A Rule of Ten

By Sara Tulip, 7/11/99

Your partner opens 1H, east passes and you hold:-
J 10 9 8 7 6 2

6

7 6

Q 7 5

What do you respond?

When responding with a very weak hand, you must be prepared to cope with the most inconvenient bid your partner can make, which he always make!!.Usually this bid is a leap to 2NT or 3NT.If the bidding goes:-


 
1H 1S 
2N 

Is 3S forcing or not in your system? How do you differentiate between the following hands?
 
K 10 9 x x x
Q x
x x x

x x

K 10 9 x x
Q x
J x x

K x x

To cope with bidding weak hands as responder, I’ve invented the Rule of Ten – simply add the number of points to the number of cards in your longest (one) suited hand – if it comes to ten then bid, if not then pass.

With 6 points and a 4 card suit, bid, as long as you can deal with partner’s rebid

With 5 points and a 5 card suit, bid, as long as you can deal with partner’s rebid

With 4 points and a 6 card suit, bid, as long as you can deal with partner’s rebid

With 3 points and a 7 card suit, bid, as long as you can deal with partner’s rebid

etc.

The following hand came up in a match a little while ago.
 
5 3
A K J 9 4
A 5
A 9 8 4
A K
7 5 3
K J 10 8 4 2
J 3
Q 4
Q 10 8 2
Q 9 3
K 10 6 2
J 10 9 8 7 6 2
6
7 6
Q75

Dealer North

1H 1S 2D 

3C 3S 

4S

4S came rolling in.

Moral : if you don’t bid game, you won’t make one………………………