The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, 29 March 2026
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Dear Mr. Rigal:
Am I allowed to look at the back of the bidding card during the auction, to find out the score for a certain contract? If not, is it worth learning the numbers?
Memory Lane, Dayton, Ohio
No, you are not. It is considered part of the game to know the scores (at least roughly) by heart, though I admit I cannot always remember all the redoubled ones! Your decision in the bidding will rarely be influenced by the precise score, anyway.
Dear Mr. Rigal:
Nonvulnerable, my left-hand opponent bid one no-trump. My partner and my right-hand opponent passed. I had ♠ A-Q-10, ♥ A-9-7-6, ♦ 10-9-6, ♣ Q-5-3. Am I to pass or make a balancing double? Partner had 12 points too. Please enlighten me.
Play the Odds, Dodge City, Kan.
I think you have to accept that sometimes making the right bid doesn’t yield the best result. Here, neither you nor your partner had a penalty double, but one no-trump goes down quite a few tricks. Ask yourself this: Would you be bothered by this if your partner had 6 points instead of 12? Of course not! Try for the best normal result (one no-trump down a few) and win the event on the next board.
Dear Mr. Rigal:
If you open one diamond and hear one spade on your left, two hearts from partner and a pass on your right, is three clubs by you forcing?
Change of Suit, Great Falls, Mont.
Yes, it should be. Three hearts, three diamonds and two no-trump are the only nonforcing calls in my book. How else, other than three clubs, can you show your second suit while also keeping three no-trump in the picture? A cue bid of two spades would just confuse the issue if you had a strong hand with 5-5 in the minors, say. What becomes difficult is when responder gives preference or raises opener. I believe that if it sounds nonforcing, it is.
Dear Mr. Rigal:
If partner leads a side-suit ace against a trump contract and dummy comes down with K-Q-x, what should my signal be as third hand?
Short Suit, Muncie, Ind.
Partner’s lead will presumably be from shortness more often than not, and given dummy’s solid holding, attitude or count will likely be irrelevant. You could certainly make the argument that this should be suit preference, therefore, to flag where your entry lies and offer partner a ruff: high for the higher side-suit, low for the lower one, middle cards neutral. Arguably, though, the suit-preference call can wait until the next round of the suit.
Dear Mr. Rigal:
What would you do with ♠ A-Q-J-9-8-4, ♥ 2, ♦ K-J-7-6-5, ♣ A after you open one spade, your left-hand opponent doubles, your partner passes and your right-hand opponent bids two clubs?
Two-suiter, Staten Island, N.Y.
I think two diamonds is too little. We could make game if partner has just one fitting card. However, insisting on game with a natural bid of four diamonds is a bit much with this broken suit. A jump to three diamonds sounds about right. With a game-forcing one- or two-suiter, you can cue-bid, or double and then jump.
Barry Rigal
Barry Rigal is an English-born bridge player, author, commentator, and journalist who has won major national titles in both the UK and the United States and served as a VuGraph commentator for decades at European and World championships. He has written and edited numerous bridge books and articles and has been President of the International Bridge Press Association, contributing widely to the game’s literature and education.
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