Tuesday, February
20, 2007 10:35 PM
Hand Evaluation - Q Bids ( Game before Slam )
PITBULLS:
As
every Bridge player knows , Q bids are ambiguous . Q bids
show a strong hand or a 1st
round control or asks for a stopper in that suit or asks partner to pick a suit ( two suiters
) or a waiting bid or showing
a stopper or sometimes
in pre-emptive auctions Q bids can be KCB
or Exclusion Blackwood. The most common use for a Q bid is showing a fit with limit raise or better
values. How do you sort out this mess ? Q
bids must have a priority pecking order . The guiding principle for
Q bids is game before slam. This means that Q bids are to be interpreted in the context of games
first & slams later.
Sometimes in Bridge , ambiguity is allowed. Bridge players know ambiguous
bids confuse auctions. With minor
fits & if you are below 3NT , you can make bids
whose true meaning gets clarified
later in the auction. The goal with minor fits is 3NT .
This is a Bridge basic. Inverted minors , especially if you play them as limit raise or
better , allows ambiguity. Was
the bid a suit , a stopper or a Q bid ? Only time will tell.
How
do you interpret 2nd Q bids? . Partner
makes a T/O double & you have ♠xxx ♥KJ ♦10x ♣AKQxxx so you Q bid 2♠. 1ST Q bids just say you just have a strong hand
& creating a force. Partner bids 3♦ so now what ? You bid a 2nd Q bid so thinking game before slam ,
the Q bid should ask for a spade stopper to bid 3NT. Partner has one so she
bids 3NT and +600 rolls home.
OK
same auction but change your hand ♠AKx ♥Jx ♦10x ♣AKQxxx . You still Q bid 2♠ but partner still
bids 3♦. You still bid 3♠ , partner thinking game
before slam will think it is asking for a stopper. She does not have
one so she bids 4♥. You now bid 4NT which clarifies your 2nd Q bid as a
huge hand with spade values. Can if be Blackwood in
support of hearts ? Of course not , as you would have bid 3♥ after 3♦ as you set up a
force with your initial Q bid. Partner’s hand is ♠x ♥A1098 ♦AQJ98 ♣J10x so carries on to 6NT
which is a “positional make” as the diamond king is with the opening bidder.
One
of the side effects of “game
before slam” is Q
bidding partners or your own
major. You have established a minor
fit & either side bids 4 of the previously bid major. Games are more important than
slams so they have priority in
these auctions. This “Q bid” is in offer to play
this contract. Q bidding partners or your own major suit is just not done in expert circles. Most of the
time the Q bid is worthless to the partnership anyway as your void is not as
asset to the partnership for slam purposes anyway. A major suit Ace can be
found thru KCB so why waste an
opportunity for a choice of contracts ?
You should be allowed to play in a secondary major fit
after finding a minor fit.
Here
is a “game before slam” interpretation that occurred recently. My partner opened
2♣ with ♠AKxxx ♥AJ ♦AJx ♣KQx , I bid 2♦ . Partner chose to
rebid 2♠ with his balanced NT hand because he was all
controls. I bid 2NT which in our system is forced after a 2♠ bid unless I wanted
to break the relay to show a slam try in spades or a very good other suit. Partner now made the descriptive bid of 3NT
which showed the 22-24 HCP range. I now made a bid of 4♦ so what is that bid ? Thinking game before slams it is a diamond suit unless clarified later. Partner
now bid 4♥ as he liked his hand in support of diamonds. I now
bid 4♠ clarifying the diamond bid as a Q bid for a spade slam. Now partner has a judgment to make to go on to 6♠.
Q
bids need all the help that they can get to interpret them properly. Thinking game before slam helps
out a lot.