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| Board 5 North Deals N-S Vul |
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North opens 1C, passed around to West's powerhouse. West begins with a double. Despite subminimum high cards, North should go ahead and compete with 1S. This suggests at least 4-5 shape; a more balanced hand should certainly pass. East can only count on partner for about 9 hcp and so passes. South must bid 2C -- he has already denied much in the way of high cards and must help partner find the best strain. West doubles again to show additional strength. North might consider 3C but has probably done enough. East picks a red suit (2D.) West counts five or six losers: 3 spades, 2 or 3 hearts. Partner woudl've competed directly over 1S with a fair hand, so West cannot expect too much. A raise to 3D may not fully express West's strength but anything more seems too risky. Five diamonds fails on the A-K of spades and a ruff; South should definitely lean toward a spade lead since North might not have bid again with strong clubs and weak spades. A club lead sinks 3NT despite the double stopper.
| Board 6 East Deals E-W Vul |
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South opens 1C and the N/S auction proceeds 1C-1H; 1S-2D, alerted as artificial (the Fourth Suit Forcing gadget, usually played as forcing to game.) This allows North to set up a game force as well as checking back for three-card heart support. With only four hearts and strength in diamonds, North could simply bid 2NT (about 11 or 12) or 3NT (about 13-16.) Lacking heart support and with strength in diamonds, South bids 2NT -- but if 2D was natural of forcing for only one round, South must leap to 3NT. North raises 2NT to game -- with no fit, slam is unlikely.
West may as well lead a diamond; nothing else looks any better. South wins the Ace and runs the Jack of hearts to East. Counting on South for at elast 12 hcp, East can tell partner is nearly broke; perhaps he has the Queen of diamonds or spades. If West started with his fourth-best diamond, East returns the suit, pickling West's ten. If instead West started with the 7 (some like second high from a poor four-card suit) East tries a spade, finessing himself! On a heart return, declarer cashes a third round of the suit (pitching a spade) and then takes two more diamonds, the two black Aces and finally the last two hearts, squeezing East in the black suits for a fine +490.
| Board 8 West Deals None Vul |
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West opens 1S; East responds 2H. While many would rebid 3D, that ought to show extra values (forcing to game if not playing 2/1 game force; 15+ in a Mike Lawrence-style 2/1 scheme.) Instead, West rebids 2S, normal with any minimum hand not suitalbe for another two level bid. East can now describe his hand well with a 4D delayed splinter -- 0 or 1 diamond, three spades and slam interest. West signs off at 4S and East passes. Lacking that gadget, East bids out his shape with 3C over 2S. West tries 3NT -- little point in trying to show the diamonds -- and East completes his desctiption by pulling to 4S. That must show genuine spade support, a shortage in diamonds, and slam interest: a weaker hand would simply have raised 2S to game. It's important for East to be able to suggest slam without going past 4S; while E/W have many of the requirments for slam, the hands simply don't fit all that well and the lack of a ninth trump limits the playing strength. Meanwhile, North's surprise in hearts can sink even 5S. Five pairs overbid to slam on this one.
| Board 11 South Deals None Vul |
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South opens 1D; North has a good hand for a strong jump to 2S. East has a rare hand worth overcalling 3C despite the strong N/S bidding; he certainly wants a club lead if South declares. South has no particular reason to bid; North rebids 3D. South can now bid 3S, suggesting only three card support from his failure to raise earlier. North appears to have an ideal hand for Blackwood, but the bid carries some risk: there could esily be two missing Aces and a diamond loser. On the other hand simply raising to 4S might leave partner wondering if the clubs are under control. While I generally try to avoid cue-bidding shortages, this hand calls for a 4C control bid. South should like his two Aces and vital King and drive the hand to slam.
Not playing strong jumps, North responds 1S and East preempts with 3C. This is passed around to North. Now 3D would sound merely competitive; North must jump to 4D. South bids 4S and North must guess whether to continue -- there may well be a slam but the five level may be too high. In fact the slam depends on a guess in diamonds so stopping at 4S is prudent.
| Board 19 South Deals E-W Vul |
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West has a borderline 1H opening -- the suit is poor but the hand does have two-and-a-half quick tricks. North leaps to 3S or 4S. The stiff King of hearts is a red flag, but with six near-certain trump tricks 4S is reasonable at favorable vulnerability. What you don't want to do is bid 3S and then 4S over 4H -- apply maximum pressure at once, let them take the last guess, then bail out. East expects to defeat 4S but with a ten card fit and a side singleton 5H looks better. A spade lead from AQ is unlikely; declarer wins any other lead, cashes the Ace of hearts and Queen of clubs, crosses to hand and pitches spades on clubs. When the Jack and Ten drop declarer wins all but a high trump.
| Board 27 South Deals None Vul |
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East opens 2C in fourth seat; West responds 2D negative or waiting or non-bust, or 2H "Steps" (4-6 hcp.) East rebids 3C and West bids 3S. East can settle for 3NT at this point; responder might continue with extra values and/or a club fit. Or East can push toward slam himself. I'd say East is fairly minimum for 2C, 3C, 3NT; with a more balanced hand East should rebid in notrump immediately.
A hard-luck hand for anything beyond 3NT: three finesses lose.
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