Bridge

Dear Mr. Wolff: I have noticed on some of my opponents’ convention cards that they play a double referred to as Snapdragon or Competitive. Can you tell me more about that, please? – Three Witches, Albertville, Ala.

Answer: This applies to fourth hand’s double after partner overcalls and the next player either bids a new suit or raises his partner. Fourth hand’s double of a raised suit suggests both unbid suits. A double of a new suit suggests the fourth suit (four or five cards) as well as tolerance for partner’s suit.

Dear Mr. Wolff: Would you open •K-Q-J-8-3, •J-9-2, •A-Q-4, •Q-5 one spade or one no-trump – and why? – Bunch of Fives, Durango, Colo.

Answer: My general advice is never to open one no-trump with 17 points and a five-card major. (Upgrade it if you can to a jump two-no-trump rebid.) With a nonmaximum no-trump opening and a five-card major, open one no-trump unless your honor structure is completely skewed. In other words, I’d live with one no-trump as the lesser evil here. Switch the heart two and club queen so that you have a small doubleton, and I’d open one spade.

Dear Mr. Wolff: I held •A-K-8-3, •—-, •A-K-Q-8-6, •A-J-9-5 and opened two clubs, then over my partner’s two-diamond response I bid three diamonds. When my partner raised to four diamonds, what would have been the right strategy to follow? I raised to five diamonds and found my partner with five diamonds and four clubs to the queen, so slam would have been superb. – Cautionary Tale, Walnut Creek, Calif.

Answer: There is no easy answer here, but I’d guess to bid four spades over four diamonds, and hope to hear partner bid five clubs, or jump to six diamonds on general values. I don’t think a four-no-trump call from partner would be Blackwood now, by the way. That would be a good hand with nothing to cuebid, I believe.

Dear Mr. Wolff: I noticed you mentioned passes out of turn and the penalties associated with them a few weeks ago. Is the law regarding bids out of turn equally simple? – Out of Sequence, Danville, Ill.

Answer: If you speak when it was your RHO’s turn to call, and the bid out of turn is not accepted by the next player, then life is simple if your RHO now passes. You must repeat your bid; no penalties arise.

If your RHO bids anything, then you have a choice. If you make a bid in the same denomination as your previous disallowed bid, then the penalty is that partner must pass at his next turn to speak. Alternatively, you can bid anything else you like – but in that case partner is barred from the entire auction. This last alternative applies to an opening bid out of turn when it was your LHO’s or partner’s turn to speak.

Dear Mr. Wolff: As an inexperienced duplicate player, I play the same way whether playing rubber bridge or duplicate. I wonder if that is right, or whether I should be varying my game. – Nouveau Natural, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Answer: Different strategies do apply, but in a nutshell, at teams or rubber bridge ensure your contract – play safe and avoid taking too big a risk. At duplicate pairs, overtricks and undertricks are far more important. You have to try to push the opponents around more than they push you. A bottom is only a bottom after all – and there are no teammates that you must explain your results to, only partner!