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Board 7: South should view his hand as a powerful balanced hand, worth a 2C opening and 2NT or 3NT rebid. North should make a positive response in hearts. Although the usual standard for an immediate positive response is 8 hcp, it is normal to make such a bid with AKxxx, and North's AQ109xx suit also qualifies. An immediate positive announces slam interest. North counts 7.5 losers (3.5 spades, 1 heart, 3 clubs) and at 3 points per trick, it is reasonable to hope South's 22+ will cover 7 of those.
"Steps" bidders will, of course, bid 2H to show 4-6 points; 2D waiting or negative bidders can simply bid 2H naturally -- the bid will not interfere with opener unless opener was planning to bid hearts himself! 2H bust bidders must bid 2NT to show a heart positive, but this will "preempt" opener only if he has spades, which would be excellent, or a balanced hand with only 2 hearts. in which case opener will rebid 3NT and the contract may be wrong-sided when responder retreats to 4H. Every method has its flaws. After the positive bid, East may butt in a with an unusual 2NT -- although not a jump, it would be absurd to expect to take 8 tricks at notrump when opener has announced a majority of the points. East hopes to find a profiutable sacrifice in one of the minors, but the bid risks giving the enemy a "road map" to the hand. South is thereby warned of the bad break in diamonds, however, and should probably bid 3NT. With a normal balanced hand, South could pass (showing about 22-23 balanced, the most common hand for a 2C opening) or double (showing a stronger hand, possibly with a long suit.) Pass and double retain the option to play for penalties, so South's 3NT suggests a more offensively oriented hand, but lacking good support for hearts. North may nevertheless decide to pull to 4H, since his suit will play well even opposite a singleton and the diamond void is a worry. However, South's 3NT is the first natural or shape-describig bid for the side, so "system" should be assumed to be on and North bids 4D as a transfer. If uncertain, North had best pass 3NT and discuss agreements later, as it will be hard to recover from a misinterpreted 4D or 4H bid.
East cashes his Ace of clubs for lack of a better lead; declarer wins the second club in South's hand, pitches a club on the Ace of diamonds, ruffs a diamond in case West started with Kx or Jx, cashes the King of hearts and then, trusting East's 2NT bid, finesses the ten of hearts! Trumps are pulled, declarer crosses to a high spade and ruffs another diamond, grabs the second spade and concedes the final two tricks.
If the auctiion begins 2C-2D (waiting or semi-positive) and East remains silent, South rebids 2NT, North bids 3C as Stayman -- the spades aren't pretty, but opener could have as many as five. East likely doubles 3C for a lead, and South bids 3D, which not only denies a major but actually shows 4+ diamonds -- with no suit other than clubs, opener could pass or (with a strong suit) redouble. The diamond bid dampens North's slam ambitions; North continues with 3H (or 3S, for Smolen enthusiasts), South denies 3 card support with 3NT, and North again finishes the auction with 4H.
3NT is likely to fail unless South finesses the second round of hearts based on East's Unusual Notrump.
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