Sunday, February 24th 2013

Right-click here for hands.

Board 3: If West likes to have either a good suit or a good hand for a weak two, 2H is a reasonable opening; J109763 will play well opposite any honor. Pass is also reasonable with no top honor. If the style is to avoid opening a weak hand with a weak suit, especially vulnerable, East can picture six hearts and two side winners. That doesn't look like enough for slam unless West has an unlikely club singleton, so East should be content with 4H.

If West passes, North should open 3C. When you don't have a weak two available for a suit, a strong six-card suit is worth a three bid unless vulnerable vs. not. East doubles for takeout and West leaps to 4H. Counting five losers, East should not expect a passed hand to cover four of them. A stiff club is a possibility but is against the odds.

If both West and North pass East opens 2NT (20-21.) Counting 10 hcp and two for the long suit, West contemplates slam; but such scattered values are unappealing. Can we picture a 20 point hand that makes for a good slam? Perhaps Kxx Axx AQJx AJx -- if North has ether or both heart honors, you'll lose only one trump. But any other heart holding will probably leave you short of tricks or controls, as with today's actual East hand. I would transfer to hearts and settle for game. Note that if either player invokes key-card, they get the wrong information -- it's the hands with not too much in trumps that have the best slam chances.

Board 7: West opens 1NT (15-17) and East ponders his 13 hcp 1444 hand. There might be a slam in any of the three suits, but the singleton Ace isn't very useful. Sure, you won't lose any spades, but part of the value of an Ace is it's control and combining value. The singleton already prevents two losers in the suit and if partner has much in spades, he won't have enough elsewhere. East bids Stayman followed by 3NT. Six clubs actually makes if you ruff one diamond low and another high before pulling trumps, but you still need the heart finesse.

Board 9: A routine 3S-4S auction. North's trumps are better than they might be at this vulnerabilty, the Queen of hearts is gold and the King is in the slot; declarer runs all the tricks if East does not lead off with the Ace of diamonds. It's less risky than usual to lead an unsupported Ace vs. a preempt; did you know that "Ace from Ace-King" is not supposed to apply against preempts or slam bids (or in partner's suit, or vs. notrump, or after the opening lead...) ? But the auction doesn't give East many clues and a trump lead seems reasonable with stuff in every side suit.

Board 17: East opens 1H, West responds 2D, and East leaps to 3H. Such a jump is game-forcing no matter how you play your 2/1 bids, but does not fully describe East's power. West bids 3NT to deny a fit -- no reason to mention the spades, opener would not jump with a side major suit.

If the 2D bid was game forcing, East can assume partner has the suit controlled and proceed with 4NT; following the jump, I would take this as RCKB rather than a quantitative invitation. West shows two key cards and East bids 6H or perhaps 6NT -- all side suits seem well-controlled and the two red suits may provide enough tricks. With no missing key card it would generally pay to play in the suit, where you may have a better shot at an overtrick. Playing straight Blackwood, East should bid 5NT to confirm all the Aces, then settle for 6H when West shows only one King -- either or both red suit Kings are missing. One finesse wins, one fails, slam makes easily. A lucky Kxx in the slot and the ability to ruff out the King of hearts makes 7D a magic contract, not one you'd want to bid.

Board 20: West and East bid 1S-2C; 2H-3H, and West can leap to 4NT and place the hand in slam. North should pass smoothly, East might have KJxx of trumps and/or a double may assist declarer in the play. In fact, 6H can be made double-dummy on a trump coup, but North's unexpected stiff diamond practically insures West cannot guess the winning line in actual play.

Suppose North doubles and leads his singleton diamond. West wins in hand, cashes the Ace of spades and ruffs a spade, noting the fall of South's KJ.  A trump to the Ace allows another spade ruff, confirming South's doubleton. Now declarer tries to cash his diamonds, hoping to strip North's side suits; but North ruffs and exits with, say, a club.  Declarer ruffs one more spade and cashes club winners, eventually conceding one more trump for down one.