Misbid (some of) these Hands with Me

There is no doubt that slam bidding is one of the most testing areas of the game, even for experienced partnerships. Here are a few adventures from the final of the BAM teams:

Dealer: East Vul: East/West		North
		♠	–
		♥	J 10 8 4
		♦	A Q 9 8 4
		♣	A 7 5 2
West				East
♠	K Q 9 5 4 2			♠	A 10 8 7 6
♥	Q 9 5 3			♥	K 2
♦	10 5			♦	K J 7 6 2
♣	10			♣	K Q 6
		South
		♠	J 3
		♥	A 7 6
		♦	K J 7 6 2
		♣	K Q 6

West	North	East	South
	Horton		Helman
		Pass	1♦
2♠	Dble	4♠	Pass
Pass	6♦	All Pass

With E/W competing so vigorously in spades all South’s high cards rated to be useful, hence the jump to 6♦.

On a spade lead declarer ruffs, draws trumps, plays four rounds of clubs, ruffing when the suit fails to divide and then ruffs a spade. Now, with West counted for a 6-4-2-1 distribution declarer plays the jack of hearts from dummy, running it if East plays low. When West wins and returns a heart declarer has a decision to make, but should probably get it right.

Dealer: East Vul: All		North
		♠	A Q 9
		♥	Q
		♦	A Q 7 5
		♣	A Q 8 7 6
West				East
♠	K 5			♠	J 8 4 3
♥	10 8 5 4 3			♥	A K J 9 2
♦	10 4 3			♦	–
♣	K 10 3			♣	9 5 4 2
		South
		♠	10 7 6 2
		♥	7 6
		♦	K J 9 8 6 2
		♣	J

West	North	East	South
	Alder		Helman
		Pass	Pass
Pass	1♣	1♥	2♦
3♥	4NT*	Pass	5♣ *
Pass	6♦	All Pass

The scientific approach would be for North to bid 4♥ over 3♥ , hoping South could produce a black suit cue bid, but 4NT was an understandable alternative.

With the king of spades onside this contract cannot be defeated.

West	North	East	South
van Cleeff		Kendrick
		1♥	Pass
4♥	Dble	Pass	4♠
All Pass

East/West’s activity saw North/South reach a delicate contract. 4♠ can be made, but declarer lost his way and finished one down.

	Dealer: West
	Vul: None
South
♠	A J 10
♥	J 7 4 3
♦	A 3
♣	A K 7 5

You have the South cards and we can treat this as a two part problem. First, what do you do if West passes and your partner opens 3♥ ?

Second, suppose the opening bid is 4♥ ?

In the first case there is no real reason to do more than raise to game, as for a slam to be good you probably need partner to not only have very good trumps – say ♥ AKxxxxx – but also a second round diamond control.

In the second case you might simply jump to 6♥ , but there must be some risk (and there are others) that a diamond lead will be awkward unless partner has a control in that suit. One way to find out is to bid 5♣ over 4♥ . That asks partner to cue bid a first round diamond control, or jump to 6♥ with a second round control.

If you wanted a spade control you would bid 5♦ over 4♥ – once again bidding the suit below the one that you need partner to control.

However, this is not a perfect solution, as if partner has ♥ AKxxxxxx and two small diamonds you clearly want to be in 6♥ , but give South two small diamonds and this neat convention may be the only way to reach a laydown slam.

On this occasion as you will see when I reveal the full deal, anything other than 4♥ is too high if East leads a diamond:

		North
		♠	7 6
		♥	K Q 10 9 6 5 2
		♦	7 5
		♣	4 2
West				East
♠	K 5 3			♠	Q 9 8 4 2
♥	8			♥	A
♦	K 8 6 4 2			♦	Q J 10 9
♣	Q 8 6 3			♣	J 10 9
		South
		♠	A J 10
		♥	J 7 4 3
		♦	A 3
		♣	A K 7 5