Negative Double – Rebids in Contract Bridge
Okay, Bridge friends it’s almost time to graduate from Negative Doubles! We will explore “the usual suspects” – opener rebids with various strengths and hand shapes, seeking that elusive game bid.
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And the good news is: all the bidding rules are far enough behind us to say goodbye to all those PowerPoint slides! So on today’s commentary and hand animation play, we are busting at the seams with our moniker – lots and lots of Bridge Hands at BridgeHands. In fact, on one hand we will be revisiting bidding and play over and over until the declarer and defenders get it right! Call this a mix of “What’s Wrong With Waldo” and the movie “Groundhog Day!”
Hand #1
| Board 3 South Deals E-W Vul |
♠ K Q 3 2 ♥ 8 6 4 ♦ Q 10 9 2 ♣ Q 2 |
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| ♠ 10 7 4 ♥ A K 9 7 2 ♦ A J 8 ♣ 10 9 |
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♠ 6 5 ♥ Q 5 3 ♦ 6 5 4 3 ♣ A 8 7 6 |
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| ♠ A J 9 8 ♥ J 10 ♦ K 7 ♣ K J 5 4 3 |
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| West | North | East | South |
| 1 ♣ | |||
| 1 ♥ | Dbl | 2 ♥ | 2 ♠ |
| Pass | Pass | Pass |
On this auction after West’s 1 Heart overcall, North should use a Negative Double to show 4 Spades (5+ Spades are required to bid Spades when the opponent overcalls in Hearts – but not Diamonds). With a nice 6 point hand, an outside Ace and Queen-third in partner’s suit East wisely shows support bidding 2 Hearts. With a minimum hand but 4 Spades, South makes a signoff request bidding 2 Spades. Everyone bid this hand well – East/West can make 2 Heart while North/South makes 3 Spades.
Hand #2
| Board 3 South Deals E-W Vul |
♠ K Q 3 2 ♥ 8 6 4 ♦ Q 10 9 2 ♣ Q 2 |
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| ♠ 10 7 4 ♥ A K 9 7 2 ♦ A J 8 ♣ 10 9 |
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♠ 6 5 ♥ Q 5 3 ♦ 6 5 4 3 ♣ J 8 7 6 |
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| ♠ A J 9 8 ♥ J 10 ♦ K 7 ♣ A K 5 4 3 |
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| West | North | East | South |
| 1 ♣ | |||
| 1 ♥ | Dbl | Pass | 3 ♠ |
| Pass | 4 ♠ | Pass | Pass |
| Pass |
On this hand South’s hand is upgraded, exchanging the Club King and Jack with East. After partner North makes the Negative Double, South can make a jump invite bid to 3 Spades with extra values yet not enough points nor tricks to demand game. With 9 working points, North definitely accepts the 4 Spade game, South making 10 tricks.
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Congratulations to all of our Negative Double graduates! It’s ironic how many so many Bridge players focus on esoteric conventions that seldom come up yet miss many of the “bread and butter” aspects of everday Takeout and Negative Double bids. So be sure to chat with your partner about your agreements and have them drop by BridgeHands to brush up their skills. Of course, if you are a Premium or ULTRA member, you are also welcome to EMAIL them a copy of our downloadable MS-Word and associated files accoringing to fair Creative Commons licensing – Attribution to BridgeHands, No Derivative works, Non-Commercial (do not sell).
Happy Bridge Trails,
BridgeHands
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66 percent – All of the above
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This includes the auction:
1C – (1D) – 1S – (P). Pard has 6+ pts & 5+ Spades, bid 4S with 3 Spades & 18 pts
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Oops – when the opponent ovecalls 1 Diamond then responder is permitted to bid a major suit with as few as a 4 card major suit. So if you the opener only tabled an 18 point hand with a sparse 3 card Spade suit and responding partner holds 4 Spades , it’s quite likely one of your opponents will have at least 4 Spades themselves. In this situation, your partnership might have a better play in 3 Notrump (assuming you have stoppers in opponent’s Diamond suit).
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But since almost all of our prior polling questions have used “all of the above” as the best answer, perhaps we here at BridgeHands were a bit too sneaky on this question. Still, all of these scenarios can help improve our leaning so let’s discuss HOW the opener SHOULD have rebid with 18 points and 3 Spades:
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1C – (1D) – 1S – (P);
2D!
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Aha, so cuebidding the opponents suit is a forcing bid. This allows the responder to:
1. Rebid Spades to show a 5+ card Spade suit
2. Rebid 2 Notrump to show a 4 card Spade suit
3. Rebid 2 Hearts to show a stopper in Hearts but only 4 Spades
4. Rebid 2 Notrump to shows a good stopper or stoppers in opponent’s suit (Diamonds) with only 4 Spades
5. Rebid opponents suit at the 3 level, rebidding 3 Diamonds!
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Now what could that mean? Well, for seasoned Duplicate Bridge players in an auction like this rebidding opponents suit at the 3 level show some semblance of a Diamond stopper but some doubts of playing in Notrump. Perhaps responnder has Queen-third or maybe even Jack-third, not a great time to play in 3 Notrump unless opening partner has at least one stopper. If so, opener then rebids 3 Notrump and if not, opener rebids 3 Spades. In this case, it’s up to responder to:
1. Bid 4 Spades with a known 4-3 fit
2. Pass, playing in a reasonable contract level without a good fit
3. Bid 3 Notrump, willing to take the risk with a fair half-stopper, as the Queen-third
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So while we had not planned to go far afield on esoteric advanced bidding, suffice it to say that top players have lots of gadgets to deal with the kinds of unusual conditions most mortals are willing to forgo. Bottom line, if you like learning this kind of trivia, great! And for all the rest of you, don’t walk – RUN from those of us who delve into special incantations – there’s no hope for us so flee while you can and enjoy the 99 percent of Negative Doubles enjoyed by the masses!
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By the way, kudos to the 27 percent who picked “Both of the above,” realiziing something was amiss with our tricky last part of our polling question!
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Warm Regards, Michael
If nort Kxx, xx, AQxxxx,xxx, what Nort bid ?
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I do not know the opener’s bid so responding to your question is difficult. Holding:
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Kxx
xx
AQxxxx
xxx
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If RHO opened 1C, overcalling 1D is probably better than making a 2D preemptive weak bid.
If RHO opened 1H or 1S, the player should Pass. 2D would show 12+ points and 3D is too high a preempt with many losers!
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Regards, Michael
If Nort, AQxxxxx, xx, xx, xx, what bid ? double or bid siut Spide ? how level bid ?
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Your hand has 6 High Card Points plus 3 distribution points for a reasonable 7 card Spade suit headed by the Ace-Queen. From a Losing Trick Count view, the hand has perhaps 7-8 losers so the hand has little chance for game – you would need partner to have 4-5 cover cards. Also, the opener has shown 12+ HCP so along with your 6 HCP, the remaining two players have 40 minus 18 or more HCP, so the two players have no more than 22 HCP between both of them.. However, since you hold the master SPADE suit, you have two bidding options:
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1. Overvall 1 Spade and later rebid 2 Spades (later going to 3 Spades would be an overbid)
2. Immediately overcall 2 Spades or 3 Spades preemptively, depending on the vulnerability
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Aggressive players will overcall 3 Spades against favorable vulnerability (non-vulnerable versus vulnerable) or perhaps even neutral vulnerability. Their thinking is that after Right Hand Opponent opened, they are likely to easily find a game (or perhaps a slam) without an obstructive preemptive overcall (3 Spades). And holding a 7 card Spade suit, it is quite possible the opponents hold a long 6-7 card suit themselves.
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Good luck, Michael