'The most interesting questions from visitors to the Dutch sister site bridgevaria.nl' 

Dear Peter and Ed,

Do you know any defence against weak notrumps of 12-14 HCP, or even 10-12 HCP?

Kind regards,

Willem

Granddad is tidying his study. He finds an old notebook in a drawer. It contains a number of thematically-sorted bridge deals. He smiles and sits down in his easy chair. These are deals he used when he taught Barry and Harry how to play bridge. He leafs through the notebook and every deal brings back memories. Even when he hardly knew how to play bridge, Barry knew exactly how the game should be played.

'The most interesting questions from visitors to the Dutch sister site bridgevaria.nl'

Dear Peter and Ed,

When doubling an opening bid for take-out: should I always have at least 13HCP? Or could I apply the Rule of 20, like I do when opening myself, in which case I may have a little fewer HCP?

Thanks,
Henny Bokkes,

Solving a double-dummy mini-puzzle, like the one below, is not only fun. It also helps players to gain an insight in playing suit combinations.
Construct the layout with the cards face up on the table. That will make it easier to study all possibilities.

		♠	K 9
		♥	7
		♦	K
		♣	A
♠	Q J 4			♠	A 8 7
♥	4			♥	5
♦	A			♦	—
♣	—			♣	K
		♠	5 3
		♥	2
		♦	Q J
		♣	—

South is on lead in a spade contract. How can he make two tricks?

Dear Ed and Peter,

This is what happened:

N/..		♠	9 7 2
		♥	A 8
		♦	J 10 6 5 3
		♣	10 8 3
♠	K 6 4			♠	A Q 10 5
♥	K 10 9 6			♥	4
♦	K 8 7 4			♦	A 9
♣	9 5			♣	A K Q 7 6 2
		♠	J 8 3
		♥	Q J 7 5 3 2
		♦	Q 2
		♣	J 4

¹ 3⁺ clubs

Since 1♣ has not established a suit, would 4NT be quantitative or Blackwood?

Thanks,
Doug Kinney,

In a recent hand playing standard Acol I opened 2NT (20 points, with 2 spades: ♠Qx). My partner jumped raised to 4♠. I mistakenly took this for a slam request but after Blackwood I ended up in 5♠ (1 off).
So, for a jump raise to game in a major from 2NT should I always pass i.e. should I have left it in 4♠ (makes easily).

Thanks,
Andrew Whittingham,