Wednesday, August 19th 2015

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

After East opens 1S, many a West will leap to 3NT for a short auction. If this is defined as precisely 2-3-4-4 with 13-15 hcp, East will pass, but could probe for slam with a stronger hand: with AQxxx xx AQxx Ax, for example, 4D would announce the fit and suggest slam.

I prefer to play 3NT as a "pancake raise", any 4333 with 13-15 hcp, so I responded 2C as West. East rebid 2D and playing 2/1 Game Force, I raised to 3D. All roads lead to 3NT, however; West can imagine East's perfecto, but it seems too much to hope for. nine tricks are likely on the normal heart lead; West holds up twice but is then likely to finesse North for the Queen of diamonds rather than South, probably after testing the clubs and finding nine tricks to go. If West notes that only one heart other below the 6 is out and sees South play that card at trick two or three, he will know North started with only four hearts and might finesse either way.

Only one pair bid slam and made the mistake of trying 6NT rather than the high percentage 6D. In general, don't strain for notrump slams: bid them when you can count 12 tricks or have at least 33 hcp. When you or partner are or may be bidding partly on shape, bid slam in a suit. Many pairs will not reach slam at all, so don't worry about out-scoring other slams.

Board 19 South Deals E-W Vul	♠  A 4 3 ♥ A Q 9 4 2 ♦ Q J 9 6 ♣  10
♠  Q J 8 7 6 5 ♥ J 8 7 ♦ A ♣  8 7 5	N W E S	♠  2 ♥ 6 3 ♦ 10 8 5 3 2 ♣  K J 6 4 2
	♠  K 10 9 ♥ K 10 5 ♦ K 7 4 ♣  A Q 9 3

South opens 1NT; a bold or foolhardy West will overcall 2S. I would be much less inclined to bid if playing DONT or regular Capalletti where I could not bid 2S immediately; such bidding gives the opponents too much room to sort out whether they should defend or play, and where. The ten of spade would add quite a bit of safety.

North should be able to bid a forcing 3H; a more high tech method would be to play transfers starting at 2NT. South raises 3H to game; should North try for slam? With 6 losers opposite 15-17, slam does seem plausible; opener might have Kx Kxxx AKx xxxx, for example, with an easy 12 tricks if the defense can't score a quick ruff. And that's only 13 hcp, so it does seem right to proceed. North would like to be sure South has a high diamond, but lacking bidding room 4NT looks like the practical continuation, to be sure South has at least one Ace or two key cards. After the 5D or 5H reply, North should bid the slam -- don't wimp out because there might be two quick diamond losers, odds don't favor that given South's overall strength.

West may cash the Ace of diamonds; there's not much chance of getting partner in for a ruff, but at matchpoints you hate to watch your trick disappear. The risk, of course, is that this hands declarer his twelfth trick, as it does here. If West leads a spade or trump, declarer should pull three rounds of trumps and then try the club finesse -- there's no practical way to avoid it, and when it wins you can guess West has the Ace of diamonds for his overcall and lead up to North's diamonds. Of course, +480 is apt to be a good score so on this layout bidding slam was probably not worth the risk.

Board 25 North Deals E-W Vul	♠  J 9 8 ♥ 4 ♦ J 10 8 3 ♣  A K 8 3 2
♠  Q 7 4 ♥ Q 9 3 ♦ 6 5 ♣  Q 10 7 6 4	N W E S	♠  10 6 3 2 ♥ J 5 ♦ Q 9 7 4 ♣  J 9 5
	♠  A K 5 ♥ A K 10 8 7 6 2 ♦ A K 2 ♣  —

South opens 2C and North replies 2D (waiting or semi-positive), 3C (natural and positive) or 2S (steps, 7-9 hcp) according to the partnership's agreements. Our opponents used steps and there does not seem to be a good way for South to learn anything usefel, so here 6H rebid seems practical.

Where 2D is played as negative or waiting, 3C showing a good club suit and about 8+ hcp is best, otherwise the club suit may be lost thanks to 3C on the next round being defined as a second negative.  The 3C bid does little for South but any of 3 Queens would provide an entry so again South should land in 6H.

Where 2D promises at least an Ace or King (or perhaps two Queens in some partnerships) North may prefer that response to 3C, anticipating South's long heart suit; 3C won't be artificial in this style. South could leap to 3H to set trumps, but either spades or diamonds might be better so I think 2H is better. North continues with 3C and South rebids 3H. The 2D response creates a game force so no one should be in a hurry to leap anywhere. North continues with 3NT, mostly denying a stopper. South bids hearts yet again and North may well give up, but should not be surprised if slam makes.

Against the uninformative 2C-2S; 6H auction I led a low club, hoping to catch partner with any of the Ace, King or Jack. The operation was a success but the patient died, as declarer quickly pitched two losers on the clubs from the apparently entryless dummy. As it happens declarer can simply play two top trumps and end-play West on a third trump, so slam can be made on any lead. The ten of diamonds is a big card here!

Board 29 North Deals Both Vul	♠  A K Q 10 7 4 2 ♥ J 4 2 ♦ Q 5 ♣  K
♠  8 5 ♥ K Q 10 9 5 ♦ 8 4 ♣  10 8 7 5	N W E S	♠  J 3 ♥ 8 6 ♦ 10 9 7 2 ♣  A Q 9 6 4
	♠  9 6 ♥ A 7 3 ♦ A K J 6 3 ♣  J 3 2

North opens 1S; opposite a partner who has not passed this is too strong for any preempt, unless you play Namyats (4D = strong 4S opening.) South responds 2D and now North can leap to 4S. Some 2/1 Game Force authorities define a jump rebid in opener's suit as solid or semi-solid, in which case 3S would be the proper rebid -- broken suits can proceed more slowly.

Over 4S, South should assume the spades are good enough for slam; does North have a club control? In this case a 5H control bid looks more useful than 4NT. While this appears to skip over diamonds as well as clubs, North should reason that South must have control of two suits to be thinking of slam, so 6S is justified.

Over the strong-suit 3S rebid, South control-bids 4D -- it can be assumed that 3S set the trump suit. North may be tempted to sign off for lack of a heart control, but should instead realize he has not shown the full strength of this hand. Better, then, to continue with a 5C control bid, over which South should bid 6S. I'm a little surprised that no pairs bid this excellent slam.

Sunday, August 2nd 2015

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

West opens 1D -- some might suggest 1NT, but it does not appear to be legal under ACBL's General Convention Card to agree to do this or to do so more than once with the same partner. East responds 1S and West jumps to 3S, invitational. Move the stiff King into one of the other suits and the hand would be worth a game raise, such as a 4C splinter. West's jump promises four trumps and suggests a hand worth 17 to 19 (including distributional assets); East adds 13 hcp and one or two for shape, so the combined assets are in the 30 to 34 range. Visualizing, East has 6 losers (the big fit should take care of the fourth club) and can expect 5 or 6 cover cards for West's jump, with the actual hand being a good example. East lacks red-suit controls, so 4NT could lead to a slam off a cashing AK, or guessing to stop at the five level when slam is actually cold. Much better is 4C, suggesting slam and showing a club control.

West has excellent cards, especially if the style is for control bids to generally be made on Aces or Kings rather than singleton or voids. In any case I think West should drive to slam after any suggestion from partner. A complete auction might be 1D-1S; 3S-4C; 4NT-5D (three key cards); 5NT (we've got everything)-6C (nothing else to say); 6S. When trumps split 2-2 East has tricks to burn but cannot avoid one diamond loser. Four pairs out of nine bid this excellent slam.

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

West might open a pure garbage 3C, but I prefer to have something like a weak two for that bid and am not a fan of preempting on bad hands with bad suits in any case. If West passes North opens 1S The stiff King is a flaw, but it is very wrong to assume it is worthless and pass such hands -- the classic advice is to deduct one point, and I never pass a hand containing 12 hcp including an Ace at matchpoints. If a strong 3D is in the arsenal, that looks good on South's hand, planning to follow with 3NT. I'm sure most Souths bid just 2D, either game-forcing or at least game-invitational. North rebids 2H; now what? There may still be slam in diamonds or notrump, but South must be careful not to get passed out in a part-score. 3C is forcing in any style; anyone playing 2/1 game force or other modern methods should recognize that this Fourth Suit bid could be artificial. As such, South might not have a club stopper so North merely bids 3D and awaits developments. That encourages South (no misfit) but is there enough for slam? Losing Trick Count under-rates South's control-rich hand. Visualizing, South has six losers; a minimum opener rates to cover four of those, but a club ruff or long spade could dispose of another. A perfect minimum for North might be AKxxx Kxxx Qxxx x, so slam is certainly plausible, but partner may well have an imperfect minimum where slam has no play. Ideally South should invite slam with a chance to stop at game if partner does not have the right cards. Unfortunately, the proper game contract is almost certainly in notrump, not diamonds, especially at matchpoints; +400 or +420 will score badly against +430 at notrump.

I think any clever bid here is too risky -- 3H or 3S or 4D might well be passed or lead to confusion, and none is clearly a slam try. As a practical matter South should either bid 3NT or drive to slam. As partner's bidding does suggest 5431 shape I think 6D is worth the risk. 4NT doesn't accomplish much -- you should bid slam whether or not partner has an ace, and the non-solid diamonds make 6NT or 7D look too risky. As it happens the diamond drop or finesse fails and spades do not split evenly, so in practice I think 6D will go down. No one bid slam on this one.

Against 3NT, West probably leads a club. The obvious line is to cash the AK of diamonds, knock out the Queen and take 10 tricks after the club return. Swinging for a top or bottom, declarer might risk the heart finesse.

Playing 6D with a club lead, twelve tricks will be easy if the Queen of diamonds drops, a 52% chance; declarer takes six diamonds and two tricks in each other suit, losing one heart. If there is a diamond loser, declarer must set up at least one spade to succeed -- East can cover the Queen or Jack of hearts, stranding declarer with a loser. But the opening lead removes the only side suit entry and the only way to arrange two trump entries would be to drop a stiff Queen or concede a trump trick without playing any high trumps. And if spades aren't 3-3 declarer will also need the heart finesse.

Perhaps the best line would be King of clubs, Ace, King and low spade, ruffed with the Jack. If spades are 3-3 you can then cash the Ace of trumps and lead a low trump to dummy, insuring an entry to the spades for two heart discards. If spades are 4-2 and West overruffs, dummy's trumps will provide three more entries, but you will need the heart finesse as you can set up only one long spade. What if West refuses to overruff on today's layout? Declarer must guess what is going on -- he can force a heart entry to take the "marked" diamond finesse -- oops, wrong answer. Or he can assume a diamond loser and lead low trumps to dummy, relying on the heart finesse later. Tough hand.