Once up on a time I was guilty of letting LHO back in the auction when she made a forcing 2D bid that was passed back to me. They would up bidding their cold heart game and my partner thought I was crazy to balance. It may be right to compete in situations like that but chances are that you are allowing them a second chance to get to the right spot.
Last night, there was an auction where Emory had to take another call to get us a decent score. The auction:
1S-2S-3C-P
P-3D-4C-X
P-P-P
I was the doubler, holding Jxxx, Qx, Tx, AJ8xx. I wanted to double 3C but it’s forcing so there’s no need to double them yet. Of course, this was against the pair who previously wasn’t sure if 1D-(1S)-2H was forcing so normal bridge logic need not apply here.
Moral of this story: you need to use table feel to really determine if they have stumbled into a good spot or if they have missed a game. You can often tell by the look on the face of the opponent whose partner passed his forcing bid.
Second moral of the story: Know what is forcing. Here’s a quick rundown. Unless you have prior agreements, all new suits by responder are forcing, all jump shifts and reverses by opener are forcing, and all bids of the opponents’ suit are forcing. Also, all strange bids are forcing.11
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