Right-click here for hands. Watched my annual football game -- why do they bother with the first 55 minutes? A good game anyway.
Board 4: North may open a weak 2D if that bid hasn't been designated for some other use. Did you know it's the most effective weak two bid? Preempting both majors, the enemy misses their fit now and then. Weak twos in general show a small profit and are simple and effective bids.
What about North's four-card heart suit? My attitude is that if the diamonds are strong and the major is weak, I'll go ahead and open 2D. Here the diamonds are borderline good -- AQ but no 10 or 9 -- and the hearts are fairly poor; I'd vote for 2D. One consideration is that if you have both a heart and diamond fit then E/W likely have a spade fit and it won't matter much which red suit you compete in -- but every once in a while you'll miss a good 4H.
East has a borderline hand -- 11 hcp and good shape, but no ace and forced to bid at the three level over 2D. Still, the suit is sturdy and I imagine few Easts passed. South pictures six diamond tricks, four side quick tricks, good chances to set up the fifth and possibly fourth hearts, and the possibility North has a side trick. The two Axx black suits afford excellent prospects for pitching losers on the hearts. Finally, North might have three hearts -- would Qxx be lovely? Three hearts is a forcing bid -- if you play "New Suit Non-Forcing" over a weak two, you must check the red box on your convention card and alert the opponents. I think it's poor strategy to argue over long suits with weak hands and leave yourself no way to explore with strong hands such as South has here.
North, of course, raises hearts and South contemplates slam. If 4NT is RKCB, grand slam could make if partner happens to have the Queen of hearts. But that seems to require both red suits to behave, and I think I'd just bid 6D over 4H -- partner can correct with good hearts. North does just that with four card support.
West likely leads a club (no reason I can see to guess the killing spade lead) and South simply wins and plans to cash two high trumps, expecting to win 6 diamonds, the two black aces, and four or five trumps. Attempting to ruff a club before pulling trumps could be fatal. When East shows out on the first trump, South must lead low toward the Jack. West can win and force dummy with another club, but there's a low trump to ruff with, and South then cashes the Jack, returns to hand with a diamond, pulls the last trump, and runs the diamonds. If diamonds trumps were 3-1 while diamonds were 4-1 South would be able to set the diamonds up with a ruff and return to dummy with a club ruff.
Board 9: North opens 1C and East overcalls 1H, 2H or more -- at this vulnerability, I'd settle for 2H, showing much the same as an opening weak two in my style. South bids 2S, more or less a game force -- partner wasn't expecting to have to find a rebid over 2S. West considers a raise -- usually correct with three trumps -- but decides to pass based on the flat shape, weak hand and adverse vulnerability. Good choice -- 3H can be hammered for -800. North has a huge hand in support of spades; how best to bid? It's hard to imagine stopping short of slam, so North should either bid 6S or probe for grand slam, possibly in a minor -- partner could have Kxxxx xx KQxx Qx, for example. A simple approach would be to bid 3D planning to follow with 6S -- that should suggest the heart void and perhaps only three card spade support.
South considers 3NT -- he has a heart stopper -- but the shapely hand argues for a suit contract, and 6D is plausible. South raises to 4D. Now North wants to play in the stronger trump suit, always a sound policy with slams. 4S or even 5S might be passed, so North must either follow through with his planned 6S bid or try to learn more without risking a bidding accident. 4NT with a void is usually not recommended, but here North will be OK if South either has both missing key cards or North guesses that East, not South, has the Ace of hearts. over 4NT (RKCB) South replies 5S, two key cards plus the Queen of diamonds. The heart Ace will eliminate a spade loser if diamonds are trumps, so North confirms all the key cards with 5NT. If the style is number of (side-suit) Kings, South replies 6D; my usual "specific Kings" style doesn't work so well here -- perhaps 6C should mean "one King somewhere" while 6D says "no side Kings, no interest in grand slam."
I can be assumed South would've bid 7D with the KQ of spades in addition to all he's shown, so North can pass 6D or try for extra matchpoints at 6S. 6D is surely safer, so how many pairs will bid either slam? Four out of nine in today's game, so I think 6D was the proper spot.
East leads the King of hearts and North must plan how to win 12 tricks. Beginners are typically advised to "count losers" at trump contracts, but I find that at slam and often at game it's more important to count winners. Possibilities include establishing spades, establishing clubs, or cross-ruffing. The diamonds spots are strong -- only the nine is missing -- and it looks like 5 side quick tricks and seven or eight tricks on a crossruff are available. When crossruffing it's important to cash your side winners early, else a defender may discard in one of those suits and later ruff your winner. Ace of hearts (pitch a spade, low spade to the Ace, AK of clubs (pitching spades since you know you can ruff hearts safely), spade toward the King. East ruffs "air" and does not have a trump to lead to break up the crossruff, but a club return forces dummy to ruff high and sooner or later West scores the nine of trumps. Double-dummy North could cope with all the bad breaks but I think it unlikely at the table.
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