Deal 4	♠   ♥   ♦   ♣		WEST   NORTH   EAST   SOUTH 1NT pass  BID      North opens 1NT. What do you respond?
	♠ 5 3 ♥ K 9 8 7 4 2 ♦ A 10 6 ♣ 6 5

 

Deal 4	♠   ♥   ♦   ♣		WEST   NORTH   EAST   SOUTH 1NT pass 2♦ pass 2♥ pass  BID    You have 9 points and 6 ♥s. You transfer partner to ♥s by bidding 2♦. He bids 2♥, as instructed. What is your next bid?
	♠ 5 3 ♥ K 9 8 7 4 2 ♦ A 10 6 ♣ 6 5

 

Deal 4	♠ A J 7 6 ♥ Q 6 ♦ K 7 5 3 ♣ K Q 4		WEST   NORTH   EAST   SOUTH 1NT pass 2♦ pass 2♥ pass 3♥ pass pass pass You want to tell partner you have invitational strength. You also want to tell him that you have 6 ♥s, and that the contract must be played in ♥s. The bid that says both is 3♥. Partner declines your invitation by passing. A comment is in order about revaluing your hand. Since partner must have at least a doubleton ♥ it is tempting to claim that with the 8-card fit you should add one point for each of your doubletons, bringing your total to 11. If you did this then you should be bidding game rather than just inviting. The problem with the revaluing is that counting doubleton points in the long-trump hand is deceiving. If you do end up ruffing one or both of those suits it will not add any tricks to your total since you would make your small trumps anyway. So when you have a 6-card suit it is more accurate to not revalue. As you can see, making even 9 tricks is going to be a challenge.  Deal 5
	♠ 5 3 ♥ K 9 8 7 4 2 ♦ A 10 6 ♣ 6 5