Competitive Bidding: Compete or Pass
If your right-hand opponent (RHO) opens the bidding with one of a suit
and you hold a reasonable hand,
should you bid or should you pass?
What are the golden rules that should guide you?
Are you short in their suit?
If you are short in their suit you should strive to enter the bidding.
The opponents will very likely have a fit of sorts, possibly a very good one.
They will make lots of tricks in their suit if it is trumps
but you will ruff their winners if your suit is trumps.
Therefore your hand will be worth more in your suit (in attack)
than in their suit (in defence).
On the other hand, if you are long in the opponents' suit
you should be less keen to enter the bidding.
If LHO is short in the suit and you end up declaring,
he will very likely ruff cards in his partner's suit.
But if RHO ends up declaring, you will be holding length in his trumps,
presenting him with a serious problem.
There may even be a misfit for both sides,
in which case you certainly want to be defending.
Having said that, with a good suit it is still worth making a cheap overcall.
If you push the opponents into playing in their suit at a higher level
than they might like, you are headed for a good score.
You bid will have told partner where your strength lies.
Furthermore, you may yet find a fit with partner,
in which case he will very likely be short in RHO's suit
and you will be able to ruff your long cards with dummy's trumps.
Your guiding principle should be, though,
prefer to attack when short in the opponents' suit,
prefer to defend when long in the opponents' suit.
Where are your values?
Next you consider whether your values are in the opponents' suit or elsewhere.
For example, consider that your RHO has opened One Diamond.
Here are some example hands that you may hold:
Quick winners or slow winners?
Aces and Kings are quick winners and are likely to win tricks in any contract.
They are good defensive cards and equally good in attack.
Queens and Knaves, however, are slow winners
and will usually only be useful in declarer's long suits.
What this means is that if you hold a lot of Queens and Knaves in your own long suits
you should prefer to be declaring, or else those values will be wasted.
But if you hold Queens and Knaves in the opponents' long suits
you should prefer to be defending.
Examples
Here are some example hands that you may hold
together with the bid I would recommend over RHO's opening One Diamond:
 |
A Q J 9 5 |
 |
10 9 5 |
 |
7 |
 |
K 6 3 2 |
|
Bid One Spade. Your values are mainly in spades.
Your shortage in diamonds means that you should strive to compete.
Note: Do NOT make a takeout double with this hand.
Your bid of One Spade tells partner where your strength lies
and suggests shortness in diamonds.
If you were to double, would you be happy to pass partner's heart bid?
You would have to, since bidding again after your double
shows a much stronger hand than this.
|
| |
A J 9 5 |
| |
K 10 9 5 |
| |
7 |
| |
K 6 3 2 |
|
Double. You have support for all the unbid suits.
In particular, you have four cards in both of the majors.
Your partner is entitled to assume that from your double
and with a bare minimum takeout double like this one
you should ensure that you can meet your side of the bargain.
|
| |
A J 9 5 |
| |
6 3 |
| |
K J 7 |
| |
K 10 9 5 |
|
Pass.
It is true that you would have opened the bidding if RHO hadn't done so
but that is not a reason to bid now.
You have values in the opponents' suit, so you will make tricks in defence.
You do not have four hearts so you should not double.
The bidding may well continue with One Heart from LHO.
If partner now bids spades or clubs, showing at least five,
you are well positioned to compete in the auction.
If not, and RHO raises to Two Hearts,
you can make a delayed takeout double on the second round.
|
| |
A J 9 5 |
| |
K 10 9 5 |
| |
K J 7 |
| |
6 3 |
|
Pass.
Although you have four cards in each major,
there are two good reasons for not making a takeout double.
First, you have slow winners in diamonds.
If partner declares a contract in a major suit
and he is long in diamonds and LHO is short,
your diamond holding may get ruffed out by LHO.
Partner will expect you to be short in diamonds if you double,
and will bid with that expectation.
Second, you have no support for clubs.
If partner has neither major he will bid clubs,
expecting you to have at least three.
Your hand will not play well in clubs.
With two faults, a pass seems the better choice than a double.
|
| |
A J 9 5 |
| |
K 10 9 5 |
| |
A 7 2 |
| |
6 3 |
|
Double.
Although you have the fault of length in diamonds and a shortage in clubs,
you have four cards in each major and your diamond ace is a quick winner,
likely to make a trick in offense as well as in defence.
You have no support for clubs, it is true, but with only one fault
rather than the two faults of the previous example,
you should take a chance with the clubs and double.
|
| |
J 9 8 5 3 |
| |
A K 5 |
| |
7 6 |
| |
Q 6 2 |
|
Pass.
Although your shape is suitable for an overcall,
your spade suit most certainly is not.
If the opponents declare the contract, say 3NT,
and you find partner with  K x,
would you want partner to lead the king?
Of course not.
Do you think he will?
Of course he will.
Therefore you should not overcall in spades.
A double would be better but, with less than ideal shape and only 10 hcp, you should pass.
|
| |
A 9 8 5 3 |
| |
Q J 5 |
| |
Q 10 6 2 |
| |
6 |
|
Pass.
Your minor honours are all in the opponents' suits, not yours.
You are happy to defend.
|
| |
K Q J 9 5 |
| |
K 8 5 |
| |
9 7 6 2 |
| |
6 |
|
Bid One Spade.
Your minor honours are all in spades.
You want spades to be trumps.
Your long holding the opponents' suit is a drawback
but since they are all losers anyway it is not terrible.
|
Summary
Don't be afraid to defend.
You can more easily get a top score by defending when your hand has defensive values
than you can by declaring, so sometimes it pays to keep quiet.
You also gain the bonus of not giving away information to the declarer
if you have kept silent during the auction.
But with a hand suited to attack,
especially when you would like partner to lead your suit if you end up defending,
bid freely and, at low levels, without fear.
You are unlikely to be punished at the one and two levels,
even when you have picked a bad moment.
Author: Chris Burton
Gravesend Bridge Club