Game Tries in Competition
By Mike Lawrence

Hand 1
Q 7 3
A 9 8 7 2
4 3
J 10 7

Raise to two spades. Don't forget to raise when you have something. You will never have it so good. By raising now, you get to obstruct opener a little. Worse, if you pass, you seldom get a second chance.

Hand 2
K 9 8 3
8 7 6 3 2
3
10 9 2

Bid three spades. When partner overcalls, your jump raise should not be limit as it would be after an opening bid. Opponents bid too well these days. By using the jump raise as weak (regardless of whether your RHO has bid), you can make them work harder. This hand has the proper ingredients. It has four trumps (mandatory for a jump raise), good shape, and not many points. You could make this hand weaker yet by making the distribution 4-5-2-2 and you should still bid three spades.

Hand 3
J 8 4
K 8 7 3
A K 4
8 7 4

A little too good for a raise to two spades. Cue-bid two diamonds. Cue-bidding and then showing support implies eleven to a crummy thirteen points. This hand has poor shape, but the high cards are a little better than minimum. It is important to have this understanding. If you can raise with a seven point hand AND an eleven point hand, your partner will be a basket case trying to decide what to do. Use the cue bid to help define your raises.

Hand 4
Q 8 7 3
Q J 7 4
K 8 3
10 7

Just raise to two spades. This is close to a maximum. You might later compete to three spades, but you would prefer to play in two if possible.

Hand 5
8 7 3
Q 8 7 4
K 5 4
J 8 2

Pass. The problem is location of values and shape. Everything about this hand is wrong. Change this hand to KQ7, 9874, 1053, 1094, one high card point fewer and keeping the terrible shape, and you should raise to two spades. The number of points is not the problem. It is the quality of them.

Hand 6
9 8 3
9 8 7 6 3 2
3
A K J

Raise to two spades. Don't bother showing the hearts. This is a good hand for a raise. It has good points and shape. The only flaw is the three little spades, but it is only a mild flaw given the rest of the hand is excellent.

Hand 7
K Q J 4
K 8 7 6 3
4
10 8 4

This hand shows one final treatment. You have a good hand that is willing to try for game. The difference between this hand and the balanced eleven count earlier is that you have super trumps and great shape in addition to your points. The way to show a good hand like this is to make a jump cue bid. Bid three diamonds. The jump cue bid says you have four or more trumps, good shape, and at least limit raise strength. On this hand you happen to have a singleton diamond. You might have shortness somewhere else. The idea behind the jump cue bid is to show the nature of your hand, not the specific details. NOTE that you can use this convention over a Negative Double or over a pass. For that matter, you can use it if RHO bids 1NT too.