TWIB Collection Search
In 2020 Robert started to create digital products to accompany of the TWIB Articles. This pages allows you to search the TWIBS with practice hands and other supporting digital products.
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In 2020 Robert started to create digital products to accompany of the TWIB Articles. This pages allows you to search the TWIBS with practice hands and other supporting digital products.
TWiB Lesson #550 (1 of 8)
When RHO opens a 2-level preempt, they have started eating up our valuable bidding space. But this is just the start of their attack on us. LHO may join in the attack and raise the preempt, making our life even more difficult. When we are bidding over RHO’s 2-level preempt we should keep this in mind. We need lots of tools to deal with this situation.
TWiB Lesson #551 (2 of 8)
When the opponents open at the 4-level they put a lot of pressure on us to make difficult decisions without much room to maneuver or describe our hand. This preempt will force us to either double or overcall at a very high level. Let’s look at these options and see how we need to adjust our thinking and bidding because of the lack of available space.
TWiB Lesson #552 (3 of 8)
When the opponents open the bidding with a 3-level preempt then much of tour focus is on “Should we bid beyond 3NT?” This is especially true when we have one long minor, when we likely want to play in 3NT or 5-minor. This allows us to use 4-minor in some interesting conventional ways, just as we do vs. a 2-level preempt.
TWiB Lesson #553 (4 of 8)
When the opponents stay out of our auctions then usually 4NT is Quantitative in a NT auction or Keycard in a suit auction. But in a competitive auction we are more likely to use 4NT as a bid showing 2 places to play. Let’s look at some of these auctions so we know what partner is trying to do to when they use 4NT in a competitive auction.
TWiB Lesson #554 (5 of 8)
Good/Bad 2NT gives Opener two ways to compete to the 3-level – by bidding directly with a “Good Hand” or by bidding 2NT first with a “Bad Hand”. By using 2NT as a relay bid, instead of a natural call, this allows for a more precise description of Opener’s hand. Let’s see how it works through examples.
TWiB Lesson #555 (6 of 8)
In competitive auctions where the opponents have found a fit, we will compete aggressively – especially at matchpoints. We will frequently use double (for takeout) with three-suited hands and sometimes with two-suited hands. To handle these situations, we want partner (Advancer) to have a tool to help us find our best fit. As usual, in competitive auctions our choice of convention will be 2NT. This gadget is called Scrambling 2NT.
TWiB Lesson #556 (7 of 8)
Lead-directing doubles can be helpful in getting partner off to a good opening lead. These lead-directing doubles are common when the opponents make an artificial bid. But when the opponents make a cuebid of our suit, then a lead-directing double is also very common. Here we focus on this situation in detail in order to structure our agreements to allow us to communicate in the most effective way we can.
TWiB Lesson #541 (1 of 9)
When the opponents open the bidding with a strong 1NT the hand usually belongs to them, as we are less likely to have a majority of the HCP. We usually compete with shapely hands - 1-suited or 2-suited distributional hands.
TWiB Lesson #542 (2 of 9)
There are many artificial systems for competing over the opponent’s 1NT opening bid. Woolsey is focused on finding Major suit fits while allowing us to compete as cheaply as possible.
TWiB Lesson #543 (3 of 9)
When the opponents are playing a “Weak 1NT” opening bid (for example, 12-14 points), we need to bid only when we have a decently valued hand. It is common to use a different bidding system against the opponents’ Weak 1NT opening bid than the one you use against a strong 1NT opening.
TWiB Lesson #544 (4 of 9)
When constructing a system to allow us to bid over these weak 1NT openings we need to take a different approach than bidding over a strong 1NT opening. Thus, we construct our bidding system to allow us to explore game and make constructive bids, not just be destructive.
TWiB Lesson #545 (5 of 9)
After partner opens 1NT, we have a good structure for using our bids efficiently to describe our hand to partner. But when the opponents interfere in our auction, we lose some of this valuable bidding space and need to change our approach in order to deal with their interference.
TWiB Lesson #546 (6 of 9)
There are many systems the opponents play in order to interfere over our 1NT opening bid, but almost all of these systems use the 3-level (actually 2NT+) for the same meanings – 2NT as a weak bid showing both minors and 3-level bids as weak with a long suit, preemptive. It is important that you and partner are on the same page for how to deal with this higher-level interference.
TWiB Lesson #547 (7 of 9)
When we open the bidding with 1NT if an opponent makes a penalty double, we are less likely to be we are usually looking to escape from a 1NT contract and attempt to find some safer place to play. This safe place will hopefully be our largest fit or a long suit in the weak hand (in Responder’s hand). In order to find this place to play we need to look at how Responder’s bidding options change after a penalty double.
TWiB Lesson #548 (8 of 9)
Lebensohl is an excellent system for dealing with interference over our 1NT opening bids. But Lebensohl has some flaws. In Lebensohl auctions we will often play the hand from the “wrong” side (Responder’s side.) Another flaw in Lebensohl relates to Responder’s strength. Responder often has three strengths (buckets) let’s see how Transfer Lebensohl is an upgrade to this.
TWiB Lesson #549 (9 of 9)
One of the most common gadgets that we use when partner opens 1NT is Stayman. We primarily use Stayman to search for a 4-4 Major suit fit. After Stayman sometimes we want to have a way to raise partner’s suit where they cannot pass. We will want a “Forcing Raise” (similar to Jacoby 2NT or Inverted Minors) in order to find out more about Opener’s hand. This is missing from a standard bidding system. It is a valuable tool for making a slam try while keeping the auction from getting too high.
TWiB Lesson #532 (1 of 9)
When we are in a game forcing auction and the opponents interfere (usually to sacrifice) it is clear that we are not going to go quietly and just let them steal the contract. If the opponents bid over us, then we will either double them and defend or bid on to our game. Forcing Pass is an agreement used to help us work together with partner to make a good decision about which to do.
TWiB Lesson #533 (2 of 9)
Minor suit slams are much harder to bid than Major suit slams. This is especially true after we open the bidding with 1NT (or 2NT). We start off the auction looking for Major suit fits and only then look for our minor suit fits after that. These Major suit showing bids are the cheapest bids and that means that our minor suit showing bids take up more space. We look at how we overcome this bidding challenge to bid good minor suit slams.
TWiB Lesson #534 (3 of 9)
We can use a 5-Major bid for something other than to end the auction. 5-Major can be bid concisely for a variety of reasons -- to take away bidding space from the opponents or to ask partner a specific question (which we call the “obvious question”). Let’s look at our options for how to make use of this 5-Major bid.
TWiB Lesson #535 (4 of 9)
5NT is not a common bid. We most frequently use it in Ace-asking auctions to ask for Kings. We now have another use of a 5NT bid in Grand Slam Force. But trying for a grand slam is a rare occurrence and we would like to use 5NT (specially a jump to 5NT) for another more frequently useful purpose. The modern approach is to play a jump to 5NT as a “choice of slams” to help up find the best small slam. Let’s see how this works.
TWiB Lesson #536 (5 of 9)
On some highly distributional hands when we ask for Keycards (or Aces) using 4NT, the opponents choose to bid over our 4NT bid in an effort to obstruct our communication and “get in the way”. We should be prepared for this type of interference and have agreements for how to communicate with partner (show our number of Keycards or Aces) in this situation. Here we look at how to do this.
TWiB Lesson #537 (6 of 9)
When partner bids 4NT as Keycard in our established fit, a void in a side suit can be useful. We may still be able to make a slam if we are missing two Aces/Keycards if the void is in a suit of one of those missing side Aces. We need a way to tell partner about this void if we haven’t already done so earlier in the auction.
TWiB Lesson #538 (7 of 9)
When we have a minor suit fit, using 4-minor as Keycard in our suit (Minorwood) is an effective tool for exploring slam without getting the auction beyond game, beyond 5-minor. But by adopting Minorwood, we give up the natural slam try of 4-minor, asking partner to do something forward going for slam, usually starting to make a control showing bid, if they like their hand. By making an improvement to our Ace-showing structure in Minorwood, we can combine both Keycard-asking and quantitative bidding into one structure. This new structure is called Q-Minorwood.
TWiB Lesson #539 (8 of 9)
When we find a Major suit fit at the 3-level in a game forcing auction, then partner is usually expressing interest in slam (because without slam interest, partner would have applied the Principle of Fast Arrival and bid 4M.) In this case, now we usually express whether we have slam interest or not by either making a cuebid or simply bidding game with 4M. A partnership can use a gadget called “Non-Serious 3NT” to gain even further clarification about a player’s level of slam interest.
TWiB Lesson #540 (9 of 9)
One of the ways that we investigate slam in a suit contract is the use of control showing bids. When one member of the partnership is interested in slam then they show this interest by making a control showing bid. Once we start the process of making control showing bids then we continue to do so to explore slam. But as the auction approaches game we have a big decision to make, should we go past game or not. This can be a difficult decision; In this situation we would like to have a way to make “one more try for slam”. The way that we do that is with a convention called the Last Train to Clarksville (“Last Train”).
TWiB Lesson #524 (1 of 8)
One of the most important parts of bridge is raising partner. We try to raise Opener whenever possible. We may choose not to support partner immediately if we feel we have something more pressing to communicate, but in general we strive to “support with support.”
TWiB Lesson #525 (2 of 8)
When partner opens in 3rd or 4th seat and we have a good hand, we do not want to go jumping around to show it – partner may have no game interest for their opening bid. We want to have an effective way of describing our good hands cheaply when partner opens in 3rd or 4th seat.
TWiB Lesson #526 (3 of 8)
We look at ways that Advancer can raise partner's overcalls. It is good to have tools that show a fti and describe your hand -- one of the most common actions we like to take.
TWiB Lesson #527 (4 of 8)
When partner makes a 1-level overcall it is a very wide-ranging action in terms of strength and shape – about 7 to 18 HCP and a 5+card suit. Advancer generally assumes Overcaller has at least 10 HCP, we look at Advancer’s options for bidding and what partner should expect.
TWiB Lesson #528 (5 of 8)
A Mixed Raise shows 4-card support and 7-9 HCP in a competitive auction. Let's see how to implement this very useful bid in even more bidding situations.