Sunday, 12/5/10

Right-click here for hands. 9 1/2 tables, including 8 99er pairs.

Board 1: North passes, East opens 1H, South overcalls 1S or 2S (looks more like 1S to me but styles differ.) West, with 5 trumps, a singleton, and less than 10 points (ignoring the spade King) has a classic jump to 4H. Partner may or may not make this bid but you don't want to defend any part-score with this much shape. North might bid 4S but he has some defense and fairly shapeless hand; if South bid a weak 2S (suggesting more offense and less defense than 1S) 4S might be a reasonable sacrifice. If South overcalled 1S and 4H is passed back to him, his void argues for bidding again but his empty suit and fair defense argue for passing. If North or South bid 4S East should double for penalty.

Against 4H, South leads the safe Jack of diamonds (unless West bid them.) East wins and leads a spade to establish a discard; the defense collects two Aces. Against 4S doubled, West leads the King of diamonds. East doesn not want to ruff with his natural trump trick and so plays the six. West cannot be sure who has what -- declarer might have AJ9; he switches to a heart and South grabs the Ace and discards a diamond. The defense collects 2 spades, 2 diamonds and a club for a disappointing +300; a club, spade, or low diamond lead would've netted +500 and a top, but the darn cards are awfully hard to see through.

Board 5: North passes, East opens 1H (way too good for 3H or 4H), South ovecalls 1S and West bids 2D.
North raises to 2S; now what for East? 3H would be encouraging, and won't often be passed, but why risk it? East has 7 1/2 tricks and partner has shown 10+ points and a diamond suit, which should cover some of  East's losers. East needs no support and so should bid 4H and wonder if he's bidding enough!

South may bid 4S but probably passes at this vulnerability, he has no exceptional source of tricks. West has 7 tricks himself, controls the spade suit, and if they bid and raised spades can fully expect partner's values to be elsewhere. 4NT, Blackwood or Roman Key-Card, produces a 5H (two aces) or 5S (two key-cards plus the Queen of Hearts.) Either 6H or 6D is reasonable, I selected 6D since the trumps were solid, and, if partner is missing the King of hearts, he might have the King of clubs allowing me to pitch a heart. (He would need a late trump entry for me to use his hearts to dump my spades.) Either slam socres well; no need to risk going down at 7.