What’s your call?
| 1♠ | 1NT | |||
| 2♣ | 2♦ | 2♥ | 2♠ | 2NT |
| 3♣ | 3♦ | 3♥ | 3♠ | 3NT |
| 4♣ | 4♦ | 4♥ | 4♠ | 4NT |
| 5♣ | 5♦ | 5♥ | 5♠ | 5NT |
| 6♣ | 6♦ | 6♥ | 6♠ | 6NT |
| 7♣ | 7♦ | 7♥ | 7♠ | 7NT |
| Pass |
Colchamiro makes the “obvious underbid” of 1NT. “If partner gives me 2♥, I’ll try 2♠ and he should get the message. I don’t know what the chances are for clubs to provide five or six tricks in notrump, but they are much less than if lefty hadn’t bid them. It is likely that for us to make game, partner will need to voluntarily bid over 1NT.”
The Sutherlins call 1NT “the least of all evils we can think of.”
Boehm bids 1NT. “True, this might motivate partner to rebid hearts with possibly disastrous consequences. Still, 1♠ courts an unwelcome raise. 3NT might make on power. Pass leads to a dismal 1♥.”
Cohen: “1NT. No level of clubs shows clubs, and I have too much to pass. With the misfit, I don’t think I am worth 2NT. I prefer not to advance in a four-card suit unless I’m absolutely stuck.”
Kennedy bids 1NT. “I’m taking the low road with this misfit, although 1♠is tempting.”
“Beastie problem,” says Sanborn, who bids 1NT. “I have extras for sure, but maybe no source of tricks to make an invitational call.”
Lawrence explains his 1NT: “I expect to make this, although the play might be awkward. 1♠ is possible, too. But because 1♠ isn’t forcing, I might end up in a 4–2 fit.”
Meckstroth is a 1NT bidder. “A little heavy, but I don’t like bidding 1♠.”
Falk: 1NT. “I’m keeping it low because this may be a huge misfit. I’ll have to apologize if partner rebids more hearts, expecting a doubleton or at least a singleton heart. By not bidding 1♠, I could miss our real fit; but I could also make partner think we havea fit we don’t really possess.I’d rather be in 1NT or 2♦ than 3♠ opposite:
♠Q x x x ♥A Q J x x ♦A x x x ♣—,
and 4♠ is what partner would bid if I pull the 1♠ card out of my bidding box.”
Hampson has an opposite view. “1♠. I am very suit-oriented, and if I findfour trumps in partner’s hand, then 4♠is our target game.”
Robinson chooses 1♠ “because I have to bid something – I’m too strong to pass – and I don’t like bidding notrump with a void.”
1♠ by Korbel. “I’d like to bid 2♣natural, but that is not what it means. 1♠ gives partner a chance for a natural rebid, and it will give me more information for the next round of bidding.”
Lee bids 1♠. “I hate bidding bad four-card suits in this situation, but everything else seems worse.”
Stack: “I’m starting with 1♠ to see what partner bids. A 1NT advance seems like too little and 2NT seems as though it may be too much.”
Rigal on 1♠: “I can’t pretend I like it, even for a second, and my partner certainly wouldn’t expect me to havethis hand. Would a 1NT call be totally unreasonable? I don’t think so, but I can’t stand the postmortem when mypartner looks at my hand and says, ‘Youhad how many points?’ I’m very sensitive; I prefer to do the laughing than be the laughee.”
