Bridge
Dear Mr. Wolff: Frequently I do not understand the bidding shown in your bridge columns. Can you recommend a book that explains modern bidding techniques? – Sell-By Date, Rockford, Ill.
Answer: I’m sorry if I sometimes do not explain modern bidding well enough. Space constraints sometimes prevent me from doing so, and sometimes I forget.
Anyway, “Better Bidding With Bergen” might fit the bill. Also, “25 Bridge Conventions You Should Know” by Marc Smith and Barbara Seagram covers some useful territory.
Dear Mr. Wolff: Holding ♠K-4-3-2, ♥A-9-2, ♦2, ♣10-7-4-3-2, I heard my partner open one heart, and I raised him to two hearts. When my partner bid three clubs, I thought he needed help there, so I signed off in three hearts. Was that wrong? – Cautious Charlie, West Palm Beach, Fla.
Answer: Most people play three clubs as a help-suit bid of some sort. Typically the most useful holding opposite is honors, but a five-card fit is not bad – and the rest of your hand is much better than it might be. I would raise three clubs to four, just in case partner has a slam-try, when your hand might be perfect for him.
If he is only trying for game, he can go back to four hearts.
Dear Mr. Wolff: Is there an agreed defense method for splitting your honors from equals? In other words, when declarer leads from dummy and you have either the K-Q or K-Q-J, which card do you play, and why? – Solid State, Albuquerque, N.M.
Answer: I have an answer, but it is not by any means a universal one, since experts do not agree. With a two-card sequence I play the lower card; with a three-card sequence I play the highest.
Dear Mr. Wolff: I held ♠K-Q-4, ♥K-10-6, ♦J-10-3-2, ♣A-9-2. My partner opened one diamond, and the next hand overcalled one heart. Was I wrong to jump directly to three no-trump? My partner had a weak hand with six diamonds. I went down on a heart lead, but five diamonds was making. – Premature, Waterbury, Conn.
Answer: Since you do not have a guaranteed second heart stop, maybe the right route here is to cuebid two hearts, showing a diamond raise, then to convert your partner’s three-diamond sign-off to three no-trump. This indicates a little more doubt as to the final contract, plus it shows your support. It gets your partner involved in the final decision.
Dear Mr. Wolff: I have never seen any official rule that a partscore is worth 100 points, but my friends believe it to be true. I maintain a partscore is still only 50 points. Would you kindly verify the correct rule? Thank you. – Number Cruncher, Trenton, N.J.
Answer: There are two issues here. Let us make sure we are discussing the same thing. In duplicate, the bonus for a partscore is 50 points. At Chicago or in an unfinished rubber, the partscore on the last hand is worth 100, so making two clubs with an overtrick scores 160, not 60. I hope that clarifies the position!