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Balancing Bid (Double) - A call made based on the opponents' calls indicating
their collective weakness. The balancing player may be said to
"borrow" strength from one's partner when making a reopening bid in the passout seat; some use the
axiom to "borrow a King" (3 HCP). Of
course, partner must remember to deduct the offsetting points when making
subsequent calls.
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 A 10 9
 K 2
 9 8 7 6
 A Q 4 3 |
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Q 3 2
Q 8 7 6
K Q 2
K J 2 |
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J 6 5 4
5 4 3
5 4 3
10 9 8 |
| |
K 8 7
A J 10 9
A J 10
7 6 5 |
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North has 13
HCP but no comfortable bid, missing a 5 card suit to bid
or the required 3 cards in the unbid suits needed to Double.
South has 13 points, enough to open the bidding. While
making a Reopening Doubling is often appropriate, in situations such as
this the balancer often does better to bid 1 Notrump without a
stopper under Left Hand Opponent's bid suit. This is based on the
theory that it's better that partner
likely holds stoppers behind the opening opponent. With the favorable position of the cards here,
South can actually make 3 Notrump.
Also see Books on
Doubles,
Balancing |
