Another Useful Convention
Playing in a regional knockout with a sound partner,
no one is vulnerable when I pick up xx x AKJx AKQJ10x
in fourth chair. A little surprisingly, the auction starts 1
on my left. Partner jumps to 2, weak, and RHO passes.
I have a problem.
Not vulnerable, partner sometimes opens five-card weak
two bids. I'm not sure if that translates to weak jump
overcalls, but I suspect it does. New suits are forcing
here, so I could bid clubs, but I have a better idea. I'm
going to try Ogust. If partner bids 3NT, solid spades, I
can bid a slam. (Yeah, that's dreaming.) If partner bids
3, good suit good hand, or 3, good suit bad
hand, we can play 4. If he bids 3, bad suit
good hand, he'll have to have something in hearts, so 3NT
should be easy. And if he bids 3, total crap, I'll
just put down the dummy. All he needs to make that is the
10.
In practice, not surprisingly, partner bids 3 and
we make 4, though it is not cold.
I've never before bid Ogust planning to pass 3.
Copyright © 2012 Jeff Goldsmith