Jumping

Jumping can be dangerous in life and in bridge. Don’t fall so in love with your hand that you exuberantly go wild with your bidding.

To jump on your second bid you should hold 18-19 HCP without distribution. You are first to bid and you open your longest suit, your partner, bids one of your short suits, you next bid your second best suit. Now partner knows, since you changed suits, you have 5-4 distribution, medium level points (18-19), and 4 cards split among your other 2 suits. Partner now has a better picture of how your hands fit.

But, if when you bid your second suit you make a jump bid, you are showing a very strong hand, and forcing partner to bid, possibly at a level the partnership can’t support. By keeping your second suit bid at a lower level, partner has choices for his next bid.

He can make a preference bid picking your suit that fits best with his hand, he can pass, or raise one of your suits or with 10-12 points can go to game.

If partner passes you know partner has a weak hand, with no game in sight and you need to be satisfied with a partial score. But remember, a jump bid by partner, as a direct response to your first bid, states partner has a weak hand with a very long suit and can support no other suit.

Our Oct. 6 Evergreen game was well attended. Winning N/S: 1st Carol Bachl and Judy Gealy, 2nd Shirley Jeffers and Don Webster, 3rd Nancy Brandt and Judy Hurder;

E/W: 1st Margaret and Chuck Rimer, 2nd Pat Featherston and Dick Brisbin, 3rd Wade Lowder and Fred Bachl.

Featured is board #6 from Friday’s game      E/W vulnerable    East dealer

NORTH:

S  A J 7 3 2

H  A

D  A K J

C  J T 9

WEST:                  EAST:

S  A 6                    S  K Q 7 4

H  K J 8 6 4 3       H  7

D  —                       D  T 7 5 3

C  K Q 8 6 2           C  A 7 5 4

SOUTH:

S  J

H  Q T 9 5 2

D  Q 9 8 6 4 2

C  3

Ruth Bowles and Marie Pugh had the best score N/S biding 2N making, while best E/W was 5SN -3 by Wade Lowder and Fred Bachl.

Winning at Tuesday, Oct. 10 Women’s Club game: 1st Nancy Brandt and Tom Johnson, 2nd Judy Hurder and Myrnie McLaughlin, 3rd Fern Albracht and Dick Brisbin, 4th Shirley and Ron Jeffers.