Saturday, October 01, 2005 9:21 PM

Courtesy Q Bids

 

PITBULLS:

 

            Old habits die hard. One of the fundamentals of Bridge was that Q bids showed extra and were often inviting slam. This understanding was written in stone so to speak. Over the years this understanding is no longer a fundamental part of Bridge. Experts have decided that it is good strategy to Q bid as a courtesy if partner’s hand is unlimited. This is the basis of “serious 3NT” theory if we have found a major suit fit .

 

          What about in other competitive auctions at a high level ? Again we feel that if partner is unlimited and you were going to compete at a high level anyway you should Q bid as a courtesy. This does not show any more than you would have shown by making your bid at that particular level.  Example ♠Axxx ♥Jxx ♦Q10xxx ♣x and you are vul and they are not . LHO opens 3♣ and partner bid 4♥ and RHO interferes 4♠. You do not “pre-empt over a pre-empt” so partners bid shows a strong unlimited hand. You decide you want to bid 5♥. Once you have decided to take this action why not make a courtesy Q bid of 5♣ along the way ? Since partners hand is unlimited and so variable how do you know to make a slam try ? You are just bidding the strength of your hand to that particular level and Q bidding as a courtesy. Partners hand is ♠x ♥AKQ10xxx ♦AKx ♣xx and a nice 1430 is attained.

 

          Here is another hand . ♠Axx ♥x ♦Ax ♣K109876x and you open 1♣ vul vrs nv. LHO opponent bids 4♥ and partner bids 5♠ . She is asking you to bid 6♠ if you have a heart control and bid 6♥ if you have 1st round control. Should you just comply and bid 6♠ ? Partner is very unlimited in this auction so what does it hurt to bid 6♦ along the way as a courtesy. Partners hand was ♠KQJ10xxx ♥void ♦Qxx ♣AQx and her 5♠ call probably was not the best bid. Anyway if you bid 6♠ they bid 7♥ and you are very poorly placed. You double and beat it one against your cold vul grand. If you bid 6♦ you can pass 7♥ as you denied 1st round control of hearts anyway. Partner has a simple 7♠ bid and all is well.

 

          When partner has an unlimited hand and invites you to take some slam auction , Q bidding as a courtesy rather than just bidding your slam makes sense. Since partners hand is so variable how can you be making a grand slam try ? You were just trying to get to a small slam. Maurice & Susan had this auction in a Saskatoon CNTC. Maurice opened 1♥ vul and they bid 2NT nv and Susan splintered to 4♣. They bid 5♣ and Maurice passed and around to Susan who bid 5♦. Maurice decided he was going to accept the slam try with ♠Kxx ♥AQxxxx ♦x ♣Axx so why not Q bid 6♣ along the way as a courtesy ? At the table , he bid 6♥ not anticipating that the opponents might bid 7♣ nv opposite partners unlimited hand.  They doubled 7♣ but they could have been pushed to a cold grand . ♠AQxxx ♥KJxx ♦Axx ♣x

 

          Another example of a “courtesy Q bid” recently . I held ♠xxxxx ♥Ax ♦KQxxx ♣x and the auction went 1♠-P-2♠-3♣ by Tom Gandolfo . I bid 3♦ and Tom bid 4♦ and its quite obvious from the bidding that Tom holds a spade void. Despite my stiff in his suit , I accept the game try. Why not show the heart Ace as a courtesy along the way since I am going to 5♦ anyway ? Tom holds ♠void ♥Kxx ♦AJxx ♣AJxxxx and does not need much encouragement to bid 6♦. I made a 21 HCP grand slam but only played it in 5♦ L

 

          We think the Q bidding as a ”courtesy” should apply in all auctions that partners hand is variable and unlimited. If partners hand is limited or defined in a range like a strong 2♣ opener, the Q bid retains its original Bridge meaning of showing extra and a game/slam try. Courtesy Q bids do not apply by the unlimited hand. In fact 2♣ openers have such a variable range that failure to Q bid is a means of slowing down an auction. Here is an auction by Kantar-Eisenberg that shows this “slowing down” process . Eisenberg opened 2♣ on ♠AKQJx ♥x ♦Axxx ♣AKx and Kantar has ♠xxxxx ♥AQJ ♦xxx ♣xx and bid 2♦. 2♠ by Eisenberg brought 3♠ by Kantar but Eisenberg did not Q bid anything. He just bid 4♠ saying as far as 2♣ openers go I have a minimum . Will need the pushing to be done from your side if there is slam.