Friday August 23rd 2013

Board 7 South Deals Both Vul	♠ 7 3 ♥ K Q 7 5 3 2 ♦ J ♣ Q 10 4 2
♠ Q 8 6 ♥ J 10 9 8 ♦ Q 9 7 5 ♣ K 3	N W E S	♠ A K 10 9 ♥ A ♦ K 10 8 6 2 ♣ A 6 5
	♠ J 5 4 2 ♥ 6 4 ♦ A 4 3 ♣ J 9 8 7

North opens 2H in third seat, catching East with a shapely 18 count. East starts with a takeout double; South should pass – the enemy have 24+ hcp and the 6-2 heart fit does not provide safety above the two level. West bids 3D. Playing lebensohl, this suggests 7-10 hcp; a weaker hand would start with 2NT. Not playing lebensohl, East must guess at West’s strength; adding his 18 to an average of 8 for North leaves 14 hcp outstanding, so playing West for about 7 hcp seems right. East counts roughly five losers (a spade, two diamonds and a club) and 7 hcp (probably not in hearts) should cover two; not enough for slam. However, South’s failure to raise suggests West may have four hearts; along with four diamonds that insures a ruffing value in one of the black suits. This is the sort of hand where bidding a slam seems aggressive but you shouldn’t be too surprised if it makes.

East continues with a 3H cue-bid to gain more infomration; West, with an efficient 1-point heart stopper bids 3NT, which should be the final contract. Declarer starts the diamonds with the King, playing the partner of the preemptor for a possible AJx; 10 tricks should be routine.

My partner chose to be optimistic; North led the King of hearts against 6D. Dummy’s Ace won perfoce and South covered the King of trumps with the Ace and of course North’s Jack was smothered. A ruffing finesse set up two heart tricks for a top. 3NT making four scored six out of nine.

Board 9 North Deals E-W Vul	♠ A 9 6 5 ♥ J 10 ♦ J 6 4 ♣ 9 8 7 2
♠ K Q J 8 2 ♥ A 8 7 5 2 ♦ K 7 3 ♣ —	N W E S	♠ 4 3 ♥ K Q 6 4 3 ♦ A 9 ♣ K 6 5 3
	♠ 10 7 ♥ 9 ♦ Q 10 8 5 2 ♣ A Q J 10 4

East opens 1H and South leaps to 2NT, unusual for the minors. With a known 5-5 fit, five losers and excellent controls, West wants to be in slam as long as East has two useful key cards. Although standard advice is “don’t use Blackwood with a void” since you can’t be sure which Aces partner has, I figured that the enemy would not allow us a leisurely auction with their huge club fit. Some might simply blast 6H but I also reasoned that if partner had only one key card, he could not have the two I needed! Over my 4NT, North tried to gum up our bidding with 5C. DOPI to the rescue! It rarely comes up, but when someone bids over 4NT, the standard agreement is Double Zero Pass One (D0P1, or “dopey”.) With two or more key cards or Aces, partner bids up the line to show 2,3,4 or 5. Partner correctly bid 5D here and had no problems at 6H.

DOPI, by the way, is one reason I dislike the “1430” variant of key card asking – an online poll showed that half of those playing “1430” believed that, having agreed “DOPI”, they really meant “Double = first step, Pass = Second”, i.e., Double = 1 or 4, Pass = 0 or 3. I can see no great advantage in that agreement, but I wouldn’t call it DOPI; call it DFPS if you like. Or simply play straight up DOPI.

Side note: DEPO means “Double Even, Pass Odd”; this was Dorothy Truscott’s original gadget but is now commonly used when the enemy bids 5NT or higher, leaving no bid at the five level to show two. “ROPI” means Redouble Zero, Pass One; next time you think you can beat 4NT (i.e., you are on lead with a strong suit) try doubling to see if they get this right.

Board 24:

Board 24 West Deals None Vul	♠ A K Q 10 8 7 4 3 ♥ A ♦ 7 ♣ K 9 6
♠ J 9 ♥ Q J 10 9 8 7 5 3 ♦ Q 6 ♣ 3	N W E S	♠ 6 5 2 ♥ K 6 ♦ 9 5 4 3 ♣ J 10 8 4
	♠ — ♥ 4 2 ♦ A K J 10 8 2 ♣ A Q 7 5 2

West opens with a heart preempt; applying the rule of 2, 3 and 4, 3H would be correct at equal vulnerability. However, with an 8 card suit and virtually no defense I would try 4H. Either way, North cannot really portray his 9 ½ trick hand. Can you think of a way to get partner to bid slam with the AQ of clubs and no spades? Over 3H, North can try 4NT and bid slam if partner shows an Ace. But over 4H, 4NT is more useful as a two-suited takeout bid, and North may simply take the near-certain plus at 4S. If North is allowed to use Blackwood, South’s two Aces and one King makes 7NT standout. Only one pair bid slam.

Board 27 South Deals None Vul	♠ K Q J 6 ♥ K ♦ A 10 8 6 3 2 ♣ 9 2
♠ A 10 4 3 ♥ 10 7 6 2 ♦ 9 5 ♣ J 10 8	N W E S	♠ 9 8 5 2 ♥ Q J 5 4 3 ♦ 7 ♣ K 6 3
	♠ 7 ♥ A 9 8 ♦ K Q J 4 ♣ A Q 7 5 4

South opens 1C. With game-forcing values, North should respond 1D, planning to bid the spades next, whether or not the pair plays an up-the-line style. This pays off when South jump raises to 3D. North must now decide between 6D and (if South has help in hearts) 3NT. With 6 losers and the King of hearts as a plus value (it may be useful if partner has the Ace but not King of clubs and either the Ace or Queen of hearts) slam looks promising. Visualizing, South might have Ax xxx KQxx AKxxx, making slam a near laydown. An immediate 4NT (trusting partner to control the clubs) is probably the simplest approach, but this may a bit pushy. To invite slam, North can try 3S, an apparent notrump probe. South, with a heart stopper, bids 3NT; now, when North pulls that to 4D, his earlier 3S bid can be re-interpreted as a slam try. It woudl make no sense for North to explore for 3NT and then retreat to a part-score, so this should be a clear slam try, but be sure partner is on the same page before you try this!

South has an excellent hand for slam and cue-bids 4H; now North can reasonably proceed with 4NT. South replies with two Ace or three key cards; North bids 6D. (What about the Queen asking bid? Most variants of this will not allow stopping short of slam; I, personally, like to play that 5H asks and 5 of the agreed suit denies the Queen; when the asking bid is above the suit, as here, 5NT denies and North could pass that on this auction. But this does not appear to be a well-known variant.)

Against 6D East tries the Queen of hearts; North pulls trumps and collects two spades, a spade ruff, two hearts, six diamonds and a club. 6NT makes on the club finesse but only one pair bid slam so playing the safer 6D is clearly superior.