The big week is nearly here! Next Saturday sees the start of the 2019 Bermuda Regional at the Fairmont Southampton and a big attendance is expected from both the USA and Canada, together with our usual faithfuls from the UK and Europe.

Tournament chairperson Sheena Rayner will bring her usual class and expertise to the event, and given her experience, we can look forward to a seamless week.

Chief tournament director Sol Weinstein will once again head up the team of ACBL directors that look after the play and included in that group is our very own Jack Rhind who is a certified American Contract Bridge Leauge director.

The bulletins will once again be produced by editor Janet Evans and the mix of bridge, humour, history and whimsy makes them a great daily read.

The schedule of the Regional follows the usual format but one change this year is the introduction of the minibridge/bridge event on Sunday, January 27 at 1.30pm.

This initiative is being championed by John Burville and on the day Elysa Burland and her team will be doing all the organising — some 30-plus entrants are expected from five schools.

It looks like we are off to a good start.

Some details on the event:

Register well ahead of the 1.30 start time in the Gardenia Room — an ACBL goodie bag will be provided to each entrant

The event will be stratified with Bridge Players in A and all the others in B.

Prizes will be awarded in the Gardenia Room at 5.15pm.

Scoring will be done by the ACBL directors.

The organisers will use the event to gauge interest in the sponsored trip to the ACBL Summer National July 24-28, courtesy of a number of generous sponsors.

I will be running a couple of panel shows on Tuesday and Thursday at 12 and I know that I’ll have a great choice of panellists from the experts and pros who attend the event.

There are also other expert lectures on the Monday and Wednesday and details of all this and more are online at www.bermudaregional.com and will be in the daily bulletins.

So, get together with your partner and start ironing out those bidding sequences and defensive signals, as the better you know them, the more relaxed you will be at the table and that produces results.

Hopefully, what follows will help.

The no trump bid at bridge is often at the centre of many bidding sequences — in most cases it is a very exact and descriptive bid and as a result should hand over “captaincy” of the auction to partner.

For instance, when you open 1NT you tell your partner that you have 16-18 HCP, no singletons, no 5 card major, and usually at least 3-2 or 2-3 in the majors.

With partner knowing so much about your hand it makes sense for partner to then guide the auction, even though they will normally have the much weaker hand of the two.

Given that the Regional is just around the corner I thought it might be useful to skip the hand this week and to list a number of “agreements” you should have with your partner in the bidding involving no trumps.

In some cases I will indicate my preference in that area ….

What is your no trump range?

Do you play transfers?

Are transfers on after interference?

What does it mean when partner opens a no trump, RHO overcalls and you double?

I suggest penalties and not negative doubles. You have to punish opponents who stick their neck out!

What if the overcall shows two suits?

I suggest double show a desire to penalise them and if LHO chooses a suit partner must double with a reasonable holding in that suit.

What does it mean when you make a non-jump bid after an opponent’s overcall?

I suggest it is a non-forcing bid — if you want to force, either jump or make a cue bid.

1NT-3C/3D?

I play this as invitational to 3NT with a six-card suit headed by two top honours — partner should only go on with the missing honour as you do not promise a lot outside your six card suit.

1NT-3H/3S

Same sort of hand as above but partner night choose the major suit game with a great fit and some shortness in the side suits.

Do you play Lebensohl after an opponent interferes over partners NT opening?

You should.

Do you know the full range of the Lebensohl bids?

You should! It is fairly complicated in certain sequences but winning bridge needs some work!

When you Stayman and partner responds with a major, does 2NT by you, promise the other major?

It should, or you should not have used Stayman.

So what do these sequences mean?

1NT-2NT — Invitation to game with no 4 card major.

1NT-2C-2H-2NT Invitational to game with four Spades.

1NT-2C-2H — 3NT I want to be in Game and I have four Spades.

What do you show when the bidding goes 1D (or 1C) by you — a one level response by your partner — 2NT by you?

It shows 18-19 HCP, since 15-17HCP is shown by 1NT and 20-22 HCP is shown by an opening 2NT.

What is the point range when you overcall an opening bid on your right with 1NT?

15-17? 16-18?

What is the point range when RHO opens a suit, you double, partner responds at the one level and you now bid a NT?

19-21.

What does two Clubs by partner mean after your NT overcall? Is it Stayman?

I think not — the bid of the opponent’s suit should be Stayman.

Are transfers on in this sequence?

If you play transfers I think they should be on.

After 1Minor-1Major, by you — 1NT by partner — is a new minor by you forcing and asking if partner has three card trump support?

It should be. Partner’s first responsibility is to show three card support if he has it, or to show another major. If he doesn’t, he should bid a minor or NT.

What does it show when LHO bids a suit and after two passes you bid 1NT?

11-13 Balanced, with a stronger hand you reopen with a double.

What does it mean when LHO opens a suit — partner passes — RHO bids another suit and you bid 1NT?

I think it should show a strong no trump opener

Is it different if you are a passed hand?

Yes. It should now show a weakish hand with the other two suits. With a good hand and the other two suits, you would double.

You open 1NT and partner bids 4NT. Is that Blackwood?

No. It is quantitative asking you to bid on, if you are top of your NT range. I play that if you accept the invitation, you do so by now treating the 4NT as Blackwood and respond accordingly — just a safety belt check in case you have 32 points but the 8 missing points are two Aces!

Do you open a NT with a 15-17 HCP and a five card minor?

You should.

Do you open a NT with a five card major?

I would strongly recommend against it unless you have the systems to let partner explore if you do hold a five card major.

Do you open a NT with a 5-4-2-2 hand and 15-17 hcp?

Most will, unless the 2-2 are both majors, when it is recommended that you don’t.

What is your 2NT opening — 20-22

When RHO opens and you jump to 2NT, what does it mean? If the opening was a major you are showing a less than opening hand with at least 5-5 in the minors.

If the opening bid was a minor you are showing the two remaining lower ranking suits.

What is your 3NT opening?

This should be a club or diamond suit of AKQxxxx — if partner has a weak hand he bids four Clubs which you leave or convert to 4D.

There you are — and this just about no trump bids!

Discuss all of the above with your partner — what exactly you agree upon is less important than actually agreeing on something!

I had prepared this column ahead of the Regional and then heard of the sad passing of Audrey Smith, a long-time member of the Bridge Club and one who will sorely be missed.

Audrey was attractive in both looks and personality and had a ready smile when she was at or away from the table — her name is up on many of the winners boards at the club and it is hard to absorb that she is no longer with us.

She was always welcoming when I joined as a new member many, many years ago, and our thoughts go out to her family who must know that she had a great group of friends at the club who will share in their loss.

Here are the results to January 7

Monday afternoon

North/South

1. Judith Bussell/Linda Pollett

2. Charles Hall/Tony Saunders

3. Joseph Wakefield/Marilynn Simmons

East/West

1. Diana Diel/Molly Taussig

2. Alan Douglas/Edward Betteto

3. Elizabeth McKee/Stephanie Kyme

Tuesday evening junior game

North/South

1. Malcolm Moseley/Mark Stevens

2. Katyna Rabain/Louise Payne

3. Wenda Krupp/Joanne Edwards

East/West

1. Jean Arruda/Stuart Clare

2. Chris Harris/Tim Mardon

3. Nikki Boyce/Carol Eastham

Wednesday morning

North/South

1. Alan Douglas/Lisa Ferrari

2. Louise Rodger/Elizabeth McKee

3. Peter Donnellan/Lynanne Bolton

East/West1. William Pollett/Charles Hall

2. Gertrude Barker/Jane Smith

3. Joseph Wakefield/Harry Kast

Thursday evening

North/South

1. Judith Bussell/Diana Diel

2. Alan Douglas/Fabian Hupe

3. Gordon Bussell/Ruby Douglas

East/West

1. David Sykes/Edward Betteto

2. Elizabeth McKee/Stephanie Kyme

3. Charles Hall/Peter Donnellan

Friday afternoon

North/South

1. Peter Donnellan/William Pollett

2. Charles Hall/Joseph Wakefield

3. Judith Bussell/Linda Pollett

East/West

1. John Glynn/Molly Taussig

2. Magda Farag/Julia Beach

3. Michael Bickley/John Hoskin