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The goals in bidding are

i) bid to your right level

ii) push the opps too high and when it's right penalise them

iii) penalise the opps when possible for 'making noise at the wrong time'

My observation would be that a lot of players think the goal is to win the auction which often means bidding to the wrong level...and as a result they are giving up a lot of their best scores....but in order to take advantage of these opportunites to punish the opps a few simple techniques such as the trap pass and the 'dont mess with us' redouble need to be learnt.

Here is a hand from Friday mornings tournament where the proper use of redouble was the way to the top score.

West North East South
1h dbl ?

Dealer North, none vul. IMPs

North hand

K J 4
A K 7 4 2
K
J 10 7 5

South hand

8 5 3 2
6 5
Q J 6 5
A K 2

Ross, are the answers supposed to be there "whitened" out?

If Yes , I can't see them:-)

If No , I can't wit to see em

Very good posts btw,./.For some reason I am reluctant to use the phrase "IMHO"

anymore and as a matter of fact have mentally removed it from my vocabulary. It seems overused and overdone here on this message board :-)

Morgan, remove the H and just use IMO.

West       North        East        South
           1h           dbl         redbl
pass       pass         ?

What does west's pass mean? What does east bid?

It means he has nothing more special to say about his hand -- that is, he doesn't have 4 spades or a 5-card suit.

2. This time the auction goes...

West       North        East        South
           1h           dbl         redbl
1nt       pass         pass        ?

Is north's pass forcing? Can south pass?

Yes, that's the whole point of redoubling. No south can't pass, if he was going to pass he should not have redoubled.

3. Now the auction goes...

West       North        East        South
           1h           dbl         redbl
1nt        dbl        pass        ?

Is north's double penalty? optional? What does south bid?

Penalty. South passes

4. As a final option the bidding goes...

West       North        East        South
           1h           dbl         redbl
1nt        pass         pass        dbl
pass       ?

Is south's double penalty? What can north bid?

West       North        East        South
           1h           dbl         redbl
pass       pass         ?

What does west's pass mean? What does east bid?

2. This time the auction goes...

West       North        East        South
           1h           dbl         redbl
1nt       pass         pass        ?

Is north's pass forcing? Can south pass?

3. Now the auction goes...

West       North        East        South
           1h           dbl         redbl
1nt        dbl        pass        ?

Is north's double penalty? optional? What does south bid?

4. As a final option the bidding goes...

West       North        East        South
           1h           dbl         redbl
1nt        pass         pass        dbl
pass       ?

Is south's double penalty? What can north bid?

South's double is penalty and North would ordinarily leave it in because if he had a hand that would pull the double, he should have bid over 1NT.

Seems to me that maybe a 1s is best after the double because you take that bid away from the opps, and it might prevent a spade lead at nt. Any merit to that?

I like redouble rather than 1s - the balance of power is ours, if east ends up in a doubled contract it wont play well because there is unlikely to be any entries to wests hand, at equal vulnerablity our best score may come from doubling them...

In this case 3nt does not make on good defense and 1s by them doubled goes off 3 on the best defense...(3nt going off was -4 imps; 1s x'd -3 was +8 imps)

I guess its a strategy question...

a) you bid 1s under the assumption that eventually you will be playing the contract and you let the opps off the hook (ie the goal in bidding is only to win the contract)...versus

b) you redouble and let the opps struggle to find a playable spot...and then you decide whether to go for penalty or find your best spot...I prefer to make the opps sweat (ie the goal in bidding is either to punish the opps or if not possible to try to bid to your right spot)

There are times when I will bid rather than redouble with 10+ hcps (for example if I am short in one of the majors or in this instance short in spades and they are nv/vul and I think they might preempt and make it harder for us to find our best spot..) but in this hand with length in all the unbid suits I'll prefer redouble.

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