Glasgow Division Two: Team Rowan vs GBC

Last night me and Anna played in our first league match. We were part of Team Rowan, playing in Division 2 of the Championship.

We had been drafted in as Subs. Our opponents, from GBC Bridge Club, were also a bit short of people, and in the pair we played against there were a lot of Beechams being eaten. "The daily limit is 12 in 24 hours", said our beleaguered opponent, "but I've been having Strepsils too."

Part One

Since it was my first league match I was a bit nervous, and kept checking what type of scoring it was (aggregate), and which way North was. On the very first Board I went for a wild unblocking play, throwing away my winning ♠Q as I was convinced Anna had the ♠J and ♠T. If in doubt, unblock, that's what I've heard. But in this case it was actually declarer who had the other Spades, and embarrassingly won them all to make the contract exactly. If I hadn't been so keen to unblock we could have beaten it by two tricks.

In the first twelve boards there were mostly part scores, which have little effect in aggregate scoring. There were two big hands though - once when an opponent was dealt 26 points. On our table they ended up playing 4♠ in a 4-2 fit, and made it exactly. On another table David had the same hand for our team. After he opened 2♣ and partner showed a non-minimum (by bidding 2♦ in reply) he bid a simple 6NT, and made it exactly.

On the other big hand I pushed the boat out and overcalled 1♠. Anna took me seriously and raised me to 3♠, then later came in again with 4♠, which was doubled. The play didn't go well, and after going three off I noticed one of the middle buttons on my shirt was undone. Still, at equal vulnerability three off doubled was about equal with their making 4♥ game.

At the half way stage team Rowan were about 1500 points up, a decent margin, but of course could be wiped out in a single board.

Part Two

In the second half the bridge got a bit wilder, and we missed a couple of games, and so did our opponents. At one point I chivalrously went to get another glass of water for our coughing opponent, and rushed back up the stairs and into a routine 2♦ contract. It all went horribly wrong though. Half way through the play I found an extra Club in my hand, and noticed another shirt button that was undone - what did I look like when I came in? 2♦-1, vulnerable, meant -100 points instead of +90.

After that it got a bit more relaxed. I enjoyed it when I ducked declarer's singleton heart with my Ace, and afterwards Anna grinned at me knowing I'd done it again, ducked a singleton. It didn't cost a trick though, I'm sure it didn't.

On the penultimate board of the day Me and Anna bid a big 6NT, after a very dodgy auction. Once Anna bid 3NT I raised directly to 6NT, and prayed we weren't off two aces. It made exactly, and I knew that was a good score. So on the final board my blood was up, and I decided to go looking for a slam. I didn't find it though. Despite all the good things we did in the evening, this is the hand that sticks in my mind.

♠ x ♥ K x x ♦ A T x ♣ K Q x x x x ♠ J x x x x ♥ T x x x x ♦ Q x ♣ A 12 7 5 16 ♠ A x x x ♥ x ♦ x x x ♣ J T x x x ♠ K Q x ♥ A Q J x ♦ K J 8 7 x ♣ x

Anna Danny W N E S - 1♣ - 1♦ - 2♣ - 2♥ - 3♦ - 4NT - 5♣ - 5♦ - - -

Anna sitting North opened 1♣. I was sitting South, and had a big hand. Once Anna opened I was dreaming big, even though I've a singleton in her suit. I replied 1♦, and Anna rebid 2♣. I now bid 2♥. This is natural, and also this shows a responder's reverse which we play as game forcing. Anna then bid 3♦, which describes her hand perfectly. She's got exactly three card Diamond support, as with four Diamonds she's have raised before.

At this point I should bid a calm 3NT. I've got a big Spade stop, and at most we've got about 30 points.

But, on the other hand, I've got five losers, Anna opened, and we've a Diamond fit. I'm gunning for another slam.

I wanted to bid 4♦, which is forcing, but I was slightly worried Anna would pass. I shouldn't really worry about this, but afterwards Anna admitted there was just a chance she might have passed it. So instead I went for an immediate 1430 Keycard , after I worked out that I could probably handle any reply from partner. Anna only showed just one keycard, so with a sense of dread I settled for 5♦.

West lead a Spade. When I saw dummy I knew that 3NT was making. In 5♦ we were missing two Aces, so I had to hope for no losers in trumps. To go down in 5♦ when 3NT was making would be a very bad result.

East won the Spade lead with the Ace and returned a Heart. I knew I had to guess trumps. But I decided that, before doing that, it was worth trying to steal a trick in Clubs by leading up to dummy. I hoped that West would duck (maybe like me she ducks too much). But, she took her ♣A, and now I couldn't afford to lose any more tricks. But I did. West returned a Heart and East ruffed that. And worse than that, East returned a Club and West ruffed that. And worse than that, they then got another Heart ruff. Anna was not amused. I was now three off. And the really embarrassing thing is I could actually have made 5♦, if I start with trumps and choose to finesse West.

Overall, the team finished about 3,000 points ahead, which translated to a 14-2 Victory Points win.

I'm not sitting on de'fence

Late last night I had a few hands on Bridge Base with Anna, in the Acol Club.

In the first few hands, nothing much happened. Then came the big one. With no one vulnerable my right-hand opponent opened 2♣. I didn't hesitate, and weighed in with this fairly modest hand:

♠ A5 ♥ QJT ♦ AQ874 ♣ T74

I overcalled 2♦. My philosophy is to always interfere with the opponent's 2♣ openings, if possible. There's no chance you're going to get doubled, as whoever opened 2♣ has got a monster hand and is going to want to show his suit at the very least. Here I actually had an OK hand, with ♦AQ too.

The extra hope of interfering is that you can find a good sacrifice, but partner couldn't support by Diamonds, and the opponents ended up in 4♥. This was the full deal and auction:

I'm South and Anna is North.

You can see that East has decided to open 2♣ on only 11 points, but with a massive Heart suit. With a hand like that, there's no chance of it getting passed out if you just open 1♥, so that's what I would have done. Then bid 4♥ on the second round. The other option is to just open 4♥, but I think the hand is too good for that.

Once East opens 2♣ West has a massive 11 points, so must have been thinking of slam, but kept the bidding low, and they reached the normal contract of 4♥.

You can see that, with the bad Heart split, declarer has just seven Heart tricks, along with two Clubs (even if the finesse fails), so only nine tricks. However, there's chances for a tenth trick in Spades (if you guess to play to the King), Diamonds (if the defence try and take the ♦A), and Clubs (if South leads away from his ♣T, declarer's ♣9 becomes a third round winner).

But I was giving nothing away. I lead the ♥Q, which declarer won in hand and drew trumps. After I won the third round of trumps it looked pretty hopeless, so it was time to take a risk.

I lead a low Spade from my ♠A5. Since people so rarely underlead an Ace, declarer naturally put in the ♠J, which Anna sitting North took with her ♠Q. She was a bit confused where the ♠A was, but figured it out and returned a Spade to my ♠A. We now had three defensive tricks, so I tried cashing my ♦A. Declarer ruffed this, but was now cut off from dummy, and had to lose a further trick in Clubs to North. 4♥-1, the only table that managed this.

I was pretty surprised when partner turned up with both the ♠Q and ♣K, leaving declarer just 11 points for her 2♣ opening, but it was the only shot and we took it. Flushed with that success, I made a mad lead on the next board which hit the jackpot too.

Jake Corry, who seems to see everything on Bridge Base, described my play of a low Spade from ♠Ax as "flashy, but nice".

Deal of Last Week - Deal of the Week #6

The Joke of the Week was about a Cheese Factory, but unfortunately none of the bridge this week caught my eye enough to feature in the Blog. The closest was a hand where I coffee-housed NC into bidding an excellent 3NT. I then had to leave the room suddenly, just as the defence were cashing the first five Club tricks. I maintain it was a fine contract.

Luckily there's some unresolved business to write about from Last Week. A deal so big it has stretched over the weekend to become this week's featured deal. With North-South hundreds of points behind on Friday lunch-time, they needed some magic. It didn't happen the first hand, or the second, but then came this deal.

♠ A Q T x x ♥ x x ♦ A J x x x ♣ x ♠ - ♥ K Q x x x x ♦ T x x x ♣ A x x 11 9 8 12 ♠ x ♥ J x x ♦ K Q x ♣ Q T 9 x x x ♠ K J x x x x x ♥ A x ♦ x ♣ K J x

ID NC AP JW W N E S 4♠ - 6♠ - - -

There was no time for messing around. JW got dealt the hand below, and saw his chance to mix things up. He opened an immediate 4♠. NC sitting North then had a big decision. No one quite knew the score, but it looked like he needed at least a small slam. I advised him to bid "at least 6♠", and he wisely went for just 6♠. This was passed out.

West considered his lead. He was tempted by the ♣A. This would have been the right lead against 7♠, where you only need one trick. But against 6♠, you need two tricks. So the best lead is a high Heart. This will probably lose to the ♥A, but then you'll be poised to get your two tricks. So ID lead the ♥K, which was won by declarer in hand. The lead has worked - declarer now looks like he is facing a loser in Hearts and Clubs. The only way to avoid this tricks is if he can pull off some magic in the Diamond suit. And that's exactly what happened.

First, declarer drew trumps in one round. Then he won the ♦A, ruffed a Diamond (East had to play the ♦Q), crossed to dummy in trumps, ruffed another Diamond (East had to play the ♦K), then crossed to dummy again to take the now winning ♦J and discard the losing heart from hand. With dummy's winning fifth Diamond he discarded one of his Clubs, and still had two trumps in dummy to ruff two Club. So the only trick lost was one Club, for 6♠=.

It was lucky that one defender had ♦KQx, meaning the ♦J became a winner after three rounds. If that didn't happen, declarer would start to run out of trumps in dummy, and wouldn't have enough to both use as entries, and to ruff two Clubs. So to make the contract he'd have to lead up to his ♣KJx and guess which one to play (here the Jack). If he guesses right, he only needs to ruff one Club in dummy.

The safest way to play the contract is actually to start on Diamonds before drawing trumps. This looks like it carries a risk of the defence getting a ruff if Diamonds are 6-1 or 5-2, but actually if that's the case you're not going to make the contract anyway.

After declarer made 6♠= there was some frantic calculations as to the final score. In fact, this continued on to Monday, and I'm still not sure who won the week.

What's the name of this convention?

Me and Anna had some wine and a few hands on Bridge Base the other night.

The highlight was undoubtedly this piece of sensational bidding.

After three passes North opened 1♥. I'm sitting East, with a tremendous hand. I know I want to bid something, but I'm not sure what. I could bid 2♣, but I'm afraid Anna might pass. 5♣ might be wrong too. I could double then bid Clubs?

But then it hits me. Of course I want to be in 3NT. I can't bid it without a Heart stop, but maybe Anna can. So, I pull out the master bid of 3♥. This immediate jump-cubeid is asking if partner has a stop so can bid 3NT. It's normally based on a long running minor, like I have here. Anna sitting West has the perfect hand and can confidently bid 3NT. If she didn't have a Heart stop, we'd have ended up in 4♣.

Against 3NT East very shrewdly lead a Spade, knowing that declarer had a Heart stop, but luckily Anna had those covered too. She won her ♠K, then claimed the ♥A, ♦A, and eight Clubs for 3NT+2. Note that if 3NT is played by the East hand it could go down on a Spade lead, but 3NT by West is unbeatable.

Our 3NT+2 gained 7.9 IMPs, when compared with other tables playing the same hand. Most other tables featured East-West playing in 5♣ off one, usually doubled. And on a few tables North-South were allowed to play in 4♠, making.

It was a good result, but one question remains. Anyone know the proper name of my conventional 3♥ bid?

Twice 5 Spades - Deal of the Week #5

This week's Deal of the Week features JW bidding 'em up in 5♠, not once but twice.

On the first occasion he hit a monster dummy, but it wasn't quite enough:

♠ T x x x x x ♥ T x x x ♦ Q x ♣ x ♠ x ♥ A K Q J x x x ♦ K x ♣ x x x 2 13 10 15 ♠ - ♥ x x ♦ A x x x x x x x ♣ A x x ♠ A K J x x ♥ - ♦ J x ♣ K Q J T x x

DH NC AP JW W N E S 1♣ 4♥ - - 4♠ - - 5♥ 5♠ - - -

South dealt and opened 1♣. I was sitting West and had the big Heart suit. Maybe I should only bid 1♥, but I decided to go big with an immediate 4♥. North played it cool with a pass. East has a good hand but no bid, so passed too. South wasn't done, and came back in with 4♠, showing the two-suiter. North again made a reserved pass of 4♠, and East judged very well to bid 5♥. But South still wasn't done, and came back again with 5♠. This won the auction, but at what price?

When dummy came down in 5♠ it was a bit of a shock. Six card trump support! West lead the ♥K, ruffed by declarer. He drew trumps, and tried to set up the Club suit. But when East won his ♣A he quickly switched to Diamonds, and the defence got their three tricks. 5♠-1. But it was a good sacrifice, as East-West are making 5♥, 6♥ in fact.

On Wednesday night JW was at it again, bidding 'em up.

♠ J 9 ♥ K J x x x ♦ K J x x x ♣ x ♠ x ♥ A x ♦ A x x x x x x ♣ x x x 9 8 10 13 ♠ T x x x ♥ x x ♦ - ♣ A K Q J x x x ♠ A K Q x x x ♥ Q x x x ♦ Q ♣ x

DH NC TB JW W N E S - 3♣ 3♠ 4♣ 4♦ 5♣ 5♠ - - -

North dealt and passed. TB sitting East wasted no time with an immediate 3♣ opening. JW sitting South came in with 3♠. I was East and have a good hand for support in Clubs. I should maybe have bid more, but kept to a modest 4♣. But I needn't have worried. After North came in with 4♦ (we were all feeling quite bold) East bid 5♣ himself. This could have been the final contract, but JW stole it again with 5♠.

This time dummy didn't offer so many trumps, but has a good fit in Hearts. Against 5♠ I lead a club to East's ♣A, then switched to a low Heart. I won with the ♥A sitting West, and had a bit of a quandary. I have seven Diamonds in my hand and can see five in dummy, so I know that someone has a void. I was a bit afraid to cash my ♦A, as if it's declarer who's void he might ruff, then use that ♦K in dummy to discard a losing Heart (if he has one). I think this is a bit fanciful and I should just play a Diamond, but got myself a bit tangled up and decided the safest thing was to play a trump.

It looks like declarer can now make the contract, by ruffing a Club in dummy, drawing trumps, and eventually using the extra Heart in dummy to throw away his Diamond loser. But, with the trumps splitting like they do, he doesn't quite have enough entries. So the contract went one off. Another 5♠-1. However, like before, even though the contract didn't make it was an excellent sacrifice, as East-West have no trouble making 5♣ (12 tricks actually).

Next time when JW bids 5♠, I'll bid on over him.

Standby Me

Last Monday at the Buchanan I was the standby. That means if anyone comes along without a partner, I join up with them. I had an excellent game with John Logue, and we finished 7th out of 52 pairs.

I had a tough decision early on, with these North cards.

♠ K J 9 8 6 ♥ A Q J ♦ 5 4 ♣ T 7 2

	Danny		John
W	N	E	S
1♠	-	-	x
-	-	-

West opened 1♠, and of course I passed. This went round to my partner, who doubled. I was hoping he would. Since East-West were vulnerable I decided to pass the takeout double, and so we defended 1♠x. This was an all or nothing decision, as in Matchpoint scoring we'd either get a top if we defeated it (even by one trick) and a bottom if declarer made it. Luckily for me, John had a good 10 points for his double, and we defeated it 1♠x-1 for +200.

Next here's a hand where I steered home a very dicey 3NT, using my favourite strategy of ducking. I'm sitting South. The defence had already taken one trick, when East switched to the ♦Q.

	♦ 9 5 3
♦ A 6 4		♦ Q J T 8
	♦ K 7 2

This looks like big trouble. I ducked the ♦Q, and also the ♦J. I'm now down to the bare ♦K, and was a bit worried East actually had ♦AQJT8 and was about to embarrass me by cashing the Ace now. But, as I expected, when East played a third round West had to win her ♦A, and had no more Diamonds to continue the suit.

Here's another tough bidding decision. Partner, who hadn't got a good hand all day, finally dealt and opened 5♦ vulnerable. I had:

♠ J 8 6 ♥ A K Q 7 6 ♦ - ♣ Q T 7 4 2

Partner probably has eight or nine tricks. With my Hearts there's an excellent chance of a slam. Of course, it's quite possible that partner is void in Hearts. But if he is, then we're not making 5♦ either. So should I just bid 6♦? In the end I decided to pass, and partner, having no Hearts, went one off. The East-West hands were:

♠ A 7 4 ♥ - ♦ A K J T 9 8 7 6 3 ♣ 3

♠ J 8 6 ♥ A K Q 7 6 ♦ - ♣ Q T 7 4 2

John Danny W E 5♦ -

Declarer got his niine Diamond tricks and one Spade. Lots of other tables somehow made 11 or 12 tricks, so that was a bad score for us (one table made 7♦x, presumably on a very favourable Heart lead).

Finally here's a hand where I made loads of tricks.

♠ Q 9 ♥ K T 7 2 ♦ A T 5 2 ♣ A K 4

♠ A J 8 7 6 4 ♥ A 4 ♦ K ♣ T 9 7 5

Danny John W E 1♠ 2♦ 2♠ 4♠

We had agreed that our 1♠ openings promise 5 cards, so once I had rebid 2♠ John could be fairly confident I had six, so bid 4♠.

I got a low Heart lead, and made 13 tricks, despite trumps breaking 5-0.

Then I had a whisky and bodged the last two boards. But we still finished on a very good 58.50%.

The decider - Deal of the Week #4

After Monday to Thursday it was all square - this week's lunchtime bridge league all comes down to Friday. With five minutes left, North-South need a game. It's a pressure cooker.

Before picking up his cards, TB sitting North checks the score and declares he's going to bid whatever he has. Then he opens 1♦. But wait! It's not his deal. West exercises his right as dealer to bid first, and opens 1♥. The full auction is:

NC	TB	JW	ID
W	N	E	S
1♥	2♦	-	2♠
-	4♠	-	-
-

After the 2♦ overcall ID sitting South is able to reply 2♠, and North doesn't hesitate in bidding game. It's pretty clear they were going to bid game whatever the hands, so there is a temptation for East-West to double. In fact, they're getting egged on to double. But West makes a dignified pass, and leads the ♣7 against 4♠. This is what declarer saw:

♠ K Q 5 ♥ Q 2 ♦ A 9 7 6 3 ♣ Q 8 4

♠ A 9 4 2 ♥ 9 5 4 2 ♦ 4 2 ♣ A J 5

Well there's only seven trumps, but it's not a terrible contract. Especially when, on the first trick, declarer played low from dummy and East popped up with the King. Declarer won the ♣A, and now had three Club winners.

Next declarer anxiously drew trumps. It all looked good when they split 3-3. Now he turned to the Diamonds. If it's your lucky day they'll also split 3-3, like this.

	♦ A 9 7 6 3
♦ x x x		♦ x x x
	♦ 4 2

The right play is to duck the first Diamond, then win the second round with the Ace, ruff one in hand, and finally cross to dummy with the ♣Q to get the last two Diamonds. If you win the ♦A on the first round you then don't have enough entries to set up the suit and get back to it.

Declarer lead a low Diamond from his hand and, paused, and ... found the textbook play of ducking. West won the trick, and the spotlight was now on NC. If he gets it right, the defence can take the next four tricks in Hearts. If he gets it wrong though, and leads any other suit, then declarer can make it by using dummy's Diamonds to discard two Hearts. The contract, and the whole week, depends on his next card. After the briefest of pauses, West found the killing defence and took the next four tricks, for two off. The full deal was:

♠ K Q 5 ♥ Q 7 ♦ A 9 7 6 3 ♣ Q 8 4 ♠ T 6 3 ♥ A K J T 3 ♦ K Q 4 ♣ 7 2 13 13 5 9 ♠ J 8 7 ♥ 8 6 ♦ J T 2 ♣ K 9 6 3 2 ♠ A 9 4 2 ♥ 9 5 4 2 ♦ 8 5 ♣ A J 5

NC TB JW ID W N E S 1♥ 2♦ - 2♠ - 4♠ - - -

Was it possible to make 4♠? You'll need Spades 3-3 and Diamonds 3-3 to have any chance. Also, you need a bit of luck on the opening lead, and you get it when the defence produce the ♣K. It's now best to play the Diamonds before drawing trumps - not because you want to use your trumps to ruff Hearts, but because you want to keep a trump in dummy for protection. But even then, it's not quite going to work against best defence. West can win his ♥AK and lead a third Heart, forcing declarer to ruff in dummy. If he ruffs low, East can overruff. If he ruffs high, then he can't draw trumps and the defence will get a trump trick anyway.

On the actual deal, declarer was two off, which meant that East-West won the day and won the week. But had the defence slipped up, it could have been very different.

Winter Pairs

Me and Anna had a bumper night yesterday, in the first round of the Buchanan Winter Pairs. We finished as the top East-West pair on 67%, despite a little dip at the end of the night. Anna says this was because I drunk too much beer.

On the penultimate board, defending 1NT, Anna could have taken it down by ducking an Ace, after which declarer would be stranded in the wrong hand. On the final board, defending 3♠, I could have taken down by taking my Ace and not ducking.

The suit looked like this, with North dummy and my defending sitting East:

	♥ K 8 5 4
		♥ A J 6 3

Declarer lead a low Heart from dummy, and I instinctively played low. Declarer won her singleton ♥Q in hand, and that was enough to make the contract. The full layout was:

	♥ K 8 5 4
♥ T 9 7 2		♥ A J 6 3
	♥Q

Of course it's possible that the layout was something like below, in which case I would have been right to duck.

	♥ K 8 5 4
♥ T 9		♥ A J 6 3
	♥Q 7 2

Given the actual auction though, it was clear to duck. This mistake was typical of me, I often duck far too much. Conversely, Anna never likes to duck.

On the whole, our bidding during the evening was very conservative. Despite my whisky I kept the bidding simple. The one time I boldly stretched was this hand below, where we might have played a comfortable 2♠ but ended up in game:

♠ K J 9 8 7 2 ♥ K 7 4 ♦ K 3 ♣ A 5

♠ T 6 ♥ 9 ♦ A J 9 7 6 4 2 ♣ K 9 6

Anna Danny W E 1♠ 2♦ 2♠ 3♠ 4♠

Anna had the West cards, and opened 1♠. The textbook bid from me as East is 1NT, as I ought to have 10+ points to be bidding at the two level. But, I figured that with seven Diamonds, and a decent hand for playing in Spades, I didn't want to play in 1NT. So I upgraded, and bid 2♦. I was hoping Anna would now bid 2♠ (almost certainly showing six), and she did. I was going to pass this, happy it was a good contract, when I realised that actually I only had seven losers. Should I be bidding 4♠ then? With such with weak trumps I couldn't quite do that, so bid 3♠, and with six losers Anna immediately bid 4♠

4♠ looks pretty good. My ♠T means Anna has at most two trump losers, and if she can keep the Heart losers to one, the contract looks good. There's a small danger of a Diamond ruff too.

The defence took their ♥A, and two trumps when North had ♠AQ43, but they were the only losers so Anna made a good 4♠

We'll have to try and make sure we're free the first Wednesday of next month now, to continue the Winter Pairs.

Team Rowan

This year, for the first time, me and Anna have joined a Bridge Team to play in the Glasgow League. We're in Division Two with Team Rowan.

On Tuesday night the whole squad went out for dinner at Cafe Andaluz. After a fine meal, our Team Captain gave a short speech. "Most of all, have fun, and let's try not to get relegated!". I had the beetroot salad, mussels, and paella.

Eventually, the chat turned to Bridge. Our team-mates Eileen and Jill mentioned that they play the Multi 2♦ convention. Anna hates playing against that, I said. That's part of the reason they play it. So, in order to overcome our fear of the Multi, here's my summary.

Multi 2♦

An opening bid of 2♦ shows a Weak Two in either Hearts or Spades. So any hand with a good six card major and about 6-10 points:

♠ K x x ♥ A J x x x x ♦ x x x ♣ x

♠ Q J x x x x ♥ x x ♦ K x ♣ x x x

Since the 2♦ doesn't promise anything in Diamonds, responder needs to bid something, then opener can show his suit. So most of the time responder simply bids 2♥, and opener either passes this or corrects to 2♠

If responder has length in either Major he can force the bidding higher. But he has to be wary, as he doesn't know what opener's suit is. If responder has three card support in either Major so is happy to play at the three level in whichever opener's suit is, he can bid 3♥. As before, opener passes or corrects to Spades.

If responder has good Spade support, but no heart support, he has to begin with a simple 2♥. If opener passes, so be it, his suit was Hearts. If he bids 2♠ though, you can then raise.

The one tricky case is if responder has good Heart support, but not Spade support. Here he bids 2♠. As ever, opener either passes or corrects. If opener has Hearts he'll now bid 3♥, which is fine as you have Heart support, and you might even now raise to 4♥. If opener has Spades he'll pass out 2♠. One way to remember this as responder is to bid the suit you don't have.

Finally, if responder has a really good hand he can bid a forcing and natural 3♣ or 3♦. He can also bid 2NT, which is some sort of forcing enquiry as to which suit opener has, and if he's minimum or maximum.

The responses in full are:

Any Heart or Spade bid	Pass or Correct
2NT	Forcing enquiry
3♣ or 3♦	Natural
3NT	To play

Example Hand

♠ T 5 2 ♥ A Q 6 5 3 2 ♦ 4 ♣ K 7 4

♠ 8 2 ♥ K T 5 ♦ Q T 6 5 2 ♣ Q 7 3

W E 2♦ 2♠ 3♥

West has a Weak Two in Hearts, so opens 2♦. East has a rubbish hand, but three card Heart support, so bids 2♠, inviting opener to pass or correct. West has Hearts, so bids 3♥. This is passed out.

3♥ will fail, probably by two tricks. But this would be a good result, as the opposition very likely have a game in Hearts.

Good idea

If you play a Multi 2♦, you then have the 2♥ and 2♠ opening bids free for other bids. Eileen and Jill use them for Lucas Twos, which are Weak Twos with a shapely hand with only a five card Major.

The first league match isn't for a little while, so now's the time to practice our Multi. It's the first week of the Winter Pairs Series at the Buchanan tonight, so hopefully I can convince Anna to play the Multi 2♦. She doesn't seem at all keen though.