Thursday, June 10th 2014

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Thursday July 10th, 2014

Board 13 North Deals Both Vul	♠ J 9 3 ♥ 8 ♦ K Q 9 8 ♣ Q 9 6 4 2
♠ A K 8 7 ♥ K ♦ A J 10 6 2 ♣ A J 5	N W E S	♠ 6 5 2 ♥ A J 10 6 5 4 3 ♦ 7 ♣ K 10
	♠ Q 10 4 ♥ Q 9 7 2 ♦ 5 4 3 ♣ 8 7 3

East opens 3H or, being vulnerable, 2H. Pass should not be considered with such a good suit -- AJ10xxxx is better than KQxxxxx. At a team game you might worry about -800; at pairs, the primary argument in favor of 2H is to suggest a better defensive hand than 3H. All in all this looks like a normal 3H bid at equal vulnerability: the modern guideline is to overbid by three tricks at equal vulnerability (and four or two at favorable or unfavorable.) If the worst happens perhaps they missed a slam.

West estimates six tricks for East's preempt, adds five for his Aces and Kings, and can hope to set up a diamond for twelve. A singleton constitutes normal support for an expected seven card suit, though partner won't have much flexibility in playing the suit. Visualizing, East might have xxx AQxxxxx x xx; win the lead, Ace of diamonds, ruff a diamond, trump to the King, ruff a diamond, AQ of trumps, spade to dummy, ruff a diamond, return to dummy and hopefully the fifth diamond will be good. With a doubleton diamond you could finesse twice in that suit. This seems to require two suits to behave, though, unless partner has AQJ of hearts or a fitting diamond honor, so slam looks borderline.

My partner opened 2H, allowing me to inquire for a feature with 2NT; while the King of clubs is useful I could not determine if trumps were solid enough. I could perhaps have cue-bid 3D; after the 2NT inquiry, a new suit should be a slam try, perhaps looking for a useful singleton or good trumps. Really, I needed AQJxxx or AQxxxxx along with that side King, so I settled for 4H. An opening club lead spared partner a guess.

Two pairs bid slam, one going down. Simply making 12 tricks earned 7.5 out of 12 matchpoints, or 62.5%.

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

West opens 1C; East has obvious slam interest and can get that message across quickly with a strong 2S jump. West rebids the clubs; Qx may or may not be adequate support (in my style, the jump could be AJxx) but there will be time to try that later, and either diamonds or clubs might be the right strain for slam. East in fact rebids 3D and West's hand turns to pure gold. 4NT fetches a two Ace or Key card reply and West raises to 6D, a near laydown contract. We actually reached 6S (partner rebid his sturdy suit) but no other pair reached slam so 6D would also have socred a top.

Most Easts will respond 1S. West rebids his clubs and East continues with 2D; some play this as artificial, an extension of the New Minor gadget. Whether natural or artificial, West does best to raise the suit, trusting East to have 11+, enough perhaps for game in notrump, spades, diamonds or clubs. East, in fact, figures there may be slam; does partner have a heart control? 4NT will confirm one Ace or two key cards plus the Queen, but West could have x Qx in the majors and there would be two fast heart losers. While I've seen many players treat a raise to 4D in this sort of sequence as a game invitation (akin to 1H-2H-3H), I personally think any voluntary advance to four of a minor should be forcing with slam interest. That would be enough to encourage West, who can easily bid the slam after East shows two Aces.

Five pairs stopped at 3NT by East, pretending to have a heart stopper; two apparently received a non-heart lead for +660. Five more reached the sound 4S game; certainly, you should try for a major suit game with such good trumps and only an eight-card fit in a minor. This looks another clear win for strong jump shifts, allowing opener to view his limited assets optimistically after partner bids spades and diamonds.

Board 24 West Deals None Vul	♠ 9 6 5 ♥ J 10 5 4 3 ♦ K 9 6 ♣ 9 8
♠ A K 10 4 ♥ A 9 6 ♦ A J 8 ♣ A 10 6	N W E S	♠ Q J 7 2 ♥ Q 7 ♦ Q 4 3 2 ♣ K Q 7
	♠ 8 3 ♥ K 8 2 ♦ 10 7 5 ♣ J 5 4 3 2

West opens 2NT; the hand is almost too good for that but I rarely upgrade or downgrade by more than one point, so call this a good 21. East has a poor twelve; it would be reasonable to call this one eleven and simply raise to 3NT. Visualising, it would be hard to beat West's actual hand, but where will twelve tricks come from? West cannot have three Aces and two Kings, so two of East's four Queens will not be paired with both the Ace and King. Playing 6S, the best shot looks like catching South with the Kx of diamonds; no such luck.

While many slams in a suit contract can be made with fewer than 33 hcp, that requires a "sharper" collection of Aces, Kings, lower honors in the long suits, and ruffing values. Qx in a suit should be a red flag -- even if partner has AKx or KJx, the discard won't be useful. The guideline of not counting both high cards and short suit points in the same suit works well here. Nine of twelve pairs overbid to slam. 2NT-4NT (quantitative)-6NT would be reasonable; if East starts with Stayman, what does he do after West shows spades? A useful treatment here is "4 Other Major Slam Try" or perhaps "Other Major Slam Try"; after 2NT-3C; 3S, what would 4H mean? With spades and hearts, responder should raise spades; with only four hearts, responder would rebid in notrump; and with five or more hearts, responder would start with a transfer. So Stayman followed by the other major should seem weird and can be used to confirm a fit with slam interest. (Note that over 1NT, the sequence 1NT-2C; 2H-2S has other uses, but 3S can be used to show the slam fit.) But really the East hand should have little interest in playing a 4-4 fit. 2NT-3NT would be a thoughtful and, in this case, winning auction. 

Sunday, July 6th 2014

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

East opens 1S. West has slam interest but with two suits to show should start with 2H rather than a strong jump to 3H. East rebids 2NT; in Standard this is best played as 12-13 hcp and usually 5233 shape (doubleton heart) as here. In 2/1 the range can be a bit wider, 12-14. With a combined 29 or 30 hcp and no fit, West simply raises to 3NT. The recap says 12 tricks can be made at notrump but this appears to involve guessing the spades correctly and then some sort of squeeze. At the table four pairs bid slam, two going down, while two declarers took all the tricks and one managed twelve.

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

North may pass given the unfavorable vulnerability, or open 1C or 3C according to taste. 3C may be a bit rich but this hand has 13 Goren points and two quick tricks, or equivalently meets the Rule of 20, so I would open -- it may be safer to do that than try to back in later. North has a comfortable 2C rebid so things should not get out of hand, but I suspect most passed as North. East opens or overcalls 1S; even after deducting a point for no Ace this qualifies as an opening bid. The vulnerability silences South. West has a fine hand for a strong jump shift (3H), planning to support spades later. If that treatment isn't available, a 2H response will do. Note that in constructive bidding (nothing but passes from the opponents) a strong hand does not raise immediately with only three-card support -- the fourth trump can be crucial for slam purposes. Having passed, North should not dream of bidding at this point -- an original 3C opening would be far safer than bidding "in a sandwich" between two strong hands.

Some plausible auctions:
1S-3H; 4H-4S; 4NT-5C/5D/5S (whatever shows 3); 6H. East's minimum inproves in light of the heart fit.
1S-2H; 3H-3S; 4H or 4S (to protect the King of clubs); 4NT-5C/5D (whatever shows zero Aces or one key card);
6H (known strong trump suit)-pass or 6S
(1C)-1S-2H; as above
(1C)-1S-(pass)-2C; (dbl)-2H; 4H-pass -- it would be easy to miss slam after an undescriptive 2C

No one bid slam and declarer needs all thirteen tricks for a decent score. Most popular was 4H by West. Leading a suit headed by the AQJ is unappealing but any double-fit auction will suggest that North must attack. Ace of clubs, Queen of clubs doesn't cost anything and prevents the vital overtrick. Even if West had the King of clubs South could not get in to lead them and the club trick will disappear on any other lead.

Board 14 East Deals None Vul	♠ 8 7 2 ♥ K 10 2 ♦ 8 5 4 ♣ J 5 4 2
♠ K 5 3 ♥ A 3 ♦ A K 10 ♣ A 10 9 8 6	N W E S	♠ A Q 9 ♥ 9 8 7 5 ♦ Q 9 ♣ K Q 7 3
	♠ J 10 6 4 ♥ Q J 6 4 ♦ J 7 6 3 2 ♣ —

After East opens 1C, I hope West has a forcing raise available! "Inverted minors" are a popular choice, but are quite disaster-prone and not recommended for casual or novice partnerships. The convention card has a checkbox for "J/S in other minor" as a forcing raise; I actually prefer "3 other minor" so you don't lose the useful 1C-2D jump shift.

Playing "J/S other minor", the bidding starts 1C-2D. This denies interest in playing another suit; new suits are used to show stoppers, aiming at 3NT. East rebids 2S and West shows his balanced shape with 2NT. East is content to raise to 3NT but West can still visualize slam opposite a minimum such as East's actual hand today. East would pass an invitation such as a quantitative 4NT (not Ace-asking if you follow the sensible rule "notrump over notrump is natural") so West must view his control-rich hand and good club spots favorably enough to bid 6C or 6NT himself. With 30 or 31 hcp this is a bit of a stretch, but the known fit helps. Five of nine pairs bid slam, with one going down.

Board 20 West Deals Both Vul	♠ J 8 ♥ 10 4 ♦ K Q J 9 6 2 ♣ Q 10 8
♠ 9 7 6 3 2 ♥ A K 9 6 ♦ A 7 4 3 ♣ —	N W E S	♠ A K Q 10 4 ♥ 7 5 3 2 ♦ 10 5 ♣ 4 2
	♠ 5 ♥ Q J 8 ♦ 8 ♣ A K J 9 7 6 5 3

Despite the poor suit, most will open West's 3 Quick Trick, Goren 14/Rule of 20 hand. North does not have a vulnerable, two-level overcall (which should essentially promise an opening bid) but the good suit makes an aggressive 3D jump attractive. East jumps to 4S whatever North does; the two doubletons aren't quite the expected singleton, but the trump support is rather good. South enters the fray with 5C and West competes with 5S, liking the void. Only one pair reached slam and no declarer managed the twelve tricks shown on the recap. It looks like declarer would need to pull trumps, ruff the two clubs, cash the three red suit winners and then endplay South with a third round of hearts.

Friday, July 4th 2014

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

South opens 2C after three passes; North responds 2D (waiting or semi-positive) or 2NT (steps, 10+ hcp) or a natural 3NT (balanced 10 or 11 to 12.) Over 2D South rebids 2S, whic North raises. This should be forcing even if 2D did not promise any values -- North should bid 2NT or a "second negative" 3C with a trickless hand, or leap to 4S with support and a Queen or two but no control of any side suit. From South's perspective, slam could be nearly cold opposite xxxx Kxx xxxx Qx. South shows slam interest with a 4C control bid; North cooperates with 4D. Diamond values aren't all that useful, so South continues with 4H rather than launching into 4NT. This suggests some concern about overall strength, but North has plenty extra and can proceed with 4NT, confident the enemy can't cash the AK in hearts or clubs. South replies 5S (3 Aces) or 5C (0 or 4 key cards) or 5D ("1430" style.) North continues with 5NT (confirming all four Aces) or inquires about the trump Queen (5D or 5H, next suit that isn't trumps.) South reveals two Kings (6H) or confirms the trump Queen (5NT, second step = yes, or 6C, showing both the trump Queen and the King of clubs.) No one has a clear reason to bid the grand slam. Where responder shows 10+ points, South may consider 6NT, but with all the key cards 6S may have a better shot at an overtrick -- here, for example a 2-2 trump split would allow South to pitch a heart on the fourth club and then ruff two hearts with no need to finesse. Since the finesse is on anyway, everyone should take 13 tricks at either spades or notrump. Hmm, who needs to finesse? Trump two diamonds in hand and you can claim four spades, a heart, four diamonds (including ruffs) and four clubs for 13 tricks on a dummy reversal. The Jack of clubs is worth a full trick, so I still think the grand is hard to bid.

A "steps" auction would proceed 2C-2NT; 3S-4S, and South continues with 4NT.

Board 13 North Deals Both Vul	♠ 8 ♥ A 8 3 ♦ K Q J 9 7 5 ♣ K 9 7
♠ J 9 5 4 3 ♥ J 6 5 ♦ 4 3 2 ♣ Q 2	N W E S	♠ 10 7 2 ♥ K Q 9 7 ♦ A 10 6 ♣ 8 6 5
	♠ A K Q 6 ♥ 10 4 2 ♦ 8 ♣ A J 10 4 3

North opens 1D; 2C by South would be the overwhelming favorite among experts -- with game-going values, bid your longest/strongest suit first. The bidding can continue: 1D-2C; 2D-2S; 3C whether playing Standard or 2/1 Game Force -- South's 2S bid should create a game force on the principle that a hand worth only 11 or so should start with the major suit, not 2C. North might raise clubs directly, but with only 13 hcp and only three-card support I like the slower sequence better. South has a nice hand but North's diamonds may not be all that useful, so slam looks like a stretch. Instead, South aims for 3NT with a "fourth suit" 3H bid. Owing to the somewhat misdescriptive convention name "Fourth Suit Forcing" (on this side of the Atlantic, the bid was always forcing; "Fourth Suit Artificial" would be a better label) many players think the gadget does not apply once a game force has been established. But one of the major uses of the gadget is to ask partner if they have the fourth suit stopped. So, 1D-2C; 2D-2S; 3C-3H; 3NT would be a reasonable route to the matchpoint "golden contract." On a heart lead declarer holds up twice, then knocks out the Ace of diamonds. This limits the defense to four tricks, and if the diamonds didn't split declarer can fall back on guessing clubs, or perhaps a squeeze. As usual, five clubs would be a poor matchpoint spot, even though it's virtually cold. If, for example, North raised clubs immediately and South took a rosy view, you might discover you are missing one key card along with the Queen of clubs. But if the Queen can be guessed, 3NT will make, perhaps with overtricks, so you may as well gamble 6C once you've passed up 3NT. Stop at 5C only when you are missing two key cards or the like. This is in contrast to maor suit bidding where you want to stop at the five level missing one key card plus the Queen of trumps.

Board 16 West Deals E-W Vul	♠ 9 6 ♥ K 10 7 6 4 2 ♦ 10 8 5 ♣ J 3
♠ A J 5 ♥ A Q 3 ♦ A J 9 6 ♣ K 7 5	N W E S	♠ K Q 10 8 2 ♥ J 8 ♦ K Q 7 ♣ 9 4 2
	♠ 7 4 3 ♥ 9 5 ♦ 4 3 2 ♣ A Q 10 8 6

West opens 1D, East responds 1S and West jumps to 2NT to show 17+-19. East may simply raise to 3NT -- with 5332 shape and extra values, 3NT may take as many or more tricks than 4S, even if a fit exists. In particular East's clubs are worrisome and it may be best to have the lead come up to partner's strong hand. If E/W play New Minor Forcing and extend it to this sequence, East could bid 3C to check for support; West replies 3S and East raises to game. With the Ace of clubs onside, 11 tricks are easy at either spades or notrump.

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

Many Souths would open 2NT, treating 4441 with a stiff Ace or King as balanced. Personally I find 2NT to be an awkward, slam-killing opening and would prefer 1D here. Some would open 1C (!) to mislead the defenders, but such tactics often backfire. Over 1D North responds 1H and South makes the strongest bid available to opener, a game-forcing jump shift (2S). As this is 100% game forcing and sometimes not a genuine suit (opener has fewer forcing bids available than does responder), North should raise to 3S -- never jump raise opener's jump shift! This leaves room for South to make a control-bid slam try (4D.) North has control of the unbid suit (clubs) and more than a dead minimum, but South is limited somewhat by the failure to open 2C while North could have much more strength, so 4S looks best here and that should end the bidding. If anyone launches into 4NT slam should be reached as N/S are missing only one key card. The bad trump break dooms the slam but 3-2 will occur roughly two-thirds of the time.

Thursday, June 26th 2014

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Board 13 North Deals Both Vul	♠ J 9 3 ♥ J 2 ♦ 10 7 6 2 ♣ 10 8 7 5
♠ 10 7 5 ♥ K 9 7 ♦ K J 9 ♣ A Q 6 2	N W E S	♠ K 6 ♥ A Q 5 4 3 ♦ A Q 4 3 ♣ K 9
	♠ A Q 8 4 2 ♥ 10 8 6 ♦ 8 5 ♣ J 4 3

East opens 1H; a few Souths may overcall 1S but this is well below the standard for a vulnerable overcall. I've seen players simply jump straight to 4H with a hand like West's but that is defined as a preemptive or "shape" raise: five trumps, a singleton or void, and perhaps six to nine high card points. My preference is to define the response of 3NT as a "pancake raise", 13 to 15 high card points and any 4333 (but poor slam controls if the four is in trumps.) Most club players treat a jump to 3NT over either a major or minor as "to play", but this treatment appears to be virtually non-existent among experts -- 16 to 17 or 18 is the usual standard, or some sort of raise. With 3244 shape, there may be slam in either minor and the normal procedure is to start with a 2/1 bid, game-forcing or not. You can always bid 3NT later.

At any rate, a hand with only three card support is not suitable for Jacoby -- the fourth trump can be crucial for slam bidding. Some pairs playing 1NT forcing (in response to a major) may bid 1NT followed by 4H to show the flat raise, but experience has shown that it is a bad idea to mix game-forcing hands in with 1NT: when the auction turns competitive or opener makes an unexpected jump, you can't describe your values properly. Lacking an agreed raise, West responds 2C, planning to support hearts later. East rebids 2D, whether or not 2C was game-forcing. In the modern style the 2/1 bidder promises a rebid, at least over any new suit by opener; jumping with East's hand will often lead to missing the best strain. (I define opener's jump to 3D here as 5-5 with about 15+ hcp.) Now responder supports hearts: 3H playing Standard, or 2H in a go-slow style of 2/1 game force. Many pairs play "fast arrival" and would leap to 4H with West's hand, but this throws away much of the advantage of playing sound or game-forcing 2/1 bids: West has useful slam controls (two key cards, and control of diamonds) and should want to leave room in case partner has slam interest. The sequence 2C-then-4H should describe a hand with good cards in clubs and hearts and no control of the side suits.

As it happens East is strong enough to proceed directly with 4NT, so any sequence that shows West's game values and support should suffice. West replies one Ace or two key cards and East signs off at 6S or perhaps tries for a matchpoint top at 6NT. Slam requires no more than the expected 3-2 heart split, although 6NT from West's side may fail on a spade lead. This is a possible disadvantage of my recommended 3NT "pancake raise" (or 1NT forcing) but North may not have any clear reason to lead a spade rather than a club. Still, I suspect East will prefer 6H to protect his King if partner bid notrump first.

South faces a common lead problem: cash the Ace (which risks setting up declarer's King for his twelfth trick) or punt (which risks seeing declarer rattle off thirteen winners.) The usual advice is to cash an Ace against a suit slam (or 7NT!) but not against 6NT or seven of a suit (expecting one opponent or the other to be void.) Here, however, East is a heavy favorite to hold the King of spades. The defense will still score a trick if North does not pitch a club.

Only three of nine pairs bid slam, a bit puzzling since by simple point count East's hand counts as 19 or 20 and West has an obvious 13. Perhaps 1H-4H-pass was all too common.

Board 15 South Deals N-S Vul	♠ J ♥ A J 2 ♦ A K 8 7 6 5 ♣ K 10 8
♠ A Q 10 9 6 4 ♥ Q 10 4 ♦ 2 ♣ Q 6 2	N W E S	♠ 8 7 5 3 ♥ 9 6 ♦ Q J 4 3 ♣ 7 4 3
	♠ K 2 ♥ K 8 7 5 3 ♦ 10 9 ♣ A J 9 5

South is on the bubble for a 1H opening. Those who insist on 12 hcp will pass without a second thought; Rule of 20 fans will count 11 hcp plus nine cards in their two long suits and open breezily. I tend to use the old Goren short-suit count with a reluctance to count both high cards and shortages in the same suit. This is simply a way to account for the fact that, in a trump contract, hands generally play better when the points are concentrated in the long rather than the short suits. Counting one point for the diamond doubleton but not the spade is the same as saying : "this hand is borderline and my suits, especially hearts, aren't all that good." I would probably pass this one but would certainly open if the hearts were K1098x.

West has a fine suit and should open or overcall either 1S or 2S. This is a point below either a Rule of 20 or Goren 13 count, so I would open 2S if South passes. It's plenty strong enough for a 1S overcall, but tactically I prefer the jump. Of course I'd make the same bid without either side Queen.

North bids diamonds regardless of what South and West do, planning to support hearts later if South opened. If South passed originally he can bid 2H or 3H as needed. East may get in the act, however; with four trumps he may compete to 3S or 4S, but the hand is too weak and shapeless for my taste. On defense N/S should collect two hearts, a diamond and three clubs; declarer can reach dummy with a heart ruff and guess whether to play South for the King or Jack of spades. So 4S doubled is on a guess between -500 and -800, an iffy bet at matchpoints. N/S should score at least +650 at 5H. If West opened or overcalled 1S, declarer may play him for both Queens, scoring an overtrick. After a 2S opening or overcall, declarer is more likely to finesse East for the Queen of clubs after West shows up with the AQ of spades and the Queen of hearts. 

Board 20 West Deals Both Vul	♠ A K J 10 5 ♥ A Q 8 ♦ Q 8 ♣ 5 4 2
♠ Q 9 6 ♥ 7 6 ♦ A 10 9 7 3 2 ♣ 9 7	N W E S	♠ 7 4 3 ♥ K J 10 9 4 2 ♦ 6 5 ♣ J 6
	♠ 8 2 ♥ 5 3 ♦ K J 4 ♣ A K Q 10 8 3

West has an iffy hand for a vulnerable weak 2D, but A1097 gives the suit some body and it's tempting to preempt both majors. If you like this sort of bid I recommend playing Ogust responses to partner's 2NT inquiry so you can warn partner "bad suit, bad hand." Assuming a prudent pass, North opens 1S or 1NT. With precisely 16 hcp I recommend straining to open 1NT on hand with no more than one doubleton. The only exception should be a hand with a five card major and a small doubleton --North's Qx is apt to be more valuable at notrump than in a suit contract, if partner has a fitting honor or the opening lead is away from AKxxx. Why the emphasis on 16 hcp? With 15, you can treat the hand as a minimm (12-14.) With 17 you can stretch for a 2NT rebid (nominally 18-19 over a one level response, but often only 17 after a major suit opening.) But with 16 any notrump rebid will mistate your values by a full Queen. Meanwhile, if you open the major, partner will often raise and you are too strong to pass. When partner rejects your game try, you may find yourself down one at 3S rather than +90 at 1NT. One other consideration -- with three hearts, you'll be OK if partner transfers to hearts. Some players avoid opening 1NT with precisely 5233 or 2533 since you may play a 5-2 major fit instead of 5-3.

East passes, too weak for a vulnerable overcall or jump. Over 1NT, South contemplates slam in clubs or notrump. At 3 points per trick it's reasonable to expect opener's 15-17 to cover at least five of South's six losers. Visualizing, thirteen tricks would be a near laydown opposite Axx Axx AQxxx Jx. This looks like a reasonable hand for the rare Gerber convention: 1NT-4C; 4S (remember, that's two Aces!)-6NT. East may well lead a major, with a heart yielding twelve tricks or a spade resulting in thirteen. While hearts would be the normal lead against 3NT, I would not lead away from that holding against 6NT. On a minor suit lead declarer should knock out the Ace of diamonds and cash two major suit high cards before taking the rest of his minor suit winners. If no one pitches the "promoted" King or Queen, finesse in the other suit. Unfortunately it looks better to cash the two high spades (hoping to drop the Queen) and 6NT should ultimately fail on the heart finesse. C'est la Bridge!

Everyone played this one at 3NT.

Board 32 West Deals E-W Vul	♠ K 10 9 7 6 5 ♥ 9 4 2 ♦ 7 2 ♣ 5 4
♠ A Q 8 3 ♥ K Q J ♦ K Q 5 ♣ K Q 9	N W E S	♠ J 4 ♥ A 7 5 ♦ A 10 9 4 ♣ A 10 8 3
	♠ 2 ♥ 10 8 6 3 ♦ J 8 6 3 ♣ J 7 6 2

West opens 2C, planning a 2NT rebid after the expected 2D response (or 2H bust.) East adds 13 + 22 = 35 and should certainly drive the hand to 6NT. Possible sequences:
(1) 2C-2D (negative, waiting or semi-positive); 2NT-6NT
Or East might try 3S if that's Minor Suit Stayman; West rebids 3NT, denying a minor, and East raises to six.
(2) 2C-3NT; 6NT
If East could bid 2NT to show a balanced 8-10, 3NT shows 11-12.
(3) 2C-3NT; 4NT-6NT
If 2NT would be a heart positive (playing 2H = bust), 3NT shows 10-12. West shows a bare 22 but East has extras.
(2) 2C-2NT (Steps, 10+ hcp)-3NT; 6NT
West's 3NT is probably a dead minimum since 23+10 would be 33.

North should not lead away from his King (the defense needs two tricks, not five, so "fourth from your longest and strongest" doesn't apply.) A minor suit lead hands declarer his twelfth trick. If North (or South) guesses to lead a heart, declarer needs to develop two tricks. Three finesses are available (either way in the minors), or you can try for a 3-3 split in either minor. You can also cash two winners in either minor before finessing against North.

All in all it looks right to run the Jack of spades early, since you have no choice whom to finesse. Assuming North exits with another heart, declarer can get gather clues by careful cashing. Take the third high heart and then cash three winners in either minor, ending with the Ace in East's hand. When North shows out, cash the two high spades. The Ten-Nine might drop; as it is, South must discard a minor, after which his Jack will fall. Six of nine declarers failed, perhaps trying for two of three finesses or delaying the spade finesse until it was too late to squeeze South.