 Main Street. Please arrive 15 minutes early. Contact Susan [email protected] for information and partnerships.
The following winners are for Tuesday, Jul 12 with 12 tables playing a Mitchell movement. North-South 1. Chris Karn and Vern Foell; 2. Bob Schives and Bruce Elliott; 3. Pat Pelletier and Margaret Cordingley; 4. Donna Jensen and Bill Jensen; 5. Betty Fagin and Brian Brocklehurst; 6. Jim Smith and Ralph Mitchell; East-West 1. Mary Whitehead and Helen Pearson; 2. Fay MacDonald and Yvonne Cox; 3. Liz Graham and Dorothy Russell; 4. Mary Simonett and Kel Andresen; 5. Gail Titus and Paula Coleman; 6. Ann Cassie and Bruce Cassie
MUSKOKA DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB (Bracebridge)
Games at the Bracebridge Club are at the Knox Presbyterian Church, 120 Taylor Road 7pm Monday evenings. Please arrive 15 minutes before game time. For information or partnerships, call Brian at 705-645-5340 [email protected]
The following winners are from Monday, JuL 11 with 14 tables playing a Mitchell movement. North-South 1. Mary Luke and Donna McIntosh; 2. Laima Stem and Lee Stem; 3. Bev Parlett and Vern Foel; 4. Gail Lederer and Hazel Bowes; 5. Catherine McMillan and Julianne Guselle; 6. Ralph Hair and Gerry Flaherty; 7. Yvonne Cox and Mary Whitehead; East-West 1. Bob Schives and David Bryce; 2. Art Insley and Don Evans; 3. Betty Rintoul and Bev Howard; 4. Pat Davies and Sue Scott; 5. Mary Mitchell and Susan Maddocks; 6. Kel Andresen and Jim Smith; 7. Ann Cassie and Bruce Cassie
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