Hand Question 3
Bidding
East opened a diamond, west bid a spade. east jumped to 3 diamonds. i was west. i couldn’t bid NT as i had doubleton H. 4 clubs takes it beyond 3NT. i bid 5 diamonds and made 12 tricks but it wasn’t a good score as many were in NT and made 12. how should the bidding go please?
Bernard's Answer
1D - 1S - 3D - ? I think your auction starts reasonably and sometimes you have to guess at the best contract. Clearly you do not have a heart stopper, but your partner has suggested 16+ HCP so there is a reasonable chance he will have something there: he only needs 3 to the jack. If nothing in hearts, perhaps the suit breaks 4-4 or they lead a club? It is certainly a gamble, but I think proportionally 3NT will win in the long run. Having said all the above, you do have the other more optimistic view - the option of looking for a minor slam - 4C should not be natural in this auction, but agree diamonds (and show a control) and now your partner with all the suits controlled (other than clubs) can bid 4NT and bid the slam - it is only 50% but it is a lot better than being in 5D. 6D gives you a 50% chance of a top, whilst 5D will often be scoring very poorly indeed.