Hand of the week - 6th June 2026

5^th June Board 22

Usually I select hands based on how to bid to appropriate level and/or how to play the cards to achieve the best result.

This week’s hand is none of those, let’s call it Bidder Beware.

E passes holding 0hcp. S has a very good hand with 19hcp.

S  AQ97

H. QT7

D  KJ43

C.  AK

Let us look at a couple of bidding scenarios.

Some people would bid 2C showing 19+hcp, I am not a fan of that prefer 20+.

Others playing 4 card majors will bid 1D which is my preferred option. If your partner bids at 1 level showing 6+hcp, then you will automatically bid 3NT.

Those playing 5 card majors will bid 1C.

So the bid is 1D.

W holding 17hcp thinks what to do, he has two options, first is X showing 12+hcp and can support any bid partner makes or as he is balanced and has a hold in RHO’s bid suit, he can bid 1NT. Let’s take first option X, N passes but E now has a problem as X and no bid by N means you MUST bid or do you consider with partner’s X and your 4Ds you can afford to leave the X in. Very risky if partner only has 12 or 13 hcp so it could result in a huge score as either S or W has a big hand. If you don’t then the only option is bid 2C.

Souths turn, if you passed then they will bid 1NT, lowest possible bid as their partner has passed so they are holding less than 6hcp. If E bid 2C then they will bid 2NT.

Ws turn do they pass or X, judging by the results most passed.

Mostly E did bid 2C and S went to 2NT. Only on a couple of occasions did E pass and allow S to play in 1NT.  Some W players over 1D did bid 1NT which gave a near or bottom board.

If you were E what did you do.