Monday, December 27, 2010

Monday 12/27/2010

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Board 10: East opens 1S; West has a classic "splinter raise", 4D showing a singleton or void in diamonds, 11-14 hcp (less with a void), and good 4 card trump support. East's Queen of diamonds is wasted opposite the singleton, and the Ace is of limited value (it won't combine with anything in partner's hand), but basically he can count four losers (King of spades, Ace-King of hearts, Ace of clubs) and can expect responder to cover three of those. It is possible to contruct a hand for responder missing both high hearts, but there isn't much room to investigate; a 5C cue-bid takes the bidding beyond 4NT and prevents checking on key cards (the four Aces plus the King of trumps.) East bids 4NT; if that's RKCB, West replies 5H (two key cards without the Queen of trumps) and East bids the slam. (If East opts for a 5C cue-bid, West should cue-bid 5H and then raise to slam.)

12 tricks are easy; it would be difficult to manage 13 even without a club lead.

Board 17: North opens 1D and East jams the bidding with 2S. South can see slam possibilities in three suits; 3H eats a lot of bidding space but nothing else appeals -- clubs is a much stronger suit but risks landing in a 5-2 fit there rather than 5-3 in hearts. West competes with 3S, North raises to 4H and South can either cue-bid 4S or try 4NT despite the void. Playing RKCB, 4NT will probably yield more useful information than the cue-bid; North replies 5S (two key cards + Q) which East likely doubles for the lead; South redoubles to show control. North bids 6H; although 7 can be made double-dummy, there is no easy line aside from finessing in clubs, and you don't want ot bid a grand slam needing a finesse.

South ruffs the spade lead. If trumps are 3-1, pulling three rounds leaves one in each hand for a total of 5 more trump tricks, along with 3 diamonds and 2 clubs. One trick short -- declarer must establish a club trick or "reverse the dummy", ruffing at least twice more in hand before pulling the trump. Heart to dummy (noting both follow, so no 4-0 split), ruff a second spade low (the bidding make 8-1 implausible), diamond to dummy, ruff a third spade with the King, heart back to dummy to pull trumps, then AK of clubs and ruff a club (too dangerous to finesse), cash two more diamonds and concede a spade.

Board 29: With both sides vulnerable, no one should be feeling "frisky" and the bidding should start with three passes to West. With 4 1/2 quick tricks and only 4 losers, West qualifies for a 2C opening, but it can be difficult to show two-suited hands with that opening, so 1S is the recommended bid -- you won't miss many games if partner passes that. North overcalls 2D and East scrapes up a 2S raise. South might consider a preemptive diamond raise but the vulnerability and "poison Queen" in the enemy suit (when you have their Queen, they have something you need) argue for passing.

West still has 4 losers, including that stiff King; a simple raise will typically cover 2 or 3 losers, so West can try for slam. His 3H bid should be initially taken as a "game try"; East raises to 4H, indicating more hearts than spades. Now West bids 4NT, RKCB, and bids 6H when East shows one key card. 11 trumps makes the slam easy; 6S is trickier but should make in practice barring the double-dummy King of clubs lead (which fouls declarer's communications.)

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