Tom Dodd was the designated moderator this month, but he had a recent death in his family so I'm going to fill in for him. Tom will be back on duty for the August Forum. Since I was a panelist up until yesterday, I'm going to include some of my own answers for this forum. A little weird, but we've been weirder.

1. IMPs, Both Vulnerable

West	North	East	South
--	--	1	DBL
3*	Pass	Pass	?
* Pre-emptive

As South you hold:   K6   A1042   AQJ10   AQ6

What's your bid?
 

I don't know if I can help with this one, it usually takes me about three hands to accumulate that many high-card points. But...some of the panelists weren't impressed!

WALKER:  Pass. Defending looks like our best shot at a plus score. Even if partner has an unlikely 5 or 6 points, 3NT is probably doomed with a club lead and few, if any, dummy entries.

KESSLER:  Pass. Trying for a plus. Double would be nice with one more spade, but now over 3S we have no appetizing call.

HUDSON:  Pass. Stay fixed.

BRIDGE BARON:  Pass. Partner could be broke.

FEILER:  Pass. Maybe the small plus in 3C singled will turn out ok when a lot of people overbid with all these HCP.

Wow, that last panelist is a smooth talker, isn't he? The DBLers were a mixed bag, a few thought DBL was penalty, but most assumed it was a second takeout double and were dreaming sweet dreams about a non-spade response.

VONGSVIVUT:  Double. Should be penalty oriented.

WALSH:  Double. Double is uncomfortable -- I will be endplayed at trick one -- but still I think we're a favorite to beat it.

SPEAR:  Double. Hoping to reach 4H or a diamond partial, but bidding 3NT over 3S and hoping there is some play--passing is not an option.

BERNHARD:  Double. Letting them play 3 clubs would get me 20% board so what's the risk, If partner bids 3 spades I will------ I have no clue.

It's better to stand on the highway in front of an oncoming 18-wheeler than to stand between a bridge player and 3NT.

MERRITT:  3NT. My plan was to double and bid notrump. I started with the double and now...

RABIDEAU:  3NT.  Double is still basically takeout, and being short on points and clubs, partner is likely to bid spades on
Jxxxx or some such.  But if he bids spades over 3NT, we know he has a bunch.  Pass could be right, but I can't stomach it, holding this 20++ hand.

BABIN:  3NT. I would double again , but partner will probably bid 3S. I will just bid 3NT and hope partner has a few points.

2. Matchpoints, Both Vulnerable

West	North	East	South
3	4*	Pass	4
Pass	4	Pass	?
* Majors

As South you hold:   Q5   Q1042   K6   97652

What's your bid?
 

Not much there, but it's good stuff! At least that's what my old dope dealer used to say, or maybe it was my old girlfriend! But is it enough to bid on, and if it is, how should we proceed?

MAYNE:  5D. Partner can't cancel the previous message; he's got everything. One cooperative move seems necessary, even if partner mistakes it for first-round control.

MATHENY:  5D. Don't know if it's enough but everything I have is working.

MERRITT:  5D. I must show some life, with a very strong hand for this auction. The problem is that I am not sure what 4NT would signify (hesitation or Roman Keycard for hearts).

RABIDEAU:  5D. This hand certainly grew up!  With 5-5-3-0 including the diamond ace, partner would have bid 5D, but with 6-5-2-0, it's probably better to show the longer spades.  Even opposite AKxxxx  AKxxx  xx  Void,  slam is excellent with the diamond ace very likely onside.

Something I like about 5D that no one mentioned is that we can cuebid it even if we don't know exactly what partner intended his 4S bid to mean. For some of our other possible bids, we do have to know.

BRIDGE BARON:  Pass. Bridge Baron thinks partner should have six or more spades for the 4S bid, and even though partner is showing a strong hand, Bridge Baron doesn't think it's worth exploring slam.

WALKER: 6H. Partner has a giant with more spades than hearts, and I have at least two big cards plus a 4th trump. I could bid 5D as a try, but that seems pointless, as partner will bid 5H or 5S and I'll still raise to 6H.

The old Blue Team used to cuebid first or second round controls as a matter of course. Forty years later, maybe we're getting the message. (See problem 6).

3. Matchpoints, Neither Vulnerable

West	North	East	South
--	--	Pass	1
Pass	1	2	? *

As South you hold:   AQ5   Void   AQ   AQ987652

What's your bid?
 

There was some famous bridge player who said never put an 8-card suit down in the dummy. Yeah. ok, but what if your 8-card suit is clubs, and it's matchpoints, and your other suit is spades, and we have a nice, convenient support double available? The panel was divided between Double to show 3-card spade support and 3H, which probably denies it.

SPEAR:  Double. I am happy to be playing support doubles on this hand, so pard will know what to do when I continue with 6C.

KESSLER: Double. Keeps the auction at a low level to find out more info.

RABIDEAU:  Double. Isn't this why God invented support doubles?  We'll obviously be steering the contract toward clubs, but if partner has 5+ decent spades ...

HUDSON: 3H. Let’s establish a game force before rebidding any number of clubs.

WALKER: 3H. No way I'm making a support double and risking a pass. Even if partner bids, a supp dbl is no way to start the description of an 8-card suit.

FEILER:  3H. I don't want to support spades. A diamond lead against a spade contract could be seriously bad news -- i.e. down four instead of two overtricks!

There's that handsome panelist again. No wonder he gets all the girls!

4. Matchpoints, Neither Vulnerable

West	North	East	South
--	Pass	Pass	1
3	DBL	Pass	?

As South you hold:   AQ762   A65   K108   82

What's your bid?
 

Partner made a takeout double, so we'll take it out into, er...what? The bid I admire but wouldn't necessarily make is: 

BABIN:  Pass. I don't really have a good rebid but probably have enough to set them with my good defensive hand.

WALKER:  Pass. Bad offense (no fit) + good defense (3 quick tricks and a partner who's shown some strength) = Plus 200 or 500. A distant second choice is 3H, as bailing out with 3D is the best way to land in your 3-3 fit.

MATHENY:  Pass. So tempting, but could easily be wrong.

STRITE:  Pass. Under the assumption we have no greater than an 8-card fit (if that), I'll trust the Law and roll the dice at matchpoints for +200 rather than guess our strain.

Most of the panelists that dutifully took out the takeout double bid 3H. No one sounded excited about it.

KESSLER:  3H. This the best we can do, at least we will be ruffing in the short hand.

RABIDEAU:  3H. Unlike Bridge World Standard, my partners promise 4+ hearts in this auction.

SPEAR:  3H. Okay, I talked myself into bidding 3H at matchpoints, because my pard always has 4 or more hearts and 2 or fewer spades. At IMPs, I would bid 3S in case pard was going to bid 3NT if I didn't bid hearts.

Huh??

FEILER:  3H. I may as well bid the suit that scores the highest if I happen to make it.

What a genius this panelist is, how did he think of that!

MERRITT:  3D. Would surely rather be missing a minor-suit card than a major-suit card.

Huh??

5. Matchpoints, North-South Vulnerable

West	North	East	South
--	--	2	DBL
3	DBL*	Pass	?
* Responsive

As South you hold:   7   QJ52  AK10743   AQ

What's your bid?
 

So partner has the red suits? Our hand was good on the last round of bidding and on this round it seems to have turned into a giant mooseburger. Still, most panelists weren't thinking about slam, just about deciding between hearts and diamonds.

KESSLER:  5D. If partner had 4 hearts and enough to double, he would have bid 4H. I think partner has three hearts.

WALSH:  5D. With hearts, partner would just bid them, so his hand should be mostly minors.

HUDSON:  5D. I don’t want to punish partner for stretching to double.

MERRITT:  6D. The fast approach often gets a little vig from pushing opponents to take the save.

Is "vig" short for "vigorish", which I think means the bookie's part of a bet? The panel is getting pretty esoteric.

SPEAR:  4S. Pard's double denies four hearts, so we have a big diamond fit.

RABIDEAU:  4S.  It's tempting to blast a heart slam, but I'd better give partner a chance to bail.  I'll pass 5H and bid 5H over five of a minor.

VONGSVIVUT:  4S. Forcing, and will rebid 5D after the expected bid 5C by North. Trying to show a hand stronger than direct jump to 5D.

6. Matchpoints, East-West Vulnerable

West	North	East	South
--	1	Pass	1NT*
Pass	3	Pass	4
Pass	4	Pass	?

 As South you hold:     K107   Q6   A7652   865

What's your bid?
 

This one's a lot like problem 2. Where are we going and how do we get there? And like problem 2, we can wheel out the old King cuebid.

MAYNE:  4S. Passing 4H is reasonable, but I have to show this near-max. I'll pass a 5-of-a-red-suit bid by pard.

MATHENY:  4S. Partner may be 6-3 in the red suits. The fifth diamond makes this worth one more try.

WALKER:  4S. Partner may not have a "real" diamond suit, as this is how he'd bid a 19-point hand with six hearts. 4S should confirm hearts, show a spade value and, ideally, talk partner into using keycard Blackwood to find my two red honors.

RABIDEAU:  4S. If this king is working, I'm bullish.

STRITE:  4S. I Feel like I'm worth another bid, and the spade king may be the card that makes this hand.

Or we can go a bit conservative:

WALSH:  Pass. Partner must have six hearts to bid this way.

KESSLER:  Pass. If partner needs a spade card, we should bid. If he needs help in clubs, we should pass.

  Panel and Solver Scores

Thanks to all who sent in answers and comments to this rather high-scoring set of problems. Congratulations to Amiram Millett of Tel Aviv, Israel, who led all Solvers with 580. Close behind, tied at 570, were Paul Soper, Mike Ring, Mark McEnearney and Glafkos Galanos. All five are invited to join the August panel.  

The six new problems for August are below. There's still time to enter the 2009 Solvers Contest, as your yearly score is based on your best three submissions, so I hope you'll all give them a try.

Please submit your solutions by June 26 on the web form. Note the short deadline. We are moving the web form to a new server at the end of June. Submissions will be accepted on the new site after that (until the end of July), but please try to send your answers earlier, just in case we have any problems with the transition. 

August moderator:   Tom Dodd  fieldtrialer@yahoo.com