Friday, October 19th 2012

Right-click here for hands.

Board 3: South opens 1D with a shapely 18 count. North has enugh playing strength to consider a jump shift, but with no Aces 1S looks best. South shows 17+ with a 2H reverse -- this must be strong since partner may not have hearts and would be forced to bid 2NT or 3S with a weak hand. In the modern style this is forcing, but what do responder's rebids mean? A good method over reverses is an extension of lebensohl -- North rebids 2S to show 5+ (weak or strong) and otherwise bids 2NT with any weak hand. This asks opener to bid 3C, allowing responder to pass or correct to 3D or 3H on a minimum hand. Direct rebids of 3D or 3H therefore show 8+ and are forcing to game. This makes it far easier to show good hands than a style where every minimum rebid by responder is weak.

On today's hand, then, North can rebid either 2S (showing the 5th spade) or 3D (showing diamond support and 8+ hcp.) I like 3D; if opener has 3 spades that will be his natural third bid. Instead, South bids 3NT and can feel he's put partner in a good position to decide whether to pass or bid on. With his great playing strength I would continue with 4D as North. This should always be viewed as a slam try, not a passable (let's play part-score in a minor insted of game!) nonsense bid. With his excellent controls South should certainly drive to slam. Although it is tempting to aim for 6NT rather than 6D, the score-sheet reveals the usual truth about slams with fewer than 33 hcp: any making slam scores well, while a minus score at 6NT when 6D would make would be a very cold bottom. 6NT scored an 11 top, 6D making seven (on a non-heart lead) scored 10, and 6D making 6 scored a solid 8.

Board 13: North opens a routine 1C. South, with a prime 4405 14 count, should be thinking "possible slam." The easiest way to clue partner in about that is an immediate, 2 level jump shift -- there's still plenty of bidding room and you can support clubs at your next bid. However, there's one flaw: the heart suit (QJ9x) lacks first or second round control, but is too good to bury with a jump to 2S. So, like everyone else in the room, I'm sure I'd bid an amorphous 1H. Sure, this bid is 100% forcing, but it's awfully hard to show this much strength later. North rebids 1S. Neither 3S nor 4S by South would be forcing (in the modern style) or do justice to this hand, but a 4D splinter can help -- singleton or void in diamonds, four card support, game-going values. A common range for responder's splinters is 11-14 hcp, maybe a bit stronger when raising opener's second suit since thre won't be a nine-card fit. Call it 12-15 then. Opener counts only five losers (two spades, a heart, no diamonds opposite the shortage, and two clubs.) At about 3 points a trick, responder's 12 hcp can be expected to cover 4 losers, so slam looks plausible. Visualizing, perhaps responder has AQxx Axx x Qxxxx -- hmm, not so great, need responder to have QJ in clubs. Once again, the Ace opposite the singleton is a subtle form of "wasted values" -- give opener KJxx Kx xx AKxxx and slam would be a laydown (on only 26 hcp!) 4S would be a reasonable, cautious bid, especially at matchpoints where a minus score when you have the cards almost always scores badly.

If North does decide to push on, 4NT (RKCB) is as good as anything since North has controls in every suit. South has 2 key cards, the Queen of trumps, and a void. What should South reply? I personally have no agreements about showing a void and think most partnerships are better off ignoring them in reply to 4NT. Over a splinter, in particular, if partner were interested in a possible void he might cue-bid rather than launch into 4NT. And that's exactly the case today. So, South replies 5S (2 key cards plus the Queen of trumps) and North ends the bidding at 6S. East cashes his Ace of hearts (no point in leading the singleton with this much strength against a slam, partner won't have an entry to give you a ruff) and declarer claims 4 spades, 5 clubs, a diamond and two hearts. Only one pair reached 6S, so 6C making six would also be an excellent (and bullet-proof) contract. If East leads, say a diamond, South should ruff, drive out the Ace of hearts, make sure trumps aren't 5-0, and claim the same tricks. A club is more frightening -- declarer wins, plays two rounds of trumps, and cannot finish pulling trumps until the heart tricks are established. If West has the Ace of hearts and can return a club, you're down one, but there's no better line and the slam succeeds when East, not West, produces the missing Ace.