DONT Rescues

(Courtesy of Bob Crosby)

Occasionally your 1NT overcall or 1NT opener gets doubled for penalties. Having a partnership understanding for rescue sequences might let you wiggle out of trouble. The DONT rescue seems to be the most popular and its quite simple. Its based on the redouble showing a single suited hand and a pass showing good values. This inference means that a direct bid must show 2 or more suits. This starts a “scramble” as you bid your lower ranking suit first. This understanding can pin point the 2 suits if a 1NT overcall has been doubled.

1Spade 1NT Dbl 2Diamond*

* Since diamonds is the lower ranking suit, partner has diamonds and hearts. Redouble just shows 1 suit remember.

Some partnerships go to more lengths to show which suits rounded or pointed. A direct bid shows the rounded suit and passing then pulling partners forced redouble shows the pointed suits. The pass forces a redouble. This is necessary to expose the openers psyche or punish the opponent's indiscretion.

The redouble is the best part of the rescue sequence. Not only does it identify the single suited rescues it gives the 1NT bidder a chance to rescue to her own long suit rather then bidding 2♣. This can be very helpful on a lot of hands.

1Heart 1NT Dbl ReDbl
?*

You hold Spadexx HeartKJx DiamondAKJ10x ClubKJx

* Bid 2Diamond instead of 2Club. Much better than 2Spade doubled (hard to double also)

Your partner held SpadeJxxxxx Heartxx Diamondxx Clubxxx

1NT doubled with a marginal dummy is not easy to play against expert defenders. It is best to get out to a suit somewhere. The contentious point of the rescue sequence is if the pass should force a redouble by partner. 1NT doubled might be a nice spot to play the hand and you do not want the opponents to disturb it. The forced redouble will give the opponents a second chance to think about it. With weak NT’s the forced redouble is a must as responder to the NT can have many ranges of opening hands. Playing strong NT’s, the forced redouble is a partnership decision as theoretically two hands have already announced 30 points between them and missing game is a rarity. The doubled over tricks will compensate anyway. Perhaps you do not have the values to punish them if they escape.

There is another place you need to play rescues. When partner doubles 1NT for penalty and you do not have enough to leave it in. I play the obligatory 2Club scrambling bid. This means pull partner and I may not hold any clubs.

There are some hands that fall through the cracks with DON’T rescues. Spadexxx Heartxxxx Diamondxxx Clubxxx and the auction goes:

1Spade 1NT Dbl ?*

* It makes good Bridge sense to have the partner that is “more in the know” to make the decision to escape. I feel a pass with this hand is just giving up. Partner will not rescue herself if you pass as you are captain of the ship. I feel you should bid 2Club as showing clubs and a higher ranking suit and let the scramble begin. If 2Club gets doubled and partner makes no move, a SOS redouble is in order. 1NT doubled is not the place to play these hands.