Wednesday 9/1/10

Right-click here for hands. More slams!

Board 3: 9 of 13 pairs reached slam. A typical 2/1 Game Force sequence might be 1H-2C-2H-2NT-3D-3H-4H-4NT-5S (two key cards + Q)-5NT (we have all 5 keys + Q, p)-6H (no king to show, playing "specific Kings", or 6C = 0, playing # of kings)-pass (or 6H over 6C.)

West wins the lead (perhaps a diamond) and may play Ace of clubs, club ruff to try and establish the suit in case diamonds misbehave. Next comes three rounds of trumps. Cross to Ace of spades (or a high diamond if a spade was led originally) and K of clubs, pitching the spade loser. When clubs fail to break, West can try for 7 by playing AK of diamonds, or play safe for 6 by ruffing a spade back to hand (make sure one high diamond has been played) and a low diamond toward dummy  -- if North shows out, go up and lead back toward the Jack, otherwise cover any honor and play the nine if North follows low, insuring your 12th trick. Playing safe seems justified since not everyone bid or made the slam.

6NT fails on a spade lead but makes otherwise, a 3 matchpoint gain or a 9 matchpoint loss. As usual at matchpoints, bidding and making a slam is worth at least 75% of the matchpoints.

Board 13: East opens 1D, South overcalls 2C, and West plans to show both suits by bidding 2S followed by hearts and hearts again. East rebids 3D and raises 3H to game, suggesting 4 card support. West has a monster but two club losers -- should he pass or try for slam? Well, the first rule is to see if you can picture a less-than-ideal hand for opener that would make slam a near laydown: how about Qx Axxx xxxxx Ax ? But swap either Ace for the (more likely on the bidding) Ace of diamonds and a club lead sinks 6. Kx of clubs will be exposed on the lead, a singleton club is unlikeley given West's own shortage, and KQ seems unlikley on the bidding and may leave West short of tricks elsewhere. Also, any values in diamonds are likely to be wasted. Pass may be prudent at matchpoints; as we saw on board 3 not everyone will bid even good slams. If West proceeds, best slam try is 5H, asking partner to go on with a club control.

The defense collects two fast clubs and South continues with a spade. With South overuffing spades and not enough entries to establish the diamonds, 4H looks doomed. Anyone care to point out a winning line?

Board 17: North opens 3D, two passes to West, who doubles, planning to bid spades next to show 18+ or so. East has an excellent hand and should jump to 4S. West isn't sure about clubs but no one bid those and the hand is too good to pass. 4NT produces a gratifiying 5H (two key cards) response and West bids the good slam, claiming early in the play.

Let's back up -- did South pass? With nothing but the Ace in partner's preempt, it's not reasonable to expect East/West to stop short of game. South should raise with the expected 9 or 10 card fit; the flat shape makes a leap to 5 unattractive, but observe the effect of a simple raise to 4: West doubles as before, but East cannot jump to show his values and E/W will likely stop at game. Whatever South does, he should do quickly: don't bid 4D and then 5D, pick one or the other and then get out of the bidding. You don't want to give E/W multiple chances to bid the slam or double you.

If South leaps to 5D, West still doubles, East passes with 2.5 quick tricks and E/W score well for +800. Theoretically 4D could be doubled for +500 but that is unlikely to happen with no trump trick for the defenders.

Board 22: East opens 1H and South should jump to 2S at this vulnerability -- sure you'd like a better suit but E/W won't be eager to double you at this vulnerability. West would bid 3H at this point if his trumps were Jxx; he must bid 3S to show a good defensive hand worth at least a limit raise. That pushes E/W to game but it is generally better to stretch with a fit in competition than to underbid. North doubles 3S to show his good support and East signs off at 4H. South's hand is more defensive than offensive in terms of what he's already shown, so no reason to bid again. Two passes to North, and now we see the advantage of stretching with West's hand: North doesn't know if 4H is likely to make or not, and may well "sacrifice" at 4S, down 2 or 3 doubled. (West must double with 2 Aces opposite an opening bid; once in awhile 4S will make but you can't let them rob you blind.) At 4H, N/S cash two spades and get out with a diamond to kill dummy's entry to clubs; passive defense thereafter leaves declarer a trick short.