Competing to the 3 Level

A young Bridge Bear asked his friends if he should have "bid one more." The auction was...

West	North	East	South
1♠	2♥	2♠	3♥
P	P	?

"I passed," said the young bear, "and I got a bad matchpoint score. How many points do I need to bid at the three level?"

A wise old Bridge Bear was listening, and said, "Watch Out For the Three Level!"

The young bear said, "Yes, I often make mistakes at the three level. I pass when I should bid, and I bid when I should pass. I just don't know how many points I need to compete. I know I don't need game invitational strength. But... How many?"

The old Bridge Bear hesitated, then continued, "When you learn to play bridge, you pay too much attention to hcp. HCP don't tell you when to bid more and when to play defense. You see, high cards take tricks on defense as well as on offense."

"But..." the young bear said, "if high cards don't tell us when to pass, bid or double, what does?"

"Ah, what indeed!"

1. Extra Trumps. You can take more tricks as declarer when you have more trumps.
2. Short Suits. You can take more tricks when you can trump their high cards.
3. Working Honors. You can take more tricks declaring when your honors don't get squished by their honors.
4. The Scoring Table. Compare points you expect to score, and not just tricks you expect to take.

We'll be looking at each of these in turn. But first we need a baseline of how many tricks we can expect to take as declarer with an ordinary hand having none of the first three items on our list.

High Card Points are a good guide to the number of tricks we can expect to take with an ordinary hand, assuming we find an eight-card trump fit.

• With 16-18 combined hcp you can expect to take 7 tricks.
• With 19-21 combined hcp you can expect to take 8 tricks.
• With 22-24 combined hcp you can expect to take 9 tricks.
• With 25-27 combined hcp you can expect to take 10 tricks.

These numbers are very good on average. The trouble is, any individual hand may turn out to be either better or worse than average.

In an unopposed auction, a single raise (1♥ → 2♥) will end the bidding unless Opener has at least the strength to make a game-invitational bid. With less strength, you don't bid to the three level.

But when the opponents compete, it may be correct to bid to the 3 level with less than invitational strength. There are two ways this can be a winning choice.

Two ways to be right about bidding one more...

• You might make the contract.
• You might go set but lose fewer points than if you allow them to declare.

The young Bridge Bear said, "Fine, I get it. Sometimes I can go set and still get a good result. But you still haven't told me when those times are..."

You're right, Little Bear. Let's start looking at guidelines for when to bid one more than your hcp suggest.

When your partnership has about half the hcp, the number of tricks you can profitably contract for depends on how many trumps you have.

• 8 trumps = 8 tricks
• 9 trumps = 9 tricks
• 10 trumps = 10 tricks

A very simple formula, isn't it? Let's look at a few examples.

♠ K 9 6 4 ♥ Q 9 2 ♦ 8 6 ♣ Q T 5 3

Partner opens 1♥. You raise to 2♥. With 8 trumps and about half the points, you expect to take 8 tricks.

If your opponents bid 3♦, you do not have enough trumps to bid 3♥. Maybe Partner will have an extra heart, and she'll "take the push" to 3♥.

♠ K 9 6 4 ♥ Q 9 2 ♦ 8 6 ♣ Q T 5 3

This is the same hand. This time Partner opens 1♠, and you raise to 2♠. With 9 trumps and about half the points, you expect to take 9 tricks, though your hand isn't good enough to invite game.

If the opponents bid over 2♠, you should "take the push" to 3♠.

If you can't make 3♠ with 9 trumps, then they were probably making their bid and you'll come out ahead on the scoresheet by bidding 3♠.

♠ K 9 6 4 ♥ Q 9 2 ♦ 8 6 ♣ Q T 5 3

A third look at the same hand. Your opponents open 1♥, Partner overcalls 2♣, and Responder bids 2♥.

Partner could have as few as 10 points, so your partnership hcp total could be only 17. Nevertheless, you should bid 3♣ based on your 9+ trumps.

If Partner has only 10 hcp, she has at least two "plus values" in the hand, making 3♣ a good contract. You cannot wait for partner to bid one more, because she doesn't know about the 9+ club fit. (Do you want to review our guidelines for overcalls?)

OK, Little Bear, now let's take a look at another way to figure out if you should bid more than your hcp suggest.

Half the hcp (19-21) and an 8 card fit normally produces 8 tricks. But with a short suit, you can often take an extra trick.

How short is "short"? A singleton or void.

Let's look at two hands that are almost the same.

♠ 7 4 ♥ A 9 8 2 ♦ Q 5 3 ♣ J 9 7 6

♠ 7 ♥ A 9 8 2 ♦ Q 5 3 ♣ J 9 7 6 4

Partner opens 1♦, and raises your 1♥ response to 2♥.

With the first hand, you expect to take 8 tricks because you have half the points and an 8 card fit. But with the second hand your singleton means you can expect to take 9 tricks.

Are all short suits equally valuable?

No.

• The best singleton is in your opponents' suit. It's usually worth at least one extra trick. If you have 4+ trumps to support Partner's suit, it may well be worth two or (rarely) three extra tricks.
• The worst singleton is in Partner's first bid suit. If Partner has honor-card winners in this suit, you may gain nothing by trumping. This singleton is still good, just not as good as if it were in another suit.
• Voids are usually better than singletons, though more unpredictable. They follow the same general pattern as singletons – best in your opponents' suit; worst in Partner's suit. As with singletons, the more trump you have the better the void becomes.
• Short suits are more valuable in the hand with fewer trumps, usually the dummy.

Let's look at an example hand with two singletons: a good one and a not-so-good one.

Dummy ♠ J T 5 ♥ 2 ♦ T 8 3 2 ♣ A J 9 5 2   South ♠ A K Q 9 4   ♥ J 7 6 5 ♦ 9 ♣ T 6 5

In a spade contract, South can lead out all her trumps, and make five trump tricks. (This is not good declarer play, I'm just showing how to count tricks.)

If she trumps the second round of diamonds in the South hand, she wins that trick, but she can then lead out her remaining trumps for only four additional tricks. Her total is still 5 trump tricks.

She does not gain a trick by trumping in the hand with more trumps.

The result is quite different if she trumps the second round of hearts in dummy. She wins that trick and she can still lead out all her trumps for five more tricks. That's an extra trump trick.

If she trumps twice in the dummy, she gets two extra tricks to go with her five trumps in hand. Trumping three times in the dummy is three extra tricks.

As you can see, a short suit is more valuable in the hand with fewer trump. It's important to appreciate why the heart singleton is worth an extra trick or two. But the diamond singleton isn't. (Trumping hearts leaves the longer suit intact. But trumping diamonds shortens the longer trump suit.)

Now let's see how short suits help us in the bidding:

♠ Q T 4 3 ♥ A 9 8 2 ♦ 3 ♣ 8 7 6 4

West	North	East	South
–	1♦	P	1♥
2♣	2♥	3♣	?

You have a 4-4 heart fit.

Partner promises 12-15 points for her 2♥ raise.

Do you have half the hcp? Maybe – maybe not. If Partner has a minimum 12, the partnership total would be only 18, while your opponents would have 22.

How many tricks can you expect to take with only 18 hcp? The strength expectation is 7 tricks. In that case, "one extra trick" for the singleton only makes 8 tricks. Not enough to bid to the three level. Furthermore, your singleton is in Partner's first bid suit, which suggests modest caution.

Now consider what happens if you take a pessimistic view and pass.

Partner will make the same kind of analysis when it's her turn to bid. All she needs is a 13 count to come to the conclusion that the partnership has "half the hcp." Then she'll look for an extra trump or a short suit.

You know she's short in the opponents' clubs because the opponents have shown an 8+ fit and you have 4 clubs yourself. So you fully expect Partner to take the push to 3♥.

♠ Q T 4 3 ♥ A 9 8 2 ♦ 3 ♣ 8 7 6 4

West	North	East	South
–	1♣	P	1♥
2♦	2♥	3♦	?

This is the same hand, but I've switched the bidding of the minor suits.

You now have the best singleton, and support for Partner's first bid suit, as well as the heart fit. So...

Bid 3♥. Even if the Partnership total is only 18, you may make two extra tricks by trumping their diamonds.

And besides, Partner may have more than a bare minimum, but be unable to bid 3♥ herself because she doesn't have a short suit. It would be a shame to let them play 3♦ when you can make 3♥.

We've covered two ways to figure out that you should bid one more than your hcp suggest. Now let's look at a third...

Little Bear wants to know, "What are 'Working Honors'?"

Good question. Working Honors are honors that...

• take tricks for your side. They don't get squished by your opponents' honors.
  
  or
• they contribute to establishing skaters in your long suits.

Like this...

♠ Q T 9 6 ♥ 8 7 5 4 ♦ K J 3 ♣ 5 2

Partner opens 1♦ and rebids 1♠ after your 1♥ response.

You should assume all your honors are working because they are in suits partner has length in. The two hands might be...

Dummy ♠ Q T 9 6 ♥ 8 7 5 4 ♦ K J 3 ♣ 5 2   South ♠ A K 8 4   ♥ 6 3 ♦ A Q 9 4 2 ♣ 6 3

You have only 19 hcp, with no extra trump and no short suit.

Yet it's easy to take 9 tricks with spades as trump because all your honors are working. Not a single honor gets squished by your opponents' higher honor.

Notice that your opponents have (almost) all their honors working too. You cannot squish any of their club or heart honors (just their ♠J is not working), so they can take at least 9 tricks with clubs as trump – more if they have a short suit in diamonds or spades.

One of the Young Bears has been silent until now, "What if South doesn't have a five card diamond suit? Then you can only take 8 tricks."

The Wise Old Bear answers, "True, but they are still likely to take 9 tricks in clubs, so you still come out ahead by bidding 3♠ instead of letting them play 3♣."

That uncovers a basic truth about bidding "one more."

Practice hands

practice 1

♠ Q 6 3 ♥ A 9 8 6 ♦ J 8 ♣ Q T 5 2

West	North	East	South
–	1♦	P	1♥
1♠	2♥	2♠	?

Do you take the push to 3♥? yes no

practice 2

♠ T 6 3 ♥ A Q 9 6 ♦ T 8 ♣ T 7 5 2

West	North	East	South
–	1♥	1♠	2♥
2♠	P	P	?

Do you pass or bid 3♥? pass 3♥

practice 3

♠ A Q 8 4 ♥ 3 2 ♦ Q 8 3 2 ♣ 9 7 6

West	North	East	South
–	1♣	1♦	1♠
2♦	2♠	3♦	?

Do you take the push to 3♠? yes no

Incidentally, you fully expect partner to take the push to 3♠, because she is known to be short in diamonds. If your spade honors were in hearts instead of in partner's suit, you could double 3♦ (at matchpoints, but not at IMPs) to strongly suggest that Partner not bid 3♠.

practice 4

♠ A Q 8 4 ♥ 3 2 ♦ 9 7 6 ♣ Q 8 3 2

West	North	East	South
–	1♣	1♦	1♠
2♦	2♠	3♦	?

This example is almost the same as the last hand. The only difference is I've switched the minor suits. Do you take the push to 3♠?

yes no

practice 5

♠ K J 5 4 2 ♥ Q 8 6 ♦ T ♣ 9 7 3 2

West	North	East	South
–	1♥	2♣	2♥
P	P	3♣	?

Do you pass or bid 3♥? pass 3♥

practice 6

♠ A Q J 5 4 2 ♥ J 6 ♦ K T 4 ♣ Q 9

West	North	East	South
–	–	P	1♠
2♥	2♠	3♥	?

What's your call? pass 3♠

We've looked at three of our four reasons to compete to the three level – extra trumps, short suits, and working honors. The fourth reason, comparing scores, is a little different because it's not based on the cards in your hand. Let's take a look...

Suppose you have an ordinary hand with half the HCP and an 8 card heart fit.

How many tricks do you expect to take? show answer

How many points do you score for making 2♥? show answer

When you have half the points, your opponents also have half the points. So they too can make 8 tricks with an 8 card fit.

If you let your opponents play 2♠ after your 2♥ bid, they will make it and you will you score -110 points. It would be better for you to go set one trick in 3♥, losing fewer than 110 points.

But if your opponents are the first to bid on the three level, you have less assurance that they can make their contract. So you should avoid bidding more unless you think you might make 9 tricks.

As the Wise Old Bridge Bear said, "Watch Out For the Three Level!"

Go to the next topic:

Negative Doubles

Or see all articles in the Bridge Bidding series.  +