Sunday, August 31st 2014

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

North opens 1D; some Easts might stick on a spade bid but vulnerable with a poor hand and poor suit I prefer to pass. South responds 2C or perhaps a strong 3C jump. If East overcalled, North's bst rebid is 2NT. If East passed I would rebid 2D. Over 2D South continues with 2H; this could be a poor suit for slam if North were to raise but South must keep the ball rolling and it may be possible to land in clubs anyway. North bids 2NT or 3NT according to style and taste; South may try a spade bid followed by a leap to 6C. While partner's rebidding in your void is discouraging, South can basically count 9 tricks in hand and can reasonably expect North's opener to provide three more. South's bidding suggests the diamond void (with a singleton it would be natural to use Blackwood or RKCB) but with only 10 working high card points North will either pass or try for a better matchpoint score at 6NT. Four of eight pairs bid slam.

Board 11 South Deals None Vul	♠ Q J 9 5 ♥ A J 10 9 4 ♦ 6 ♣ J 7 5
♠ 6 4 ♥ Q 7 5 ♦ K Q 7 5 3 ♣ A Q 6	N W E S	♠ A K 10 8 7 ♥ 8 ♦ A 10 9 8 4 ♣ 4 3
	♠ 3 2 ♥ K 6 3 2 ♦ J 2 ♣ K 10 9 8 2

West opens 1D; North overcalls 1H or possibly a Michaels cue-bid (2D) to show both majors. While I generally like 5-5 shape for most two-suited overcalls, Michaels over a minor can reasonably be played as at least 5-4 (either way) when not vulnerable. Over 1H East responds 1S; South advances with 2H or a semi-preemptive 3H. West and North pass either bid. Despite only 11 hcp East has enough for at least game; this is an excellent example of the power of a hand featuring shape and top tricks. At least a nine card fit can be assumed since a one diamond opening normally has four card length or precisely 4432 shape. A 4H cue-bid looks right over either 2H or 3H; in the first case it suggests the singleton while in the latter only general sterngth is implied. West would show delayed (three card) spade support at this point; as is, West likely retreats to 5D. East can now be assume four or more diamonds and no more than two spades, so the spade suit may be establishable by ruffing. Visualizing, West might have xx xxx KQxxx AKx and slam would require only a 4-2 split in spades or 2-1 in diamonds. But partner could have wasted values in hearts, so the question becomes how discouraging should East view 5D? Perhaps West should try 5C rather than 5D. Slam is not a laydown but has excellent chances: spades might split 3-3 (no luck) or the club finesse works (bingo!)

Over a Michaels 2D, East may simply guess how many diamonds to bid. A popular expert method here is called Unusual Over Unusual (applies against any two suiter where both suits are known.) The idea is that after 1D-(2D), bidding 2H, the lower suit shown by North, shows at least game invitational values with a club suit; 2S shows a game invitation with diamonds. Bids of 3C and 3D are merely competitive (non-forcing.) Here East could bid 2S to show his diamond support. South bids 3H; I see no clear bid for West; the hand is not much different than partner would expect so pass is reasonable. East continues with 3S, which sounds like a notrump stopper; when the opponents have bid or shown two suits it is normal to bid the suit you have stopped. With Qxx in hearts, West should gamble 3NT; the holding will be a stopper if either opponent has both the Ace and King or if partner turns up with at least Jx. Now East bids 4D; this is a clear slam try, not an attempt to play a part-score rather than game. There are circumstances where four of a minor might be non-forcing but East has never limited his hand and so pulling 3NT should be taken as strong. Slam might be reached if West now control-bids 5C.

At 5D or 6D, declarer pulls trumps, cashes the top two spades and ruffs a spade. If the suit split 3-3 both club losers coudl be pitched. Failing that, declarer ruffs a heart back to the East hand and brings home 12 tricks with the heart finesse.

Most pairs played 3NT or a diamond part-score. The heart layout should doom 3NT but, again, Qxx will stop the suit often enough that it's worth a shot. I would not settle for a part-score with the East hand, however. At our table either North or South failed to bid, allowing West to rebid diamonds, so it was easier to try slam on a 5-5 fit with my 5-5 hand.