Friday, December 5th 2014

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Board 12 West Deals N-S Vul	♠ Q 9 5 4 ♥ A Q ♦ A K J 7 4 ♣ A Q
♠ K 7 ♥ K 10 8 5 2 ♦ 9 8 6 3 2 ♣ 2	N W E S	♠ J ♥ J 9 7 6 4 ♦ Q 10 ♣ K J 6 4 3
	♠ A 10 8 6 3 2 ♥ 3 ♦ 5 ♣ 10 9 8 7 5

North opens 2C; South responds 2D negative, waiting, or semi-positive, or 2H steps (4-6 hcp.) North does best to rebid 2NT rather than 3D; try to avoid the space-eating 3C and 3D rebids after an artificial 2C opening, especially with only a five card suit. With two AQ doubletons 2NT is a standout. As this is the first natural bid for the side, "systems on" should apply (be sure your partner agrees!) and South transfers to spades. The tricky part is what to bid next: grand slam could be a laydown opposite KQ9 Axx Axx AKQx, or 5S could be too high opposite Qx KQx AKQxx AKx. With only 4 hcp South should probably not risk getting any higher than game. As it happens slam will probably fail on the club finesse; no one bid slam and no declarer managed twelve tricks.

Board 17 North Deals None Vul	♠ A 8 5 ♥ 8 5 ♦ A K Q J 10 4 ♣ 6 4
♠ J 10 9 4 ♥ 7 ♦ 8 5 3 ♣ Q J 10 8 7	N W E S	♠ K Q 6 2 ♥ K J 10 9 6 3 2 ♦ — ♣ 5 3
	♠ 7 3 ♥ A Q 4 ♦ 9 7 6 2 ♣ A K 9 2

North opens 1D; East preempts 4H. (With 7-4 shape, a 4-4 fit will generally not be superior to making the long suit trumps.) As South I'd like to double for penalties or bid 4NT to play; unfortunately, the usual advice is to play negative doubles through 4H and most would take 4NT here as Blackwood. In practice South is likely to "huddle" followed by pass, double or perhaps 5D. There will be no problem if South is in the habit of waiting 8-10 seconds over any skip bid; that should be enough time for South to realize there's no perfect bid and, with almost half his strength in hearts, try for a plus score by passing. North will probably pull to 5D and South can reasonably gamble on slam. North's bidding is consistent with a distributional hand so the winning call is 6D rather than 6NT; in general prefer a suit slam to notrump unless the partnership has 33+ hcp or you can count 12 tricks.

If N/S play negative doubles only through 3S (my preference) South can double and possibly collect +500 for a near top. However, that requires a spade lead or shift, ducked by North. South can then win the first trump lead, lead another spade and collect a ruff. If North wins the first spade East's diamond void prevents him from regaining the lead.

If East preempts with only 3H South has an easy 3NT bid. North has some extra playing strength but not really enough to consider slam.

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

South opens 2S (weak); West does not have enough to act. North ups the ante with a 3S or 4S raise. The ten card fit and limited defense suggests bidding 4S, but the heart length suggests they don't have a major suit game. That's OK, 4S will make it hard for them to bid a notrump game and force them to guess between 5 or 6 of a minor. And that's pretty much what East has to do. I would expect most to land at 5C after North's jump.

Board 21 North Deals N-S Vul	♠ A ♥ A K 3 ♦ J 8 5 2 ♣ K Q 7 5 2
♠ Q 7 ♥ J 10 9 5 2 ♦ A Q 10 4 ♣ 8 6	N W E S	♠ 9 6 5 4 3 2 ♥ 7 6 4 ♦ 7 6 ♣ 10 9
	♠ K J 10 8 ♥ Q 8 ♦ K 9 3 ♣ A J 4 3

North opens 1C or a somewhat offshape 1NT. As I understand it, you can never open 1NT with a singleton twice with the same partner, as that would constitute an implicit and illegal agreement.  So, let's assume 1C. South responds 1S and North either reverses into 2D or jumps to 2NT. In any case 3NT looks to be the popular contract. Played by South I would expect an easy 12 tricks on the Jack of hearts lead, but every South in 6NT went down, while those in 3NT collected +690.

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

North is too strong for a 15-17 notrump; add a point at notrump for a six-card suit in a hand with sufficient entries. North opens 1D, South responds 1H and North must decide between 2NT and 3D. If the suit were solid 3NT would be correct. Having bid two suits I'd prefer not to bid notrump with only Qx as a "stopper"; this is different than when you open 1NT without giving the enemy any clues about what to lead. Over 3D South's hand looks like pure gold, the only question is how solid are North's diamonds. The Jack can make a full trick difference and I know of no method of asking about that card! With 16 hcp opposite a jump I think South must proceed to slam; 4NT looks as good as anything. After North shows two Aces or three Key Cards South may as well bid 6NT -- if the diamonds aren't solid perhaps another suit will provide enough tricks. A majority of pairs reached 6NT.

Board 26 East Deals Both Vul	♠ 9 4 ♥ — ♦ K 10 8 7 3 2 ♣ A K 8 6 4
♠ A Q 7 6 5 2 ♥ K 8 6 5 4 ♦ Q 9 ♣ —	N W E S	♠ K J ♥ A Q J 3 2 ♦ A 6 5 ♣ J 7 2
	♠ 10 8 3 ♥ 10 9 7 ♦ J 4 ♣ Q 10 9 5 3

East opens 1H or 1NT; the argument for opening 1H is that you probably have a fit there; the disadvantage is that after a raise and a game try, you may find 3H to be worse than 1NT. I wouldn't worry about the Jxx of clubs but the doubleton spade is an issue -- if responder is 5-2 in the majors, you'll be transferred to the wrong strain. Still, the points in the short suit suggests notrump and that would be my choice. If you do open 1H I wouldn't make a game try unless 2H is played as a "constructive" raise (about 8-10) as part of a 1NT forcing structure.

West should have a method for showing both majors; simplest and best IMO is to transfer to spades followed by 3H. This shows a game-forcing 5-5 as responder should begin with 2C on a 5-4 hand. However, I think 2C, Stayman, is a better approach here. Four card support for either major improves West's hand tremendously; otherwise, the six card suit will usually be the best choice for trumps. East replies in hearts and now West can think about slam -- as little as Kx AQxx Kxx xxxx will be enough and that's only 12 hcp. If the partnership plays splinters, a jump to 4C may help. A popular expert treatment is to play 3S here as an artificial bid agreeing hearts as trumps and showing slam interest. Lacking any special agreements West can simply bid 4NT and proceed to slam unless there are clearly too many Aces or key card missing. On today's hand East replies with two Aces or two key cards plus the Queen of trumps and West should proceed with 6H.

Our bidding began 1NT-2H; 2S-3H, and East raised to 4H. West's bidding shows at least 5-5 shape and 9+ hcp; East's cards are gold and I think East can try a 4D control bid. In any case, over 4H, West continues with 4S. This is unmistakeably a slam try; there is no point in West showing hearts and then trying to switch back to spades. Now East should certainly bid 5D and West can bid slam.

Key principle: a player who makes a slam try beyond game is not worried about strength, just controls. If you need partner to have both extra strength and the right controls for slam and can't find that out below game, forget it. The five level is reasonably safe when you have the "stuff" for twelve tricks. If  instead the combined assets only rate to take 11 tricks, remember that's an average and you will often go down at five. Therefore, when West moves beyond 4H, East should show the diamond control.