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Board 2: East opens 1D; West has a wild 8-3-0-2 hand, worth a likely nine or ten tricks on its own. An opening bid will usually cover three or four losers, but wasted values in diamonds and the lack of first-round controls in West's side suits are not encouraging. The best plan is for West to show slam interest as quickly as possible and trust partner to carry on with the proper key cards (Aces and high trumps.) An immediate jump to 2S followed by repeated spade rebids looks right. over 2S, East rebids 2NT rather than mention the worthless clubs. A reasonable auction would begin 1D-2S; 2NT-3S. Now East should be comfortable with spades as trumps, but with three key cards should make a more forward-going bid than a simple 4S. 4H is a clear-cut slam try/control cue-bid: there would be no reason to suggest a new suit at this level, one that partner could easily have bid over 2NT. (Also, in North America, the usual rule is that the jump-shifter cannot have a side suit; I don't subscribe to that for two level jump shifts.)
The 4H bid is welcome news to West, whose club control insures there won't be two fast losers in any side suit. However, East skipped over clubs, so it appears there will be a sure loser there, and so the trumps need to be solid to make slam. Ordinary Blackwood won't help in a direct sense, though you might infer that if partner has only one Ace he is likely to have good trumps for his 4H bid. RKCB has the disadvantage of counting the wasted Ace of diamonds as a key card. Rebidding 4S sounds as though clubs are not under control, while a leap to 5S is ambiguous -- is that asking for a club control, or good trumps? I think 4NT is the practical bid, and if that's RKCB West should simply assume partner has the wasted Ace of diamonds if he shows two or more key cards.
East replies with two Aces (Blackwood), or "0 or 3" (RKCB or the 1430 variation.) In the first case West should retreat to 5S, expecting a trump loser. Playing RKCB, West continues with a Queen-asking bid. Over a 5C reply, that would normally be 5D, but here there is some risk partner might think that's natural. I think it's good it's a good policy not to use 5 of a major artificially if it could possibly be seen as natural, but when a major suit has been agreed (here, by way the 4H bid) we might play six of a minor but never five. So, 5D asks about the Queen and East denies it with either a "next step no" 5H or "agreed suit no" 5S according to style. Anyone playing RKCB should discuss this with partner, with the default agreement "next step no." West stops at 5S.
North leads the Queen of clubs, South wins the Ace and returns another club to West's King. Now West crosses to the King of spades, ruffs a diamond (safest) back to hand, cashes the Ace of spades and concedes a trick to the Queen, making five. Two declarers grabbed twelve tricks, presumably on a non-club lead.
Board 9: North, with 20 hcp and a solid six-card major has either a minimum 2C opening or an absolute maximum 1H. One consideration is your response scheme to 2C: those playing 2D negative or waiting or "steps" can plan to bid hearts twice over 2D, allowing responder to pass 3H with a trickless hand. However, that contract may fail for lack of an entry to finesse either King. Those playing 2H as a bust would likely have to pass 2H -- 3H must be forcing, 2C is forcing until opener rebids notrump or bids and rebids the same suit. Actually, that plan isn't too bad in this case, but it wrong-sides the contract. I'd open 1H; if that gets passed out there may not have been a game.
South responds 1S and now North must force to game, and, if possible, investigate slam prospects. A jump to 3H would show a hand at least a King weaker; jump rebids by opener after a one-level response aren't forcing aside from jump shifts. 3NT suggests the solid suit but might also be bid on a weaker hand. And of course 4H sounds like more playing strength (perhaps seven or eight hearts) without, again, implying this many hcp. That leaves a "manufactured" jump shift (3D or 3C). If partner is familiar with opener's rebid problems, he will not jump raise such a suit and you should be able to get the proper message across by rebidding the hearts next. If you're unsure what partner will think, 3NT seems the practical rebid, or perhaps opening 2C after all.
Over 3D, South rebids his good spades and North tries either 3NT or 4H. At matchpoints, it seems likely you can grab an extra trick in the trump contract, pitching a minor suit loser or two on partner's spades, with perhaps a ruff to help set up the suit. But there's always a risk of a defensive ruff. On today's hand East might not lead his singleton into North's jump-shift; otherwise the lead looks normal and the defense can collect two fast tricks against hearts.
If North opens 2C, South with a good suit and 9 hcp should give a positive response (2S, whether natural or 7-9 "steps") and drive to slam. A possible auction would be 2C-2S; 3H-3NT; 4H-4NT; reply and slam. Unfortunately I don't see a clear-cut reason to bid 6NT rather than 6H; the Jack of spades makes all the difference. One pair reached 6NT while most settled in 4H.
Board 13: North opens 1NT and South, with 15 hcp and 3361 shape, immediately thinks of slam. Should this be in diamonds or notrump? With a combined 30-32 hcp, a suit slam seems more likely; you may welcome the extra control or the chance to establish a long suit with a ruff. However, it isn't hard to visualize twelve running tricks at notrump if partner has the right cards. Next, South must consider what tools the partnership has for exploring slam in a minor suit. Possible methods include a simple jump in the minor, forcing to game and either unbalanced or with slam interest; this was the old default agreement, but SAYC treats these jumps as invitational to game, not forcing. In SAYC, you must bid Stayman first and then three of your minor, forcing. The disadvantage is that opener with both majors will show his second major at this point, which isn't of much interest to a responder with a long minor. All players should be familiar with the direct jump and Stayman-then-3C or 3D methods; don't drop the ball and pass!
A third approach involves some sort of minor suit transfers. The key to using minor suit transfers is and understanding of when responder bothers to show a minor. Three types of hands bother showing a minor: (1) a six-card suit and no game interest; three of the minor will generally play better than 1NT. (2) hands with game-going values but a small singleton -- five or six of a minor might make while 3NT fails. (3) hands with five or more in a minor and slam interest, whether balanced or not. What responder should NOT do is show a minor on the way to game on hand like Kxx xx AQJxxx xxx. With no singleton and no slam interest, just bid 3NT immediately. You cannot sensibly discover those rare hands that will make 5D because hearts or clubs are unstopped; and many of those hands will steal 3NT anyway if you don't give the enemy any clues on what to lead! Many players also include (4) a six-card minor headed by two of the top three honors and about 6 or 7 hcp. This is effectively the same as (1) unless opener "breaks transfer" to show a fitting honor and the expectation of running nine tricks.
The upshot is that after transferring, responder passes with type (1), bids his singleton with type (2), and rebids 3NT (slam invitational) or 4D (forcing) or 4NT (key card) with type (3). Today's hand has a singleton King; I usually treat such hands as "no singleton" since partner will misevaluate his hand if he thinks all your points are outside the short suit. South seems too strong to merely invite slam, so I would either transfer and raise to 4D (a slam try, not a passable game invitation!) or simply check on Aces via Gerber and then place the contract. With no control in hearts, transfer-then-4D is ideal, inviting opener to cue-bid controls. With three Aces and control of every suit, North could take charge with 4NT, but may not have enough information to decide between diamond and notrump slams, or between six and seven. If South can be coaxed into bidding 4NT your three Ace response will give him a near complete description of your values.
A complete auction: 1NT-3C (transfer); 3D-4D; 4H-4NT; 5S (3 Aces) or 5C (0-3 key cards, obviously not zero after the 4H bid); 5NT-6D (one King); 6NT pass. South cannot be sure of a 13th trick but 6NT should be easy. Two of six pairs reached slam, in diamonds.
Playing 2NT as a "two-under" transfer: 1NT-2NT; 3C (I see 9 tricks opposite KQxxxx)-4D, same as above. It won't matter that South plays the slam.
Board 26: Lots of variations; a reasonable auction might begin pass-1C-1D-1H; dbl*-2H-4S-?
*showing spades; penalty doubles at this level after partner has merely overcalled would be too rare to be useful. North's good shape suggests bidding 5H but half his values are in the enemy suit. 5H turns out to be a good sacrifice, but they can make 5S anyway.
At spades, how should West play the trumps? "Eight ever, nine never" as a guide to finding a Queen assumes no other information and no concern over which opponent might gain the lead. With nine trumps, playing for the drop will succeed about 52% of the time vs. 50% for the finesse -- basically, too close to call, not a rule to be followed blindly. The information here is contradictory; South opened the bidding, but having shown length in two suits is more likely to be short in spades. An opening diamond lead from North, smelling like a singleton, would confirm that impression and West should finesse -- if it loses, North won't have a trump left to ruff with. Also, if North doubles -- a mistake I made! -- West should finesse. On the Queen of hearts lead West may fall back on the nursery rhyme and play, unsuccessfully, for the drop.
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