| Board 5 North Deals N-S Vul |
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North opens 1H, East overcalls 2C. South has four-card support for partner's major and a side singleton, but the few high cards are concentrated in East's suit. A raise to 2H seems best; if the points were more useful I would jump to 3H preemptively. West can make a responsive double, showing the other two suits. North has a good hand; counting five losers, a jump to 4H is reasonable. Likewise, East's shape justifies 4S. This may make, prove to be a good sacrifice, or push N/S high enough to be set. The auction has not improved South's hand enough to bid again. North appears to have 4S set out of his own hand and should double for penalties. South leads a low heart (to show length; with three small top would be normal.) East wins and leads a diamond to the King, setting up for a cross-ruff. North cashes a heart, then Ace and Jack of trumps to limit the crossruff. Declarer ruffs a diamond, takes the Ace of clubs and tries to ruff a club in dummy. North overruffs and leads his last trump, limiting declarer to five or six tricks and collecting at least +800. The E/W cards did not combine well.
| Board 13 North Deals Both Vul |
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East has good shape and intermediates, but with neither an Ace nor two quick tricks does not qualify for a standard opening, and the primary suit is too poor for an off-shape weak two. East and South pass; West opens 1C or 1D. I see no rebid problem opening 1C. North overcalls 1S. East appears to have a good hand for a negative double but a 2D bid is better, showing the strength and primary suit. If N/S keep bidding spades, it may not matter whether you have a heart fit. South raises preemptively to 3S; West might double but with a good fit for diamonds it is safer to simply bid game. 3NT looks right with K9xx in spades; if partner has no help there he may have the stuff for nine fast tricks. Slam may be possible but I think 3NT is the practical bid. West takes the first ten tricks on a spade lead and, forcing out the club Ace, 11 on any other lead.
My partner opened 1D as East; I responded 2C and North decided not to risk a vulnerable, two-level overcalls. Our auction was 1D-2C; 2D-2S; 3C-3D; 3NT-pass. East's combination of good playing strength but lack of Aces makes getting to slam difficult.
| Board 18 East Deals N-S Vul |
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East opens 1S and West responds 2D. East rebids 3C, a game-forcing bid in any sensible style --there's no room below 3NT to sort out opener's strength if he can make this bid on minimum values. Playing sound 2/1 bids (about 11 or a good 10) East promises about 14+ with his 3C bid. If you've heard the term "high reverse", keep in mind that less strength is need for this bid over a sound two level response than you'd need for a reverse after a one level bid. Playing 2/1 game force, East should promise about 15+; with less, rebid 2S first to suggest a limited hand.
Since 3C created a game force in our style, I continued with 3D, emphasizing the good source of tricks before supporting partner's spades. East rebids 3S and West raises to game. At this point East's hand looks like pure gold: three Aces, the trump King and the Queen in partner's rebid suit. It's easy to picture 5 spade tricks, 6 diamonds and two side aces, so East proceeds with 4NT. Playing simple Blackwood, West shows one Ace and then two Kings, but East is unsure about the spades and stops at 6S -- it would be up to partner to bid the grand with Qx support. Playing key card, West replies 5D (or 5C "1430" style); East bids the next suit to ask about the Queen of spades. West denies the Queen, either next step negative or 5 of the agreed suit as negative, according to the agreed style, and East bids 6S.
My partner dropped the ball here, stopping at 5S despite the fact we had all five key cards. His logic was "I wasn't sure what else you had." Well, 4NT won't answer that question, will it? And if I had the Queen of spades, I might not have such good diamonds. Before bidding 4NT, you should be convinced based on the previous bidding that we have the stuff for twelve tricks. Then you proceed to slam unless you determine that there are two probable losers (Aces, key cards, trump Queen.) Often, your prospect for twelve tricks will be better when you are missing an Ace or trump honor -- partner will have other useful stuff to make up for it. Four pairs bid slam.
| Board 24 West Deals None Vul |
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West opens 1S, silencing North, and the auction proceeds 1S-2D; 2H-3C; 3D, with 3C typically alerted as Fourth Suit Forcing. At this level, it's game forcing even if "one round force" is the usual style. East counts four losers and the auction makes it likely a club can be ruffed in dummy. All East needs now is Aces, but unfortunately West could have as many as 14 hcp with zero Aces! East should bid 4C to suggest slam -- with good clubs but no slam interest it would be natural to try 3NT. West cooperates with a 4H cue-bid and now East can safely try 4NT and reach 6D when West shows two Aces or Key cards. One club can be ruffed low and another high, then pull trumps and claim. Six pairs bid slam.
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