Here we go again with a long minor suit, but this time after partner opens in a major suit we as responder not only do not have a fit but on many hands we do not have 10 or more playing points (High Card Points plus effective distribution points for a promotable suit with useful honors). I’m sure some of our readers are tempted to “just do it” and make a 2 level call in their 5+ card minor suit despite not holding the required 10+ points. Yet that kind of anti-partnership trouble can get you in trouble with both your partner as well winding up bidding too high in an unattainable contract.
And the alternative? Yeah, responding with a 1 Notrump bid despite having an unbalanced hand. True, with something like a 6-3-3-1 shape including a singleton in partner’s major suit may present challenges. Yet with no better bid, sometimes we are forced to choose the “least evil” action and hope for the best.
In this lesson we will focus on declarer play, with special attention to promoting a suit with entries, Entries, and ENTRIES! And as always, we will entertain you with hand variations to underscore valuation with illustrative bidding examples with lots variations including animated card play and commentary. Of course here at BridgeHands, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and as always you’ll see lots of action playing hands at the table!
So sit right up and tune in to our BridgeHands videos!
Premium and ULTRA members are welcome to enjoy both lesson segments as well as the Social Part 2 lesson. Better yet, check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.
Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view Part 2 with 6 hands and 34 minutes of video
Happy Trails,
BridgeHands
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