Conventional Passes

Intended audience: Intermediate and up

E-W vul, matchpoints, as south you hold: ♠KQ1087 ♥K10854 ♦10 ♣64

West	North	East	South
-	-	1♣	2♦¹
Dbl²	Pass	Pass	?

¹Michaels

²Wanting to penalize at least one major

What do you bid?

This is a common theme – you make a bid, usually artificial, the opponents double and partner passes. Other common examples:

West	North	East	South
-	-	1♣	Dbl
Redouble²	Pass	Pass	?
or

West	North	East	South
-	-	-	1NT
Pass	2♥¹	Dbl	?

¹Transfer

Does partner’s pass mean something? If so what?

Every partnership should have an agreement. This came up in my newest partnership. I bid 2♥with the south hand and went down several, doubled. The full deal:


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

My suggestion is that over the first two examples pass by partner should be to play. The last one could also be played this way, but is more commonly used to differentiate between the number of spades, pass with two, accept the transfer with three or more.The main thing is to have an agreement with your partner(s).

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