TIPS FOR IMPROVERS
Points of interest from the August 2015 duplicates
1 Slam universally missed
Board 4 Wednesday 5 August – Vulnerability Amber – Dealer West
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AQ9
x
AK10xx
KQxx
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xx
K1098xx
xxx
xx
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J10xxx
AQJx
x
J10x
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Kxx
xx
QJxx
A9xx
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North
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East
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South
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West
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1 Diamond
4 Hearts
4NT
6 Diamonds
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1 Spade
Pass
Pass
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2 Spades
4 Spades
5 Clubs
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Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
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Not a single pair managed to reach the excellent 6 Diamond contract on the above hand.
The West hand is too weak to open a weak 2 Hearts at Amber. North opens 1 Diamond and after a 1 Spade overcall from East then South should bid 2 Spades to show a good high card raise to at least 3 Diamonds.
North can now accurately describe his hand and show an interest in slam by making a splinter bid of 4 Hearts. South is delighted to co-operate over the splinter bid because he has no wasted honours (King, Queen or Jack) opposite the splinter. Accordingly South cue-bids in Spades. This could be either the King or a singleton but is more likely to be the King in view of East’s overcall not being supported. North wheels out Roman Key Card to check that South does have one Keycard and jumps to 6 Diamonds over the reply.
For the slam to make it needs either a 3-2 club break (68 per cent) or West having a singleton 10 of Jack of Clubs (two fifths of 14 per cent). Total probability of success is therefore approximately 74 per cent.
2 Roman Key Card in two suits
Board 18 Wednesday 12 August – Vulnerability North South – Dealer East
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Axx
AK
AJ9
A98xx
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Q109xx
Qx
10xx
QJx
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xxx
109xx
KQxxxxx
None
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KJ
Jxxxx
x
K10xxx
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North
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East
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South
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West
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2NT
3 Hearts
4 Diamonds1
4 Spades2
6 Clubs
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Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
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Pass
3 Diamonds
4 Clubs
4 Hearts
4NT3
Pass
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Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
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1 Roman Key Card in Hearts and Clubs
2 How many Queens (in Hearts and Clubs)
3 Zero
Not a single pair managed to reach the laydown 6 Clubs on the above hand.
North opens 2NT and South transfers into Hearts. Then after the transfer South bids his second suit which is a slam try showing at least five Hearts and four Clubs. Note that if South had the same point count but with only a 2=5=2=4 distribution then he would bid 3NT over 3 Hearts because it would be too ambitious to be looking for a slam holding ♠KJ ♥Jxxxx ♦xx ♣K10xx. At this point there is a good case for North simply jumping to 6 Clubs with all the Aces and five trumps. However if he wishes to bid the hand scientifically then he should bid 4 Diamonds. As explained in June 2014 Tip No 1 when after a 2NT opener responder transfers into a major and then bids a second suit at the four level the lowest off suit by opener is Roman Key Card for BOTH of responder’s suits.
South shows one Keycard and now the next step asks how many Queens South has in his two suits (Hearts and Clubs). The first step shows no Queens, the second step one Queen and the third step two Queens.
North signs off in 6 Clubs once South has denied any Queen. In fact in spite of missing the Queen of Clubs 7 Clubs requires only a 2-1 trump split which is a 78% chance. It is extremely difficult to bid a Grand Slam because neither side knows that the partnership possesses a 10 card fit in Clubs since from North’s point of view South might have made a slam try on say ♠KJ ♥Jxxxx ♦Kx ♣K10xx and South cannot know that North has five Clubs.
3 Lead the unbid suit !
Board 6 Wednesday 19 August – Vulnerability East West – Dealer East
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10xxx
xxx
AQ10
Axx
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AQxx
xx
xxx
Kxxx
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xx
109x
Kxx
Q10xxx
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KJx
AKQJx
Jxxx
J
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North
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East
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South
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West
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1 Spade
3 Hearts
Pass
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Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
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1 Heart
2 Diamonds
4 Hearts
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Pass
Pass
Pass
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I was astonished to see that four out of six Wests made the opening lead of a trump on the above auction.
This makes declarer’s life very easy. Trumps are drawn in three rounds and a losing Diamond finesse is taken at trick four. A Club return is won in the Dummy with the Ace and a low Spade to the Jack and Queen follows at trick six. A second round of Clubs is ruffed at trick seven, the Diamonds are unblocked at tricks eight and nine. At trick ten a second Spade to the King and Ace follows. The third round of Clubs is ruffed at trick eleven and Declarer wins the last two tricks with the Jack of Diamonds and the established 10 of Spades.
There is absolutely no reason not to lead the unbid suit Clubs on this auction. Look how different things would have been on a Club lead in spite of the fact that trumps split 3-2.
Trumps are drawn in three rounds and a losing Diamond finesse follows at trick five. The second round of Clubs is ruffed with Declarer’s fourth trump and the two Diamond winners in the Dummy unblocked at tricks seven and eight. A Spade to the Jack and Queen follows at trick nine. At trick 10 a further Club lead takes out Declarer’s last trump and the Jack of Diamonds is cashed at trick 11. The Defence now take the last two tricks with the Ace of Spades and a winning Club. One down.
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