Gambit Play

A Gambit Play is a deliberate sacrifice of a trick in order to gain additional tricks.  The term is borrowed from Chess:

N

S Q862

H 76

D AK42

C 543

S

S A43

H AKQJ10952

D none

C AK

E

S K1097

H 4

D Q10853

C 876

W

S J5

H 83

D J976

C QJ1092

Contract: 6H by South, lead QC.  How do you make the contract? With Gambit play.  For example:

South takes the KC, and at trick two MUST play one of his two small trumps and concede an otherwise unnecessary trick to the 8.  This forces a trump entry to the dummy, and permits South to discard his two spade losers on dummy’s diamond winners.  Official Encyclopedia of Bridge, 4th edition

Q&A

Q – from an intermediate player:

I held:

S 94

H 932

D AQ8

C AKQ106

And partner opened 1NT.  I was worried about the majors, but bid 3NT because we had game points.  Partnermade 13 tricks.  Should I be concerned about my weak suits when partner opens, and how should we have bid slam?

A – Getting a picture of partner’s hand when they open is all important.  In this case it’s easy.  You’ve got the minors well covered, now ask yourself where are partner’s points for his 1NT opening?  They must be in the majors.  In that case let’s account for 15+ HCPs – he must have either two aces and two kings = 14 points, or one ace and three kings = 13 points plus queens/jacks.  You hold 15 HCPs, 16 counting the fifth club, you are around the slam area.  Over partner’s 1NT opening ask for aces.  If you find there are not enough you can always stop at 4NT.  Partner held:

S AKJ

H AKQ10

D 752

C J72

The following hand came up at the NBC where most stopped in game despite the power of the hand.  With normal bidding North should open with the game force bid of 2C. 

The bidding proceeds:
2C: 2D: 2H: 3D: ?
Now North is certainly interested in diamonds, however the heart suit is very powerful and a better score, so the bid should be 3H showing 6+ in the suit.  South cannot pass as the 2C opening is game force.  Holding an honour (J) in partner’s suit, South must bid 4H.  North now asks for aces and South shows one, however, North has no idea which one and bids 6H. If South makes any bid other than hearts, North should plan to bid 6D.

One pair who uses the Kabel convention bid this way:
3NT (specific Ace ask): 4S (I don’t have the AC/AD or AH, I have the AS)

7H can now be bid, however, playing it safe, ie North doesn’t know how the diamonds will behave, bids 6H.

For those interested, the Kabel Convention goes like this:
3NT – do you have any aces and if so, which one/s
4C – no aces
4D – AD only
4H – AH only
4S – AS only
4NT – AC only

With two aces:
3NT
5C – AC and AD
5D – AD and AH
5H – AH and AS
5S – AS and AC
5NT – two non-touching aces (such as AC and AH or AD and AS)

Kabel is used ONLY for single suited hands of 7 or more in the suit including strength such as AKQ along with singleton/s or void/s.
-KK

Minor Slams - Vacant Positions

Now that bidding systems have rapidly changed, we’ve developed a couple of vacant positions or empty spaces which are not being used.  Examples:

Over 1NT – 2S is now a transfer to clubs and 3C is a transfer to diamonds. However, you really need a 6 card minor to transfer if you’re rescuing partner.  Another:

Suppose partner opens 1NT and you hold:

S 86

H A43

D AQ6543

C A8

Now we’re looking at a possible slam in diamonds.  Here’s another empty space, bid 3D (1NT: 3D) showing slam interest with either a single suited hand or a 6 card suit.  If partner’s minimum, then they should bid 3NT, (1NT: 3D: 3NT) however if they’re maximum (17-18) with an honour or two in diamonds, bid 3H (1NT: 3D: 3H) and the bidding continueswith slam enquiries.  Suppose the suit is clubs – 1NT: 2S (club transfer); 2NT by opener shows a maximum hand with two club honours.

Juggling Distributional Hands

The following two hands came up in one session at the Nowra Bridge Club. How would you have bid them? Firstly the two suiter:

N

♠  none

♥  AK1072

♦  Q986542

♣  A

The longer suit should always be bid first, so we open 1D, partner bids 1S. Now we bid hearts, but how high?

The total point count is 19 – 13 high card, 3 for the singleton A, and 3 for the void.

Recommend 4H with this distribution, showing 6+ diamonds and 5+ hearts – 11 cards out of 13.

1D: 1S: 4H: ?

South held:

♠  AKQ972

♥  QJ4

♦  A

♣  J63

And the grand slam is there with two diamond ruffs.

E

♠  J85

♥  963

♦  KJ7

♣   9842

W

♠ 10643

♥  85

♦  103

♣  KQ1075

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Now let’s check out the Losing Trick Count. You hold:

♠  A8

♥  96

♦  KQ765432

♣  Q

And partner opens 1H, East overcalls 2C, you bid 2D and partner bids 2NT. What next? Time to
assess the hand. The diamond suit is fully self-supporting, ie an 8 card suit on its own. Partner has
an opening hand showing 7 losers and possibly a singleton or void in diamonds. Setting diamonds as
trumps, count your losers – 5 - 1 spade, 2 hearts 1 diamond and the QC – add to partner’s losers – 7

= 12. Subtract 12 from 24 =12 and this is approximately how many tricks you should make
(around 80% of the time). You now know that 5D will probably make. Partner hasn’t made any strong bids
and East is holding at least 9 points, in this case play it safe and bid 5D which makes comfortably.

Partner held:

♠ J64

♥  K10873

♥  A

♣  AJ82

E

♠  K75

♥  QJ

♦  J9

♣  K109753

W

♠  Q10932

♥  A542

♦  108

♣  64