Friday, August 2nd 2013

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

East opens 1S; this hand lacks enough controls and sure tricks for 2C, but is far too strong to open a preemptive 4S. It is unlikely that 1S will be passed out and even more unlikely that you can make game if partner passes. South may stick in a Michaels 2S cue-bid, showing hearts and a minor; I prefer a bit more strength but not vulnerable vs. vulnerable 2S is reasonable. West shows a limit or better raise by cue-bidding 3H, the suit South is known to hold. Be sure to discuss this with partner, but it should be obvious West does not want to play where South has five trumps. North, with only three trumps, is too flat for any bid; with a fourth trump and some defense he might try 4H, but must be wary of pushing E/W into game. Some would double with North's hand to say "I've got heart support", but I think this will benefit E/W more often than N/S. I prefer the double of a cue-bid raise to show the Ace or King of partner's suit, since he will almost certainly be on lead against a spade contract. North passes and East counts 5 losers (8 likely tricks) with some plus values; there might be slam opposite, say, xxx xxx Axxx AQx. West can cue-bid 4C (if the partnership allows cue-bids to be either first or second round controls, which I recommend) or blast 4NT followed by 6S when West shows two Aces or key cards. The scientific cue-bid produces 4H by West; with no diamond control East settles for 4S and an alert South leads a diamond. The less elegant 4NT forces South to guess; underleading a King against a freely bid slam is unappealing, but a club or heart allows East to dump two losers and claim 12 tricks. Note that on other layouts the diamond lead could be disastrous. Of course South could as easily have had the Ace or AK in diamonds, so I think on average the scientific approach pays.

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

North opens 2C; while two-suited hands can be somewhat awkward to bid, 22 hcp, five quick tricks and both majors headed by AKQ clearly qualifies for the forcing bid. South replies 2D (negative, waiting or semi-positive) or 2H (Steps, 4-6 hcp.) North starts with 2S; the 2C opening insures his bids are forcing until a suit is bid and rebid. South raises to 3S, showing support, a trick or two, and some slam control; with no control of either side suit and no more than one top trump South should raise straight to 4S. As with board 6, opener can begin cue-bidding to discover the diamond problem, or bash with 4NT. Six of ten pairs stopped at 4 or 5 spades while 4 bid slam, three failing on the obvious diamond lead. A good bidding sequence: 2C-2D; 2S-3S; 4C-4H; 4S-pass, North trusting that South would not skip over a diamond control. For those who require first-round control on the first round of cue-bidding, North must continue with 5C and pass when South retreats to 5S. When East leads the King of diamonds, West should drop the Jack to insure partner continues the suit; playing the 6 risks partner worrying about leading into declarer's AJ. If West overtakes he risks finding partner has made an inspired lead from Kx.

Board 11 South Deals None Vul	♠ A 10 6 5 2 ♥ Q 6 ♦ Q 10 9 5 3 ♣ 4
♠ K 9 7 3 ♥ 9 8 5 4 ♦ 6 ♣ Q 10 9 5	N W E S	♠ Q J 8 4 ♥ K 3 ♦ J 4 2 ♣ K 8 3 2
	♠ — ♥ A J 10 7 2 ♦ A K 8 7 ♣ A J 7 6

South opens 1H and is not encouraged by partner's 1S response. Best is to rebid 2D, planning to follow with 3C if possible; bidding 2C instead may lose the diamond suit in a confusing fourth-suit auction. North raises to 3D; in general, responder should try to give opener another chance when opener bids two suits and responder has 8+ hcp, as South's 2D bid has a wide range. With fewer diamonds North could take a simple preference to 2H. Don't worry about the fifth spade -- if partner has 3541 shape and enough to bid again, he'll bid 3S over 3D. As it is, the raise improves South's hand; there may be a good crossruff in the majors. However, any move toward slam will carry the bidding beyond 3NT. An optimistic South values his hand at 20 or so (17 hcp + 3 for the void) or four losers (expecting partner to have no more than two hearts) while a pessimist assumes some wasted values in spades. Several Souths declared at 3NT and that seems a practical call at matchpoints. Visualizing, North might have xxxx Kx Qxxxx Kx, but fewer diamonds or some wastage in spades might leave you short of 12 tricks. If South decides to push on, 4C is the obvious move; North's 4S is not encouraging, but as we see from the scoring, 5D loses out to 3NT, 4H,  and 6D.

At 6D, South pulls trumps and runs the Queen of hearts. East covers and South can ruff one heart to set up the suit, finishing with one spade, five hearts (including the ruff), four diamonds in hand, a club and a club ruff. The recap claims 7D can be made but offhand I don't see a likely line.