Wednesday, 2/16/2011

Right-click here for hands. Slam galore, including three cold, biddable grands!

Board 3: South opens 1D (I hope no one passed or opened 2D, this is clear-cut opening bid.) North responds 1S, silencing East. South rebids 2D; North should probably continue with 2H, forcing, which lands in an unfortunate 4H. I suspect many Norths simply jumped to 3NT, a winner as the cards lie.

Board 5: North opens 1S. Whether or not the partnership plays strong jump shifts, South's best response is 2H, which already takes up a lot of bidding room. North should be able to bid 2S, waiting, without fear of responder passing. I like to play that a 2NT rebid by opener shows a minimum balanced hand, and so 2S is a hand too strong or too unbalanced to want to stop at 2NT; this allows responder's 2NT rebid to be forcing even if 2H was not itself a game force. At any rate, 2/1 GF bidders can rebid 2NT to allow North to further describe his hand. North rebid 3C, which either suggests the 6-4 shape or shows a hand too weak for 3C on the previous round. Decison time for South, who has 18 hcp and a good source of tricks with hearts, but no fit and opener sounds minimum. Time to visualize: can South constrcut a 12 hcp hand for partner that would make slam a laydown? Try KJxxx Qx xx KQJx: 12 tricks but a diamond lead sets up the setting trick for the defense. Looks like 3NT is the practical bid, but the slammers luck out with a 3-3 spade break.

Board 9: I'm sure many North's passed but this Goren 14 count with two quick tricks should be opened; I'd opt for 1C planning to rebid the suit unless partner bids diamonds (which I would raise to 5!) South responds 1S or opens light in third seat if North passed originally. West has an enormous hand, with at most 4 possible losers and lots of chances for fewer: Q of hearts with partner or dropping, spade shortage or honors with partner, or a high club possibly allowing a spade pitch. I don't have a scientific sequence to suggest; I'd probably guess to bid 4H. North has little or no defense against hearts, lots of playing strength, and can hope South covers one or two of his spade losers; 5C looks right. East, with Qxxx in partner's suit and no defense, bids 5H. If North opened South should probably double; if South opened he has an easy pass. West redoubles 5H or raises to 6H, making easily with two spade ruffs. A wild hand.

Board 10: South opens 1C and this time North has 18 hcp. A strong jump to 2S would is fine -- two level jumps still leave plenty of bidding space, though most American experts claim the jump-shifter should not have a second suit. Assuming a 1S response, South's can add three points for the singleton along with 4 trumps and is worth a raise to game; he can show the singleton "on-the-way" with a splinter jump to 4D. North bids 4NT for Aces or Key cards, follows up with 5NT and eventually bids 7S. I don't think either player has enough information to risk 7NT; 7S was worth 75% of the matchpoints.

Board 16: West opens 1D and there's no rational way to keep out of the hopeless slam. Bill an dI lucked owing to our practice of opening flat 11 hcp hands as part of Precision, and some confusion later about how much stength I had shown. Some declarers made 6NT when South, I assume, guessed to keep sapdes rather than hearts.

Board 21: East is too good for a 15-17 NT but may be worried that 1D followed 2C would be passed, so 1NT may be the best practical opening. West is not quite good enough to invite slam, so I would expect a transfer (Jacoby or four-level Texas) followed by 4H. If East opens 1D I would expect:
1D-1H; 2C-2S (fourth suit artificial, preferably forcing to game); 2NT-3H; 4H-pass, same result. E/W might reach slam on something like 1D-1H; 2NT-3H (forcing, it's best to play that after opener's jump to 2NT we do not play any part-score other than 2NT); 4H-4NT etc. landing in 6H, but I think 2NT is a stretch with East's hand.

Board 22: South opens 1D. North can respond 2C, planning to rebid hearts twice, but if South rebids 2NT that commits the hand to 4H or 5C when 3NT might be best. Assuming 1H by North, South bids 2C, treating the hand as more like 5-5 than 6-4 (you can't always fully describe 6-5 hands so you have to pick which suit to emphasize.) After North picks his jaw up off the floor he can bid 4NT followed by 6C; if he's sure of partner, a better approach would be to raise 2C to 4C. This should be forcing and slam invitational, there's no rational for having two non-forcing raises of opener's 2nd suit. Then, when South cue-bids 4S rather than 4D, North bids 4NT and can confidently bid 7C after South shows two Aces.

Board 27: West has a Goren 13 count and two quick tricks, but I expect most would open 3C and that seems normal. East bids 3S and prays partner knows a new suit over a preempt is forcing. West could hardly have a better hand and so jumps to 5C; this won't be a solid suit if you play gambling 3NT. East assumes partner isn't bidding that way missing the Ace or King along with the Queen and so can count 13 running tricks, 7NT.