Hand of the week - 3rd May 2026

 

27^th April Board 24

It took some digging but I found a hand worth discussing. It was played in our Monday Junior session so many of the players in that session would not play the convention which I will discuss.

W is dealer holding a good hand with 17hcp.

S  AKQJ532

H. QJ4

D. K

C. J2

Bids 1S.

N also has a good hand with 15hcp.

S. 7

H. AK

D. AJT43

C. KT963

This hand has a singleton in the bid suit and good controls in the other 3 suits. How can he/she describe their hand as quickly as possible without making many bids. The Unusual 2NT is the best option as it’s description is 5/5 in the 2 lowest unbid suits, Ds and Cs in this hand.

E has 2 hcp and 3Ss maybe they might bid 3S. Let us assume they do this.

S must make a decision do they bid 4C, because their partner probably has one or no spades and they have a 8 card fit in Cs and 7 card fit in Ds, do they sit there and let W play in 3S, answer is No. With 2 honours in Cs they should bid 4C.

If W now goes to 4S, it’s N decision to make whether they bid 5C . With a singleton S and AK in Hs and A control in D, the answer is Yes.

S are pleasantly surprised to see partners hand. 5C are makeable, incidentally so are 4Hs. 4S would go down  two, but better to score 400 than 100.