Right-click here for hands.
Board 7: West, in second seat, must decide between opening 1S or 4S. (Definitely too strong for 3S.) The modern guide to preempting is the Rule of 2-3-4: overbid by two tricks at unfavorable vulnerability (vul vs. not), three tricks at equal, and 4 tricks at favorable (not vul vs. vul.) So the seven likely spade tricks justifies 4S; is the hand too good? The key question is the likelihood of missing slam, and that's less important at matchpoints than a team game. I'd open 1S if the side Queen were not singleton, but chose 4S on the actual hand. (Side note: when preempting in a minor, it may be wise to underbid with 3 on fairly good hands to avoid bypassing 3NT.)
East now counts his tricks: one spade, three hearts, A-AK in the minors, with the Jack of diamonds as a bonus. It seems likely that some losers can be pitched on the hearts. Counting on opener for seven tricks with both sides vulnerable, that's 14 tricks! So the only question is how many losers you have; Blackwood can make sure partner has at least one Ace, while RKCB can insure he does not have a likely trump loser. Using RKCB (regular or 1430), West replies 5S, showing two key cards plus the Queen of trumps. This means either the hearts or spades are solid, and there are plenty of tricks for either 6S or 6NT. Not everyone will bid this slam, however, and with no reason to assume opener has the Queen of diamonds, an opening diamond lead could doom 6NT. 6S is the sensible bid, scoring a solid 67% on the board. As it happens, of course, 6NT ties for a top. Give East the AQ of diamonds and 6NT would be clear.
Declarer wins any lead (I took a pointless finesse in diamonds, not sure why I thought I needed it), pulls trumps and drives out the Ace of hearts to dump his club loser.
Board 20: West opens 1D (Goren 13, adding two for the singleton spade, or Rule of 20.) This is sound if your style permits a rebid of 2D on any five card suit. East might leap to 3NT to sow a balanced 13-15, gambling partner will have help in hearts or they'll lead something else if you don't give them too many clues. However, this style "fixes" opener whenever he holds a singleton; I strongly prefer 2NT forcing, or a straightforward 2C response. You may well have slam in either minor.
After 2C, opener rebids 2D. This leaves responder with a problem -- the danger of a heart lead has increased, but responder has no second suit to bid. Since 2S would be natural and forcing (game-forcing in my methods), a jump to 3S can be used as a game-forcing "fragment", showing values in spades but not length. (Some players would "invent" a 2S call, but faking a major suit is dangerous.) West has an easy 3NT call over the descriptive 3S bid, and that should end the bidding.
I would expect West to make 10 tricks after an opening heart lead, but several declarers managed 11 or 12.
Board 22: South opens 1NT (15-17) and North smells slam with his own 16 count. With 4-5 in the majors, Stayman is a logical first step -- a 4-4 spade fit might provide an extra trick, discarding one or two minor suit losers on the long hearts. South obligingly replies 2S -- now what? Most partnerships would treat 4NT at this point as Blackwood or RKCB agreeing spades, but there's some risk of two fast club losers. Experts prefer a gadget bid to agree spades and show slam interest; I recommend "Three Other Major Slam Try". A 3H call over 2S should sound weird -- if responder wanted to bid hearts, why didn't he start with a transfer? So 3H artificially agrees spades and asks opener to cue-bid with a suitable hand. South is minimum and is unsure about his red suit Queens, but with two key cards I would cue-bid 4C. Now North can confidently proceed with 4NT and bid 6S over South's 5H reply. West has no effective lead and South has an easy time, pulling trumps in three rounds and finessing the hearts for 13 tricks.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Monday, December 19th 2011
Right-click here for hands.
Board 2: South opens 1NT, much to the surprise of North who is looking at x AKQxxxx Axx Kx. The first thing to note is that North wants to set hearts as trumps and then begin cue-bidding or use a key-card asking bid. The second thing to note is that many partnerships have no way for North to make a forcing bid in his suit! Standard bidding offers a simple solution: jump to 3H, a game-force with 5+ hearts. Using transfers, North could transfer and bid 4NT if not interested in slam; or transfer and bid a new suit at the three level to force to game, suggesting an unbalanced hand possibly with slam interest; or bid Stayman and then jump in his suit with 5-4 in the majors. If you play splinters, a popular treatment is that transfer-then-jump-shift is a "self splinter", showing a singleton or void in the suit jumped to. With all these agreements in place, the direct jump to 3H or 3S can be limited to a single-suited hand (5-7 card length) with slam interest and no singleton or void.
Here, North responds 2D, a transfer, then jumps to 3S to show the singleton, six or more trumps and slam interest (no reason to show the singleton if you aren't interested in slam.) South is discouraged by the wasted values (AK tight) opposite the singleton, and despite good controls signs off at 4H. North, of course, continues with 4NT, asking for Aces or Key cards; South replies 5H to show two. That accounts for 8 of South's 15-17 hcp; will the remaining 7-9 be enough to cover both small diamonds? Two Kings or a KQ combo or AQJx in clubs will obviously work. May as well bid 5NT, confirming all the Aces (or all five key cards plus the Queen of trumps), inviting grand slam and (almost incidentally) allowing partner to tell you how many Kings he has. South answers "two" with a 6H reply and North can confidently bid 7NT.
Another approach, of course, is for North to simply bid Gerber (4C), follow with the King-ask (usually 5C) which also makes it obvious there are 13 tricks. One significant difference: the Gerber King-ask, 5C, does not generally promise all the Aces; sometimes responder is simply trying to decide between six of his long suit or 6NT.
Board 17: North has an interesting 1516 hand, a shade light for an opening 1 bid and not really suitable for a preempt given the good hearts. I'd pass and hope to show my suits later. East opens 1S; West plans to bid game in spades but no immediate raise is suitable -- Jacoby 2NT should promise 4 trumps, which will help opener evaluate his hand better for slam purposes. Besides, slam might be better in diamonds or hearts, using a 4-4 as trumps and discarding losers on the long spades. The best response is a simple 2D, planning to jump in spades later, suggesting the three-card support.
East has a lovely 3S rebid, showing a powerful suit and extra values. Some authorities demand a solid suit for this bid, especially in a 2/1 Game Force style, but it seems to me 4NT can clear up whether any high trump is missing and the suit is certainly playable opposite a void. West has too much for a meek raise to 4S; better is a 4H cue-bid. How can East tell this isn't a real suit? If East had hearts he would not have skipped over them to jump in spades; there's rarely any need to introduce a new suit at the four level in the absence of enemy preemption.
The slam move encourages East ot proceed with 4NT (Blackwood or RKCB), West repleis 5H to show 2 aces, and East bids either 6S or 6NT. I think it's a fair bet West's diamonds will provide the needed 12th trick for 6NT, and that proves true today. Doesn't matter -- only one pair reached this excellent slam.
Board 2: South opens 1NT, much to the surprise of North who is looking at x AKQxxxx Axx Kx. The first thing to note is that North wants to set hearts as trumps and then begin cue-bidding or use a key-card asking bid. The second thing to note is that many partnerships have no way for North to make a forcing bid in his suit! Standard bidding offers a simple solution: jump to 3H, a game-force with 5+ hearts. Using transfers, North could transfer and bid 4NT if not interested in slam; or transfer and bid a new suit at the three level to force to game, suggesting an unbalanced hand possibly with slam interest; or bid Stayman and then jump in his suit with 5-4 in the majors. If you play splinters, a popular treatment is that transfer-then-jump-shift is a "self splinter", showing a singleton or void in the suit jumped to. With all these agreements in place, the direct jump to 3H or 3S can be limited to a single-suited hand (5-7 card length) with slam interest and no singleton or void.
Here, North responds 2D, a transfer, then jumps to 3S to show the singleton, six or more trumps and slam interest (no reason to show the singleton if you aren't interested in slam.) South is discouraged by the wasted values (AK tight) opposite the singleton, and despite good controls signs off at 4H. North, of course, continues with 4NT, asking for Aces or Key cards; South replies 5H to show two. That accounts for 8 of South's 15-17 hcp; will the remaining 7-9 be enough to cover both small diamonds? Two Kings or a KQ combo or AQJx in clubs will obviously work. May as well bid 5NT, confirming all the Aces (or all five key cards plus the Queen of trumps), inviting grand slam and (almost incidentally) allowing partner to tell you how many Kings he has. South answers "two" with a 6H reply and North can confidently bid 7NT.
Another approach, of course, is for North to simply bid Gerber (4C), follow with the King-ask (usually 5C) which also makes it obvious there are 13 tricks. One significant difference: the Gerber King-ask, 5C, does not generally promise all the Aces; sometimes responder is simply trying to decide between six of his long suit or 6NT.
Board 17: North has an interesting 1516 hand, a shade light for an opening 1 bid and not really suitable for a preempt given the good hearts. I'd pass and hope to show my suits later. East opens 1S; West plans to bid game in spades but no immediate raise is suitable -- Jacoby 2NT should promise 4 trumps, which will help opener evaluate his hand better for slam purposes. Besides, slam might be better in diamonds or hearts, using a 4-4 as trumps and discarding losers on the long spades. The best response is a simple 2D, planning to jump in spades later, suggesting the three-card support.
East has a lovely 3S rebid, showing a powerful suit and extra values. Some authorities demand a solid suit for this bid, especially in a 2/1 Game Force style, but it seems to me 4NT can clear up whether any high trump is missing and the suit is certainly playable opposite a void. West has too much for a meek raise to 4S; better is a 4H cue-bid. How can East tell this isn't a real suit? If East had hearts he would not have skipped over them to jump in spades; there's rarely any need to introduce a new suit at the four level in the absence of enemy preemption.
The slam move encourages East ot proceed with 4NT (Blackwood or RKCB), West repleis 5H to show 2 aces, and East bids either 6S or 6NT. I think it's a fair bet West's diamonds will provide the needed 12th trick for 6NT, and that proves true today. Doesn't matter -- only one pair reached this excellent slam.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Friday, December 16th 2011
Right-click here for hands.
Board 6: East opens 1D or 1C. The argument for 1D is that, if needed, you can rebid 2C without reversing. Often this won't be a problem; you expect partner to respond 1H and you will rebid 1S. But if partner responds 1NT, you won't be comfortable passing with that stiff heart; or perhaps South overcalls 1S and partner responds with a negative double or a forcing 2H bid. Robbed of your 1S rebid, you'll be happy to have opened 1D and be able to rebid in clubs.
Some Souths with very low standards for overclls may, in fact, bid 1S, but I suspect most passed -- neither the suit nor the hand offers any compelling reason to bid. West has an obvious strong jump shift (2H.) Opener tends to make the same rebid over a jump shift as over a simple response, merely one level higher, but should avoid bidding poor suits in a slam hunt. (Many authorities declare that jump shifter cannot have a second suit, but I do not subscribe to that theory for 2 level jumps.) 3C is better than 2S, showing where your values are. West rebids his powerful suit and East, trusting the suit is self-sufficient, shows a minimum by way of 4H. If responder doesn't like his suit that much, he should not jump and rebid it.
West continues with 4NT and East replies 5H, showing two Aces (Blackwood) or one Ace plus the King of hearts (RKCB). Blackwood bidders continue with 5NT, confirming all the Aces, and sign off in 6H over opener's negative 6C. RKCB bidder know one key card is missing; 7D is still possible, but would require a singleton heart and sufficient trumps to ruff out the King; a 4-4 fit would be too risky, requiring good luck in both suits to make 7. Best is to settle for 6H. The heart finesses is on but can't be repeated, so South scores one trick.
For those not playing strong jump shifts, West responds 1H, East rebids 1S, and now West must manufacture a forcing bid. 4NT is possible if that's simple Blackwood; many RKCB partnerships would interpret 4NT as asking about key cards for spades. In such a case West must bid 2C, Fourth Suit Artificial, then rebid his hearts -- that should be game-forcing, but will partner see it that way? The principle is that a direct 3H would've been invitational; you don't need two different ways to invite, so 2C followed by 3H is forcing. Over 2C, East shows his club values with 2NT or 3C, and West continues with 3H. Now East is apt to try 3NT, and if West bids 4NT, that sounds like a quantitative slam try, not Blackwood. What a mess! Strong jumps don't solve every slam problem, but they help by making it 100% clear the partnership is committed to at least game and by focusing attention on features useful for slam.
Board 13: North opens a sound if minimum 1H (Goren 13-count, or Rule of 20, this is a nice hand.) In olden times North would not have a rebid over 2C or 2D, but in the modern style most treat 2H as a "default" bid, not promising extra length, and the 2/1 bidder promises sufficient values for 2NT or the three level. South responds 1S and North startles him by rasing his 7 card suit! Suddenly South has visions of slam -- but the opening bid was opposite his void, and North limited his hand with the simple raise. Let's try visualizing -- South has A10xxxxx -- AQ10x 10x; slam would be cold opposite, say,
Kxxx xxxxx Kx Ax, and there's even room for some wasted values in hearts. Blackwood, however, won't tell you if partner has the clubs under control or any help in diamonds. I suggest a 3D "game try"; if opener retreats to 3S, settle for the safe 4S level. If, instead, opener bids game, South can focus attention on clubs with 5S. Five of an agreed suit can have several meanings, such as asking about suit quality, but when there is exactly one unbid suit (or the opponents have overcalled in a suit) the standard interpretation is "do you have the last suit controlled?" North, of course, would pass 5S, but here, of course, the bidding should stop at four.
West leads the Queen of clubs and East signals encouragement, then overtakes the second trick to switch to a diamond. Declarer can finesse for an overtrick, or see if the fifth heart will set up, with a possible squeeze as plan B. Ace of diamonds, trump to dummy, ruff a low heart, trump to dummy, ruff another heart, trump to dummy, cash the top hearts and pitch away three diamonds. But with 8 hearts out, the suit will split 4-4 only about 32% of the time, and the lack of an late entry to dummy rules out a squeeze, so the diamond finesse at 50% looks like a better line unless you are convinced East's switch reduces the odds he has the King.
Board 6: East opens 1D or 1C. The argument for 1D is that, if needed, you can rebid 2C without reversing. Often this won't be a problem; you expect partner to respond 1H and you will rebid 1S. But if partner responds 1NT, you won't be comfortable passing with that stiff heart; or perhaps South overcalls 1S and partner responds with a negative double or a forcing 2H bid. Robbed of your 1S rebid, you'll be happy to have opened 1D and be able to rebid in clubs.
Some Souths with very low standards for overclls may, in fact, bid 1S, but I suspect most passed -- neither the suit nor the hand offers any compelling reason to bid. West has an obvious strong jump shift (2H.) Opener tends to make the same rebid over a jump shift as over a simple response, merely one level higher, but should avoid bidding poor suits in a slam hunt. (Many authorities declare that jump shifter cannot have a second suit, but I do not subscribe to that theory for 2 level jumps.) 3C is better than 2S, showing where your values are. West rebids his powerful suit and East, trusting the suit is self-sufficient, shows a minimum by way of 4H. If responder doesn't like his suit that much, he should not jump and rebid it.
West continues with 4NT and East replies 5H, showing two Aces (Blackwood) or one Ace plus the King of hearts (RKCB). Blackwood bidders continue with 5NT, confirming all the Aces, and sign off in 6H over opener's negative 6C. RKCB bidder know one key card is missing; 7D is still possible, but would require a singleton heart and sufficient trumps to ruff out the King; a 4-4 fit would be too risky, requiring good luck in both suits to make 7. Best is to settle for 6H. The heart finesses is on but can't be repeated, so South scores one trick.
For those not playing strong jump shifts, West responds 1H, East rebids 1S, and now West must manufacture a forcing bid. 4NT is possible if that's simple Blackwood; many RKCB partnerships would interpret 4NT as asking about key cards for spades. In such a case West must bid 2C, Fourth Suit Artificial, then rebid his hearts -- that should be game-forcing, but will partner see it that way? The principle is that a direct 3H would've been invitational; you don't need two different ways to invite, so 2C followed by 3H is forcing. Over 2C, East shows his club values with 2NT or 3C, and West continues with 3H. Now East is apt to try 3NT, and if West bids 4NT, that sounds like a quantitative slam try, not Blackwood. What a mess! Strong jumps don't solve every slam problem, but they help by making it 100% clear the partnership is committed to at least game and by focusing attention on features useful for slam.
Board 13: North opens a sound if minimum 1H (Goren 13-count, or Rule of 20, this is a nice hand.) In olden times North would not have a rebid over 2C or 2D, but in the modern style most treat 2H as a "default" bid, not promising extra length, and the 2/1 bidder promises sufficient values for 2NT or the three level. South responds 1S and North startles him by rasing his 7 card suit! Suddenly South has visions of slam -- but the opening bid was opposite his void, and North limited his hand with the simple raise. Let's try visualizing -- South has A10xxxxx -- AQ10x 10x; slam would be cold opposite, say,
Kxxx xxxxx Kx Ax, and there's even room for some wasted values in hearts. Blackwood, however, won't tell you if partner has the clubs under control or any help in diamonds. I suggest a 3D "game try"; if opener retreats to 3S, settle for the safe 4S level. If, instead, opener bids game, South can focus attention on clubs with 5S. Five of an agreed suit can have several meanings, such as asking about suit quality, but when there is exactly one unbid suit (or the opponents have overcalled in a suit) the standard interpretation is "do you have the last suit controlled?" North, of course, would pass 5S, but here, of course, the bidding should stop at four.
West leads the Queen of clubs and East signals encouragement, then overtakes the second trick to switch to a diamond. Declarer can finesse for an overtrick, or see if the fifth heart will set up, with a possible squeeze as plan B. Ace of diamonds, trump to dummy, ruff a low heart, trump to dummy, ruff another heart, trump to dummy, cash the top hearts and pitch away three diamonds. But with 8 hearts out, the suit will split 4-4 only about 32% of the time, and the lack of an late entry to dummy rules out a squeeze, so the diamond finesse at 50% looks like a better line unless you are convinced East's switch reduces the odds he has the King.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Thursday, December 15th 2011
Right-click here for hands. I see I haven't posted in a while -- any body still reading this? I know you can "subscribe" to be notified when there's a new post.
Board 17: East opens 1C with a balanced 19-count. South may toss in a Michaels' cue-bid (2C, showing both majors and typically 6-10 or 16+ hcp), or overcall or pass according to style; looks like a reasonable Michaels bid to me. What's the best defense to this popular gadget? With no special agreement, the double of an artificial bid suggests length and strength in the suit; another approach is to treat this similar to bidding over a takeout double, with double of the cue-bid corresponding to a redouble over a double, showing 10+ hcp and typically a balanced hand. This "stakes a claim" to the hand and invites opener to double any bid by North where he has length. What West actually has is an unbalanced, excellent 9 count, with 5-5 shape of his own and two Aces. Another popular treatment is "Unusual over Unusual", where in response to the oppenent's two-suited bid, you use the cue-bids in their two suits to show values in the other two suits, lower = lower and higher = higher. So a 2H bid over their 2C shows a good hand with clubs, 2S shows a good hand with diamonds, and 2D or 3C would simply be competitive. One problem is that the non-vulnerable Michaels bid at this level might be based on 5-4 shape, so it's premature to completely rule out playing in one of the majors -- it's worth asking about their agreements. If 5-4 is a possibility, you may prefer to treat 2H and 2S as natural, forcing bids; or you could agree double-then-bid a major shows such hands.
Let's assume you've agreed double = strength, possibly with length in one of their suits, and Unusual over Unusual applies. West has only 9 hcp, not enough to invite 3NT opposite a balanced minimum, but excellent playing strength: 5C could be on opposite, say, xx Axxx Kx KQxx, or 6C opposite
Ax xxx KQx KQxxx. However, if East has only 3 clubs (or worse, 2, for those playing "could be short") 3C may be the limit. All in all I think I'd bid an agressive 2H cue-bid. For pairs who have not agreed Unusual over Unusual a simple 3C looks best.
North knows he has a fit in at least one major, but may not know which if South could be 5-4. North should certainly bid spades if West passes, but otherwise should stay quiet with his weak, shapeless hand. After a cue-bid or 3C, East has an obvious 3NT call -- no reason to fret over diamonds, a suit no one has mentioned. Slam seems unlikely with East's fairly balanced hand and most of his strength in South's majors.
At 3NT, East wins quickly in hearts or holds up two rounds in spades. East suspects North will have 3 clubs, but it's safe and reasonable to finesse first in diamonds. When South shows up with the K10, it's reasonable to play North for the Queen. (At a team game you might cash the AK to protect against South having 5422 shape including Qx of clubs.)
Only one pair reached the excellent club slam; East wins the first spade, cashes two top hearts to pitch his spade loser, plays two top trumps and finesses in diamonds for six; or plays North for the club Queen (based on Soth's bidding) and makes seven.
Board 21: North has 11 tricks in hand, with zero quick losers! Really, the best bridge hand I've ever seen in person. Over his 2C, South responds 2D (negative), 2D (waiting), 2D (semi-positive, where 2H would show a bust hand; this needs to be alerted) or 2H (steps, 4-6 hcp, aslo alertable.) As long as North can trust partner to honor a forcing bid, it makes sense to bid clubs so partner will know the King is a critical card. No need to do anything dramatic, 3C is 100% forcing. Remember this hand next time you're tempted to pass as responder in this sort of sequence! South bids 3S (suggesting some values) and North persists with 4C, still forcing! (It would be pointless to reserve this bid as a sign-off.) Here things get a bit murky -- would 4H suggest North's actual 5-5, or wuld it be a cue-bid in support of clubs? Experts have been known to play 2-1 "fits" on this sort of auction! When the bidding starts at the one level, I don't think new suits should be introduced at the four level; but when the bidding starts at higher levels or when enemy bids crowd the auction, I think it's sound to play "if it could be natural, it is." So South bids 4H and North either bids 6NT directly or possibly goes thorugh 4NT-5NT (the latter SHOWING all four Aces.) For Key Card bidders, what suit, if any, would 4NT ask about? Some play "none, no suit agreed", others play "last natural suit"; opener's rebid clubs probably makes more sense than either of those in this case, but it's hard to come up with a simple, foolproof rule to allow that. I suggest that when we haven't agreed on a suit, a JUMP to 4NT asks about, in order of priority (1) jump-shifter's own suit, or (2) the last naturally bid suit. When 4NT is not a jump, it asks about (1) the only suit we've bid, or (2) bidder's own suit.
If you can't be sure what partner's reply to 4NT would mean, I think 6C is the practical bid, or a somewhat risky 6NT. On heart lead vs. 6NT, cash the four diamonds (pitching hearts) and the five spades (pitching clubs) and watch the enemy discards. When West never pitches a club, is he being cagey or is he trying to protect the King? East may give the show away by pitching his "useless" clubs, or both defenders may throw away all their hearts. Otherwise declarer must decide to risk the finesse for a possible make or -200 or cash out for -100.
Board 17: East opens 1C with a balanced 19-count. South may toss in a Michaels' cue-bid (2C, showing both majors and typically 6-10 or 16+ hcp), or overcall or pass according to style; looks like a reasonable Michaels bid to me. What's the best defense to this popular gadget? With no special agreement, the double of an artificial bid suggests length and strength in the suit; another approach is to treat this similar to bidding over a takeout double, with double of the cue-bid corresponding to a redouble over a double, showing 10+ hcp and typically a balanced hand. This "stakes a claim" to the hand and invites opener to double any bid by North where he has length. What West actually has is an unbalanced, excellent 9 count, with 5-5 shape of his own and two Aces. Another popular treatment is "Unusual over Unusual", where in response to the oppenent's two-suited bid, you use the cue-bids in their two suits to show values in the other two suits, lower = lower and higher = higher. So a 2H bid over their 2C shows a good hand with clubs, 2S shows a good hand with diamonds, and 2D or 3C would simply be competitive. One problem is that the non-vulnerable Michaels bid at this level might be based on 5-4 shape, so it's premature to completely rule out playing in one of the majors -- it's worth asking about their agreements. If 5-4 is a possibility, you may prefer to treat 2H and 2S as natural, forcing bids; or you could agree double-then-bid a major shows such hands.
Let's assume you've agreed double = strength, possibly with length in one of their suits, and Unusual over Unusual applies. West has only 9 hcp, not enough to invite 3NT opposite a balanced minimum, but excellent playing strength: 5C could be on opposite, say, xx Axxx Kx KQxx, or 6C opposite
Ax xxx KQx KQxxx. However, if East has only 3 clubs (or worse, 2, for those playing "could be short") 3C may be the limit. All in all I think I'd bid an agressive 2H cue-bid. For pairs who have not agreed Unusual over Unusual a simple 3C looks best.
North knows he has a fit in at least one major, but may not know which if South could be 5-4. North should certainly bid spades if West passes, but otherwise should stay quiet with his weak, shapeless hand. After a cue-bid or 3C, East has an obvious 3NT call -- no reason to fret over diamonds, a suit no one has mentioned. Slam seems unlikely with East's fairly balanced hand and most of his strength in South's majors.
At 3NT, East wins quickly in hearts or holds up two rounds in spades. East suspects North will have 3 clubs, but it's safe and reasonable to finesse first in diamonds. When South shows up with the K10, it's reasonable to play North for the Queen. (At a team game you might cash the AK to protect against South having 5422 shape including Qx of clubs.)
Only one pair reached the excellent club slam; East wins the first spade, cashes two top hearts to pitch his spade loser, plays two top trumps and finesses in diamonds for six; or plays North for the club Queen (based on Soth's bidding) and makes seven.
Board 21: North has 11 tricks in hand, with zero quick losers! Really, the best bridge hand I've ever seen in person. Over his 2C, South responds 2D (negative), 2D (waiting), 2D (semi-positive, where 2H would show a bust hand; this needs to be alerted) or 2H (steps, 4-6 hcp, aslo alertable.) As long as North can trust partner to honor a forcing bid, it makes sense to bid clubs so partner will know the King is a critical card. No need to do anything dramatic, 3C is 100% forcing. Remember this hand next time you're tempted to pass as responder in this sort of sequence! South bids 3S (suggesting some values) and North persists with 4C, still forcing! (It would be pointless to reserve this bid as a sign-off.) Here things get a bit murky -- would 4H suggest North's actual 5-5, or wuld it be a cue-bid in support of clubs? Experts have been known to play 2-1 "fits" on this sort of auction! When the bidding starts at the one level, I don't think new suits should be introduced at the four level; but when the bidding starts at higher levels or when enemy bids crowd the auction, I think it's sound to play "if it could be natural, it is." So South bids 4H and North either bids 6NT directly or possibly goes thorugh 4NT-5NT (the latter SHOWING all four Aces.) For Key Card bidders, what suit, if any, would 4NT ask about? Some play "none, no suit agreed", others play "last natural suit"; opener's rebid clubs probably makes more sense than either of those in this case, but it's hard to come up with a simple, foolproof rule to allow that. I suggest that when we haven't agreed on a suit, a JUMP to 4NT asks about, in order of priority (1) jump-shifter's own suit, or (2) the last naturally bid suit. When 4NT is not a jump, it asks about (1) the only suit we've bid, or (2) bidder's own suit.
If you can't be sure what partner's reply to 4NT would mean, I think 6C is the practical bid, or a somewhat risky 6NT. On heart lead vs. 6NT, cash the four diamonds (pitching hearts) and the five spades (pitching clubs) and watch the enemy discards. When West never pitches a club, is he being cagey or is he trying to protect the King? East may give the show away by pitching his "useless" clubs, or both defenders may throw away all their hearts. Otherwise declarer must decide to risk the finesse for a possible make or -200 or cash out for -100.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)