Bridge

Dear Mr. Wolff: I’ve heard mention of Exclusion Blackwood. How does it work? – Scientific American, Dover, Del.

Answer: Any conventional gadget of this sort needs to be handled with great caution. The idea is that an unusual jump when trumps have been set – normally to the five-level, or at the four-level above the partnership suit – asks for aces but shows a void in the jump-suit. Responder therefore ignores an ace in that suit.

Dear Mr. Wolff: If you hold ♠ Q-7-3, ♥ A-2, ♦ Q-10-9-6-4, ♣ A-10-3, would you bid two diamonds over RHO’s one spade? If not, why not? – Action Figure, Dodge City, Kan.

Answer: I would not go so far as to say you should never overcall at the two-level in a suit that weak. (Give me the club queen as well and I might feel compelled to bid.) But I’d like a six-card suit, or a five-card suit headed by two top honors in a good hand before I make a two-level overcall.

Dear Mr. Wolff: I’m an inexperienced tournament director, planning to run an Arrow-switch or Scrambled Mitchell to get only one winner from the field. In other words, in the last round the North-South pairs will play the East-West cards, and vice versa. Is this a good idea – and if I run one, how many boards need to be switched? – Swing Your Partners, White Plains, N.Y.

Answer: Arrow-switching just the last round will be sufficient to get a single winner. The math involved is quite complex, but I’m assured that this is the normal requirement.

Dear Mr. Wolff: Holding ♠ 10-9-4-2, ♥ A-K-J-3, ♦ Q-8-4-2, ♣ 3, what would you respond to a one-heart opening bid? I chose to bid four hearts, since I did not think I had enough for a splinter jump to four clubs. This worked poorly: Our hands fit perfectly and we missed a slam. – Wrong Turning, Great Falls

Answer: An invitational jump to three hearts is clearly an underbid, given your side-singleton, and you are too good for your pre-emptive jump to game. A splinter, however, promises more high cards, so what is left? The answer is that you CAN, if you want, play a jump to three no-trump over the opening bid as a good raise to four hearts. If that is part of your system, it would be my choice here.