6

At my duplicate bridge club, with both sides vulnerable, some Souths dealt, and passed with this 13 point hand:

♠ AJx
♡ Axxx
♢ QT9
♣ Qxx (All x's are 7 or lower.)

The hand's main drawback is its 4-3-3-3 shape, which would cause me to deduct a point from it. Even so, I would be loathe to pass out a hand with a four card major and equal vulnerability. Give me unfavorable (only us) vulnerability, and switch the red suits (four diamonds, three hearts), and I might pass. But here, I would bid 1 club. Are these reasonable postures?

FWIW, N-S got a top score by having N bid and make 1NT (with 9 hcps), and a bottom score by passing.

Tom Au
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2 Answers2

10

13 hcp with two aces? I’d open that 10/10 times regardless of distribution. 4 diamonds I’m still fine bidding a 1D then; it’s even a more useful bid than the nondescript 1C.

I’m not surprised some passed, but as a modern player I think it’s very rare to pass that sort of hand. You want to compete for the 20-20 hands where both sides probably make 1NT with the bonus half trick or more you get from declaring.

Joe
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Modern bidding style is relatively aggressive. Many experts open all 12 counts and 11 counts with a modicum of shape, and I've seen some open flat 11 counts. My personal minimum is that I won't open 4333 12 counts unless they have something extra going for them (the 12 points are all aces, or there are a bunch of 9's and 10's supporting the honors). Standards also are typically lowered in 3rd seat -- you can open a balanced hand and pass partner's response if you have a minimum.

The general idea is that the tactical advantage of entering the bidding makes up for the occasional poor results from opening a mediocre hand.

So I think only the most conservative players will ever pass a hand with 13 HCP.

I'm pretty surprised that this hand was passed by anyone at your club. As I said, advanced players tend to be more aggressive, and less experienced players are usually inveterate pointer counters who just follow simple rules. Either way, that means that all 13 pointers get opened.

Barmar
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