Parrish the Thought Newsletter

Greetings from northern Michigan! I’m at my friend Charlie’s house in Leelanau County, along with my intrepid editor Trey and his family. We’ve been coming up here together since middle school! It’s a tradition I cherish, and it’s one of my favorite places, with some of my favorite people. I shipped a case of wine (a relatively recent tradition—but a great one!), which we have been enjoying. Well, mostly me and Charlie’s mom—Trey and Charlie don’t drink much. Their loss!

On Monday I head to Minneapolis for the American Bridge Teachers Association’s annual conference and then the NABC. I’m playing with Greg, which I always look forward to. We’re teaming with Steve Beatty-Fred Stewart and Tom Carmichael-James Holzhauer in the Spingold. Wish us luck!

From there I’m headed to Cape Cod for the rest of the summer. Not a bad life! Looking forward to spending more time with my family.

Thanks to all of you for the kind words and well wishes sent to me and my family after my dad died. It has been a hard couple of years—decades, really—dealing with his Alzheimer’s. But the loss still stung. I’m glad I was able to be with my family and mourn the loss and celebrate his life. Lots of family and old friends came in for his memorial service.

Please feel absolutely no obligation, but if you are inclined to do something, we are encouraging donations in his name to the Alzheimer's Association.

I released a couple of great podcast episodes this month, with Adam Grossack and Danny Miles. I’ve got some fun ones coming up, including Raj Shourie and John Kranyak.

Upcoming topics in my Monday Class on Learn Bridge Online:

July 6                     Declarer Play
July 13                   Robot Tournament
July 20                   Doubles
July 27                   Defense

I have been getting a lot of emails about my columns in the ACBL Bridge Bulletin this year. I love them, keep them coming!

Hi, Adam,

This was a real bidding dilemma for me.

I held: ♠ xx ♥ Kxxxx ♦ x ♣ AQJxx

LHO bid 1♦ and RHO bid 1♠ spade. (Partner passed.)

I had planned to bid the Unusual 2NT, but after RHO bid, I thought that if I bid 2NT it would sound like I was interested in NT and not that I had the 2 lowest unbid suits. (Was I right about that?)

I decided to double, which I thought conveyed support for both unbid suits as well as opening count or very close.

Anyway, the opponents bid 1NT, then 2NT.

So I decided to bid one of my suits. I picked clubs, was that right?

Passed all around.

After dummy came down, I saw partner had 4 hearts and 1 club. Should she have corrected my bid to hearts?

As long as your partner hasn’t bid or doubled, a jump to 2NT shows the 2 lowest unbid suits—or in this case, the 2 unbid suits. So you could have bid 2NT. That is usually more shape (at least 5-5) than a double (which could be 4-4), and it doesn’t promise an opening hand, which a double does. So your double wasn’t wrong, but 2NT would have been better.

The problem with your sequence was that you doubled and bid; that’s a Power Double showing a huge hand with just clubs. That’s why partner didn’t bid hearts.

Having started with a double, your choices over 2NT were to pass or to double again. Given that the opponents were both bidding and partner hadn’t opened her mouth, I would have passed.

Remember that when you double and then bid, it shows the super-strong hand.

Adam

Dear Adam,

I am investigating the 2♥ double negative response to standard 2♣ opening, and came across your convention. You (and others) have alluded to additional responses to your 2♠ convention other than the usually forced 2NT. I cannot, however, find any details of these additional responses. Could you elaborate on these advanced (and rare) responses to your 2♠ convention?

I have never had it come up, but responder can break the relay to 2NT with a long (7+) suit of their own. In those cases, it’s often best to play in the weaker hand’s suit, since you won’t have any entries to utilize it otherwise.

The other additions one could add are what opener’s 4-level bids mean—both directly and going through the relay. After 2♣-2♥, opener can make an immediate natural forcing bid or go through the relay to sign off. Of course they can also just bid game. But what about 4m? 2♠ then 4m? 2♠ then 4M?

I used to be a system tinkerer and thought about definitions for these bids, but nowadays I prefer to keep things simple and ease the memory strain. 2♣-2♥ auctions come up maybe once or twice a year, and the basic followups have proven sufficient. Feel free to come up with your own meanings if you want!

Adam

Dear Adam,

How do I show a 5-5 majors hand when partner opens 1NT?

It depends how strong you are. With a game forcing hand, transfer to spades and then bid 3♥. Transferring and then bidding a suit at the 3-level is natural and game forcing. If you transfer and then bid a minor, it could be a 4-card suit; but transferring to spades and bidding 3♥ shows 5-5, because with 5-4 you would use Smolen.

With an invitational hand, you transfer to hearts and then bid 2♠. This is 5 hearts, 4 or 5 spades, and invitational. With less than an invitational hand, you can pick a suit and transfer and pass, or you can start with Stayman and if partner bids 2♦ you can bid 2♥, Crawling Stayman: partner will pass or choose 2♠. That’s usually the best bet, unless one of your suits is much stronger than the other.

Adam

That's all for now. I encourage you to send me questions about my column or anything else at adam@adamparrishbridge.com. Maybe they'll end up in the next newsletter!