Why balancing works
Suppose your left-hand opponent opens 1♠, and both your partner and the responder pass. If you also pass, the auction is over and they play 1♠. But stop and count: the opener has, say, 13 points, and the responder has shown nearly nothing. That leaves roughly half the deck between you and your partner. Partner could not act earlier, but that does not mean partner has a bad hand — many perfectly good hands have no safe bid to make directly over an opening.
In the pass-out seat, bid as if your hand were about three points (one king) stronger than it is. The auction has told you partner holds cards. In return, when partner replies, partner subtracts those three points.
After a one-level opening is passed round
After an auction such as (1♠) – Pass – (Pass), BidMaestro reopens with:
- Double
- For takeout, asking partner to choose a suit, with shortness in the opener’s suit and support for the others. It needs about 9 points, a king lighter than the 12 a direct takeout double needs.
- 1NT
- A balanced hand of 11–14 points with a stopper in their suit (a holding, such as the ace or king-and-another, that stops them running the suit against notrump). This is lighter than the 15–18 a direct 1NT overcall shows.
- A suit of your own
- A decent suit may be bid a king lighter than a direct overcall would need.
After a weak two is passed round
Opposite a weak two, say (2♥) – Pass – (Pass), the same logic applies one level higher, so the requirements rise a little:
- Double
- Takeout, with shortness in their suit and support for the unbid suits, about 13 high-card points (12 over a weak 2♦), again a king lighter than the direct double.
- A good suit
- With 10–15 points and a good suit (two of the top three honours, or three of the top five), bid it. Five cards are enough at the two level; at the three level you need six or more. At the two level the app counts length as well as high cards, so a fair 9 with a good five-card suit qualifies when not vulnerable.
- Weak-two values
- A hand that would itself have opened a weak two in its suit bids that suit at the two level here too, as it would in the direct seat. That means six cards, the honours a weak two needs at this vulnerability, and about 5–10 points. What is good enough to open at the two level is good enough to bid at it, and partner is told to allow for either a weak-two hand or a sound suit.
- Stronger hands
- With a good suit and 16 points the app bids the suit. With 17 or more it doubles or bids a self-sufficient suit, as it would in the direct seat; the pass-out seat never acts more cautiously than the direct seat.
- 2NT
- A balanced 15+ points with a stopper in their suit. Partner raises to 3NT with about 9.
When they have found a fit or pre-empted higher
Coming in costs a level more if the weak two has been raised, as in (2♥) – Pass – (3♥) – Pass – (Pass), or if the opening was a three-level pre-empt. The hand must then be sounder:
- Double
- Takeout, from about 14 points with shortness in their suit, where the direct seat would need 17.
- A good six-card suit
- Over a three-level pre-empt, 11–16 high-card points with a good six-card or longer suit that can be bid at the three level.
- 3NT
- A strong balanced hand of 16+ points with a real stopper in their suit: two of its top three honours, or the ace.
| LHO | Partner | RHO | You |
|---|
| 3♣ | Pass | Pass | 3♠ |
| Pass | 4♠ | Pass | Pass |
| Pass | | | |
Holding ♠A K Q J 10 8 7 4, a jack outside and nothing else, you reopen 3♠ over the pre-empt. Partner, with 13 points and support, subtracts the three points your bid already assumed and still has enough to raise to game.
Responding to a balance
Replying to a balance calls for restraint, because the balancer has already bid some of your values:
- Subtract a king: respond as if you held about three points fewer than you do.
- Raise to game: a fit for the balancer’s major and about 16 support points, the 13 a direct game raise needs plus the three points the balancer already assumed. With about 13–15, invite; with 9 to 12, a simple raise. You have a fit, so count your short suits as well as your high cards for all of these.
- Do not bid again. If the balance pushes the opponents a level higher, pass, and do not double them.
The aim is not to buy the contract. Balancing gains in two ways: sometimes you play the hand at a comfortable level, and as often you push the opponents one level higher, where they can be beaten. Either result beats letting them play it cheaply.
When to pass
BidMaestro passes the auction out, and so should you, with under about 10 points and no shape worth showing. It also passes with a poor suit (one headed by the jack does not qualify, however long), and when the opponents’ auction shows an unlimited hand rather than a limited one. A pre-empt sometimes works; accepting that costs less than rescuing the opponents from a poor spot or turning a small minus into a large one.
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