The auction has already passed Two and now stands at One, and shows no sign of a called-game hand in your own cards. Your hand: II, V, 2♥, 3♥, 4♥, 2♦, 3♦, 7♣, 8♣, 7♠, 8♠, 9♠.
Do you pass, or is there a bid built for exactly this hand?
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Answer
Bid Berač. Two small Taroks and ten cards that can never be forced to win: every Heart and Diamond sits below the suit’s own crown, every Club and Spade sits below its 10. The second Tarok is not spare weight, it is your reserve: if the defenders strip a suit bare and the Tarok Rule sends a Tarok to the trick, the Rising Rule can force it to beat what’s there, so play the II first and let it absorb that risk while V still waits at home for the next forced trick. Follow low in every suit all hand long, spend a Tarok only when no other legal card remains, and this hand can go the distance. This is not a weak hand: it is a Berač hand, and the ladder has a rung built exactly for it.