You’re playing in a knockout with a friend of a friend. You’ve agreed to play Standard American, whatever the heck that means. Things are going okay, until you and your new partner have the following auction:
South North
1D 1N
2D 2N
Pass
With a lot of help from the defense, you squeak out 8 tricks and pick up a couple of IMPs.
Well? What do you think?
If you truly understand what’s wrong with this auction, then you’re probably a pretty good player.
If you don’t see what’s wrong, then you should try your best to figure it out.
The problem is that 2N bid. (If you thought that there was something wrong with South’s pass at the end, then I’m afraid you may be beyond hope.)
Let’s assume that North and South have sorted their hands properly, and there aren’t any aces or kings hiding behind a two-spot.
What do the first three bids mean?
It looks like South has 6 diamonds, and a minimum opening. North has something like 6-9 points and should not have a 4-card major.
South is bidding 2D to play (and probably has a very weak holding in the majors).
North’s 2N bid is insane. He’s denied having more than 6-9 points (or a bad 10), and yet he’s bidding 2N even after his partner has indicated an unwillingness to play in 1N!
As you’ve probably guessed, I was sitting South.
After the round, I said to North, as calmly as possible:
“You know, on that hand, 2D was to play.”
Partner brusquely replied:
“So was 2N!”
It was a long day.
