Friday, April 01, 2005 5:12 PM

Hand Evaluation - Serious 3NT vrs Blackwood

PITBULLS:

Serious 3NT , by replacing the single handed Blackwood in some major suit auctions , is a great tool for “putting on the breaks” after a light opening bid. The “serious 3NT ” or the inference that you did not use the bid ,speaks volumes & takes place under game. Bidding your hand again is the most obnoxious of all Bridge faults. Tom & I had an auction where the inferences demanded in “serious 3NT” theory keeps the partnership out of a bad slam. I opened 1♥ , Tom held ♠J10xx ♥xx ♦AQxx ♣AKQ . What do you respond with this hand ? There is no exact correct bid so you should pick the “best lie” . Responding a spade on that suit is quite lame. You could go to the two level in diamonds or jump to 3NT immediately. The jump to 3NT is systemic showing 15-17 HCP with 4-4 in the minors. AKQ is good as any 4 card suit so that’s the “lie” I would choose.

Say instead , you bid 2♦ going in with partner bidding 2♠ . You bid 3♠ which shows an unlimited hand so brings all the “serious 3NT” inferences into play. If partner has a serious slam try , he will bid 3NT. If partner has any sort of a hand , he will make a forced Q bid. If he returns to the trump suit it is the death response as far as slam tries go . I bid 4♠ which should show no outside controls with most of my HCP’s in spades. ♠AKQx ♥QJxxx ♦xx ♣Jx is a likely hand on this auction. Even with a minimum , I am obligated to show a heart control if I have one. The beauty of “serious 3NT” is staying out of slams rather than just getting to makeable ones.

What if partner did bid 4♥ over your 3♠ bid ? Do you bid Blackwood ? Again you have the “Serious 3NT” to fall back on. Partner did not make a serious slam try when he had the chance. If you had ♠AKxx ♥AKxxx ♦xx ♣xx or better which is needed to make small opposite so many HCP’s in the minor suits he would have bid the “Serious 3NT” . Partners failure to do so means that 6♠ is highly unlikely with these cards.

You do not need a “moose” to bid the “serious 3NT” , it is still a slam try after all . Once you have made your “serious 3NT” bid , you have got that “off your chest” . This simple fact allows you to retreat to game knowing you have done your duty. The onus shifts to partner if there is a slam for the partnership . On this auction , I would have bid 3NT with as little as ♠AKxx ♥AQJxx ♦xx ♣xx . Since I did not , there can not be a slam with partners cards .

Opening light in the majors has a good tactical advantage. The “serious 3NT” is a great tool to allow you to “back track” , once you have done so. Partner with good hands must infer that you did not use the “serious 3NT” for a reason or in rare cases did not show any controls when asked to do so. Serious 3NT theory was invented in part to prevent the 4NT bid , single handed placing the partnership in slam or going down at the 5 level. Serious 3NT was designed to keep slam tries under game. When you have the urge to take control of the auction via 4NT , bid 3NT instead !!!

Remember to use the “serious 3NT” with all major suit hands where you are making a serious slam tram instead of a courtesy slam try. Maurice & Susan had this auction in the CNTC zone finals in Red Deer.

1♦-P-1♠-P

3♥-P-? The 3♥ is a splinter with their methods , Susan holds ♠AQxxx ♥AQxxx ♦x ♣109 . Although it seems very anti-intuitive with a 5-5 , a serious slam try should be shown immediately. You have an offensive 5-5 opposite a jump to the 3 level so a 3NT bid conveys the slam try message. Partner bids 4♣ so you are off to the races. If you bid 4♥ instead of 3NT, you push the level to 5 thereby saying you are only making a courtesy slam try. 3NT is a Q bid so you can bid it with any distribution !!