I just started a web page on my old-time, all-time TV favorite Dr Who. Does anyone remember these guys?

This is William Hartnell, the first Doctor. His shift was 1963-1966.

Forty-six years ago, in grainy black and white. Still, some of the evil, bad guys like The Daleks that they invented back then are still chasing the tenth Doctor around today, and the backstory for the Doctor that they began to build in 1963, now much elaborated, is still there.

1.  Matchpoints, Both Vulnerable

West	North	East	South
Pass	1	2	?

As South you hold:  QJ1074   K109873   43   Void

What's your bid?

When you have a 6-5 hand, you expect the auction to quickly go flying into the sky, but most of our panelists had their doubts about whether that was going to happen on this hand.

MAYNE:  2S. Double or pass might be our last call. With them red at matchpoints, my partners pass this sequence a fair amount. 2S might land us in a 5-2 with a 6-3 heart fit, but 2H-4C-P-P is not a happy place to be either."

STRITE:  Double. The only concern doubling here is when partner floats the double.

PAVLICEK:  Double. Oh well; if this becomes a lead problem, I can take my bottom easily with the spade queen. Otherwise I'll be in good shape.

MERRITT:  Double. I'm sure that this was passed out at the table but what else am I supposed to do but bid my hand?

SPEAR:  Double. Then probably bid a minimum number of hearts at the 2, 3, or 4 level.

DODD:  Double. Ever the optimist, my partners never pass here.

RABIDEAU:  Double. We must start describing this "player" ASAP.

If we're not going to try the negative double, what's Plan B?

PAULO:  2H. A double would hide three cards, one spade and two hearts.

KESSLER:  2H. Bidding out your shape works really well for me.

MILLER: 2H. I am going to begin getting my shape out-- even if I'm light on high-card points.

WALKER:  2H. I can't bring myself to Pass, which lets them steal the contract, or to make a negative double ,which may let them steal it doubled.

FELDHEIM:  2S. And hearts next.

BRIDGE BARON:  2S. With two suits of five or more cards, it bids the higher ranking.

A double might end up hiding three cards, but a 2H bid may end up hiding five, all spades. I wonder if Karen and Manuel and Mark are planning to reverse into spades at any level necessary? That will certainly show the distribution, but partner, wild dreamer that he is, may be hoping for more than 6 high-card points.

There are times when we have to make a bid that might get us to the wrong contract, but 2S seems like it's almost guaranteed to do that. With equal length in the majors (such as 2-2) partner will always correct hearts to spades.

Scoring
Double was still the big winner in spite of lingering doubts about partner passing it.

This is Tom Baker, the fourth Doctor. He had the longest tour of duty of any of the Doctors, 1974-1981.

Every Doctor automatically included his past selves, but also brought something new to the character that their prior selves didn't have. In Tom's case, that was a sense of whimsy and fun. Even while busy saving the Universe (about once a month), he still had time to offer someone a jelly baby from the bag he always kept in his pocket.

2.  Matchpoints, North-South Vulnerable

West	North	East	South
--	1	Pass	?

As South you hold:  Q754   Void  KQ109653   62

What's your bid?

What kind of a world (a Bridge World) is it where you can't figure out how to bid your good 7-card suit. Let's see, 2D is game-forcing or close to it, 3D is a strong jump shift, 4D is a splinter, and for 5D, well we don't have a good enough suit for that.

WALSH:  2D. And rebid them to show a non-game force.

PAULO:  2D. With these quite different suits, I don't bid spades on my own.

That can work if partner rebids 2H, but if he bids anything else -- like 2NT, 3C or 3H -- then the auction becomes game-forcing and a diamond rebid might even be taken as a slam try. So most of the panel tried to sneak up on the diamond suit rather than confronting it directly.

1NT will likely get us out at 3D via auctions like 1H-1NT; 2H-3D or 1H-1NT; 2C-2D; 2NT-3D (regarding the second 2nd auction, the Bridge World Standard system used to play 2D as a convention called BART. I dunno if they still do, and even if not, partner will take us for a shorter suit and a few more high-card points. I don't see diamond bids being natural and non-forcing over strong bids by opener such as 2NT, 3C or 3H, so those auctions might get a bit confused.

Where is that school? I might want to enroll. And we have a few more students ready to sign up.

WARWICK:  1S. Not worth a 2-over-1 response, and I can show my diamonds later if need be.

KESSLER:  1S. I will correct anything but a spade raise to diamonds forever.

It might take forever, too, since your first diamond bid -- for example, 1H-1S; 2H-3D -- will be taken as forcing, not necessarily showing much length in diamonds, and tending to show 5+ spades.

Playing 1H-1S; 1NT-3D as long and weak sounds like a good convention to me, but I'm not sure BWS plays it.

That passing 2H part is bothersome. If you're going to pass 2H, how about starting with . . .

FEILER:  PASS. If it doesn't get passed out in 1H, there won't be any doubt about what my future diamond bids mean, and if it does, the score sheet on this hand may be so littered with minus scores that even +80 or -50 might pick up a few matchpoints.

I wouldn't ordinarily put one of my own bids in the article, but nobody else bid it, and it has some things going for it.

Scoring
How do you show your good 7-card diamond suit? Start with 1NT of course. Weak Jump Shifts anyone?

This is Peter Davison, the fifth Doctor, on duty from 1981-1984.

He had a cricket players' outfit including a flat bat, and he always had a piece of celery attached to his lapel. No one knows why. I remember one story that had a buffet (on a Luxury Space Liner) and Davison replaced his (possibly wilted) lapel celery with a fresh stalk from the buffet. Hmm, maybe that's a clue.

3.  IMPs, Both Vulnerable

West	North	East	South
Pass	1	Double	1
Pass	2	Pass	?

As South you hold:  Q93   J9865   Void   K9862

What's your bid?

If this were a perfectly normal reverse auction -- that is, without the intervening takeout double -- we'd all know more or less what the various bids meant. Does the double make any difference? Most panelists thought that it didn't, but their views on what the various bids meant were a bit askew.

MAYNE:  3C. 2S would be neutral or negative, We have to start by setting trumps.

KESSLER:  3C. 2NT would be wanting to get out.

FELDHEIM:  3C. I must assume that I can use 2H or 2NT to show a negative hand.

DODD:  3C. Forcing. Even after the takeout double, North's second call has to qualify as a reverse.

PAVLICEK:  3C. Game-forcing as I play (the double does not change my reverse structure). Slam is in view, and I can even dream of a grand opposite a heart void.

WALSH:  4C. Seems like about what it's worth.

STRITE:  4C. I'll bid 5C next to get my strong support but no controls message across.

PAULO:  4C. My hand is stronger than it seemed before the auction.

RABIDEAU:  5C. I'm not going to try to stop on a dime (4C) Vul at IMPs.

ATHY:  4C. Should be okay after the reverse. 3C shows values if you have an understanding that 2NT is a weak relay, but in a competitive auction, I'm not sure if it's set in stone.

The 4C and 5C bidders have doubts about whether this is a reverse auction. There's another reason to bid 4C that the Panel usually misses. What we think a bid means isn't the important issue, it's what partner thinks. He may or may not think that 3C is forcing, but he'll certainly think that 4C is. 3C may win the post mortem in the bar, but 4C might win the hand at the table.

This is Sylvester McCoy, the seventh Doctor, 1987-1990.

Before Sylvester got into acting, he was a magician and a vaudeville player, and some of that leaked over into his Dr. Who character. When he ran (as all the Doctors do), he held his hat on with one hand, his umbrella with the other, and generally skidded to a stop on one foot. The Time Lords (of which the Doctor was one) tended to be a stodgy group and if McCoy had a chance, he would have lightened them up a bit. A whoopee cushion or two in The Time Lords High Council Chamber would have done the whole Universe some good.

As Sylvester was about to go into the 1990 year, the BBC decided, in its mysterious ways, to put the show into a "hiatus" (cancel it). It came back on seven years later.

4.  IMPs, Both Vulnerable

West	North	East	South
--	--	3	?

As South you hold:  K4    Q7532   AQJ107   3

What's your bid?

As usual, it's tough to find the golden egg in our list of possible responses. Mostly, we just get the goose! Double, in practice, will operate about like transfer to spades and 3H may well get us to a 4H game with a gossamer thin trump suit. PASS could end the auction and if partner balances, it likely to be in spades again. 3D is fine except...that it's diamonds. Let's see what the panel does with these rotten eggs.

MAYNE:  3H. Double can succeed, but it's going to fetch a spade bid ,too.

KNIEST:  3H. 3D will win sometimes, enabling partner to bid 3NT.

PAVLICEK:  3H. Good texture. Oh wait; wrong suit, but I'll live by the sword. My next problem will be after Double, pass, pass.

SPEAR:  3H. If doubled I'll run to 4D.

STRITE:  3H, and then 4D when it goes Double-Pass-Pass

Good luck with that strategy guys.

KESSLER:  Pass. I don't think I have a bid. If forced to bid, it would be 3D.

WALSH:  Pass. If partner can't act we aren't missing much.

FELDHEIM:  Pass. What's the alternative? The heart suit is too weak and double is impossible with a doubleton spade.

WALKER:  Pass. A close decision between 3H and Pass. 3D isn't under consideration.

I understand the reasoning behind the other bids, but Pass mystifies me. The two most likely looking results are:  (1) The opponents play in 3C or maybe 3NT by West, or (2) Partner balances with 3S. No happy endings there.

Speaking of happy endings, I'm going to defend the Cinderella of this problem, 3D. Poor 3D, I know you're only a minor suit, but minor suits need love,  too! This is really a try for 3NT, our most likely game. Partner probably has a club stopper, so all he needs to bid 3NT is an excuse, and 3D might give him that. This should also reduce the number of unwanted spade bids partner vomits out. Finally, if the hand turns out to belong to the opponents in clubs, we can bump them up a level, and whether they end up in 4C or 3NT, we'll get partner off to the right lead. Do you feel better now, 3D? They don't call me Prince Charming for nothing, you know.

This is David Tennant, the incumbent tenth Doctor, 2006-Present

From a science-fiction point of view, the Dr. Who stories have become much more sophisticated over the years. The early stories tended to be the Doctor and his companions being chased by big, slimey monsters. Now they're about alternate universes, black holes, time paradoxes and sometimes even the devil. Big improvement.

The companions were also upgraded. The earlier ones were "screamers" --  i.e., their primary function was to wait for the horrible alien monster to sneak up behind them and tap them on the shoulder, after which they would let loose a shrill and very high-decibel scream. The new ones don't scream any more and are getting into time, space  and alternate realities, just like the Doctor.

David's contribution to the Doctor's character is to allow him to show a little emotion. Dr Who began as a kids show, so the BBC didn't want any lovey-dovey hanky-panky going on, but now its become an adult show (probably because all the kids who used to watch it grew up!), so the Doctor can show the feelings he has for some of his companions, and his loneliness because he's the last of his race. It's as though the TV show itself started as a child, became an adult, then middle-aged, and will eventually be old.

5.  IMPs, Neither Vulnerable

West	North	East	South
--	1	2	?

As South you hold:  QJ   94  KJ3   QJ10986

What's your bid?

Once again we have a long suit that's not easy to bid.

MAYNE:  2S. Awful, but is there a less awful action? Not strong enough for 2NT or 3C, and passing seems like it's shooting to low.

SPEAR:  Pass. Hope to bid my clubs later.

MERRITT:  Pass. If partner can't bid again, we are where we want to be.

PAULO:  2NT. If partner has only 5 spades, our best prospect should be in notrump. If he has 6+ spades, he can rebid his suit.

WARWICK:  2NT. Yuck. The good club spots are the only redeeming feature of this hand. At least the spades get full value.

DODD:  2NT. Close between this and 2S. The soft values and well-positioned diamond honors tilt the scales for me.

WALKER:  2NT. Limits my hand and shows the stoppers, which rate to be of more interest to partner than the club suit.

PAVLICEK:  2NT. Close between this and a conservative 2S, but I'll go long. Maybe not long enough, since a sub-minimum [ATxxx  Axx  xxx  Kx] could produce game.

NELSON:  3C. I expect to hear a 3H bid, and now I'll bid 3NT (overbidding this hand, I know).

RABIDEAU:  3C. Let's overbid, keeping in mind the following excuses for the postmortem: 
  - Promotion of pointy-suit honors
  - Getting a long, chunky suit into the picture
  - It's IMPs

WALSH:  3NT. I feel lucky.

I sympathize with the 3C overbid and especially with the 3NT bid. One thing I've noticed about 2NT contracts is that I never seem to make exactly 8 tricks -- it's either 9 or 10 or 7 or 6, so you might as well be in 3NT or 1NT. This could be a deep philosophical issue. Maybe 2NT isn't the brilliant,  probing bid we thought it was; maybe it's just wimpy.

This is Matt Smith, who will become the eleventh Doctor in 2010, and his beautiful companion Amy Pond, played by actress Karen Gillan.

The rheumy-eyed old gnomes at the BBC seem to be going for a youth movement. That's fine by me, but I'm a bit worried that they'll overdo it. If they have Amy say something like, "Omigod doctor, that was just like, so awesome!" I'd have to stop watching after 47 years! Well, we'll see what happens.

6. Matchpoints, EW Vulnerable

West	North	East	South
--	--	2	Double
Pass	4*	Pass	?
* Minors

 As South you hold:   AJ10743   J8   AQ   AK9

What's your bid?

Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that we have a whopping big hand in support of partner's suits. The bad news is those worrisome two small hearts.

MERRITT:  4S. I was going to double and bid spades. I started with a double, and now . . .

KESSLER:  5C. No heart control for slam. If I bid 4S, I would expect partner to pass.

MILLER:  5C. I've got a bad feeling about this one. With the preempt on my left, I'd be inclined to aim a little higher.

WALKER:  6C. Partner is forcing to the 5-level with iffy suits, so it's a good gamble that he has a heart control.

DODD:  6C. North must have something to justify his leap.

STRITE:  5NT. Pard is a good bet for a top heart, given his game force with only 6 HCP in his suits.

FELDHEIM:  6C. I'm holding half the deck. Even Tom Kniest would bid a slam on this one.

It's easy to construct a hand where we're cold for a grand, but the auction may be too high in the stratosphere to find out. Another question is whether 6D might be better than 6C. I dunno, maybe a smidge, but there's another important point to be made on this hand . . . and we can find out about Tom Kniest while we're at it.

Yup.

If you haven't had enough Dr. Who information, here's a link to my new web page. It's still a week or so from being complete.

   Panel & Solver Scores        February 2010 problems

Thanks to all who sent in answers and comments to this interesting set. Leading all Solvers with an impressive 590 was John Seng of Champaign. Runners-up, each with 570, were Linda Lubeck of Troy IL, Bud Hinckley of South Bend IN and Yassine (first name? last name?) of Paris, France. All four are invited to join the February panel.

The six new problems for February are below. Please submit your solutions on the web form by January 30.

February also starts the 2010 annual Solvers contest, so I hope you'll all give the new problems a try. Winners of the 2009 Solvers contest will be announced in the next issue.

Please note that the web form comments box has a length limit, so if the form rejects your bids, you may need to condense your comments and resend. You can send a backup email to the moderator if you like, but please post your actual bids through the web form so they're included in our automated scoring. It's also helpful if you use the same email address for every submission during the year.

December moderator:   Tom Dodd -- fieldtrialer@yahoo.com