| Trust your system - 8 Sep 2025 Downstairs - Board 19 |
Show Detail |
My partner opened 1H and I responded Jacoby 2NT. Opener replied 3NT showing 6 losers. I replied 4NT and got the 5C response showing 3 aces. I had 2 aces so I went to 6H. I felt confident the mini slam was there and felt pleased that we had communicated a newly learnt convention successfully!
Unfortunately it was very hard to make. 5 partnerships bid 6H with only 1 making 12 tricks following a trump lead. 5 couples were in 4 hearts not spotting the possibility of a mini slam. They all scored better than all bar one of the mini slammers who all went down one.
I felt guilty putting my partner into a mini slam which was very difficult to make despite having 5 aces (RKCB). Could I have known it was not achievable?
Is there a way of making it with any lead other than a trump?
Many thanks for any advice.
|
| Show Answer |
Answer
======
You bid the hand well and I would also have bid and played in 6H.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to make without "double dummy" sight of
where all the cards lay. You have to make finesses that a declarer would
not normally take. You were just unlucky on this particular hand. Don't
let occasional bad boards deflect you from bidding and playing in
accordance with your system. You'll get more good scores than bad ones
in the long run. |
|
|
|
|
| Weak NT Grand Slam - 15 Jul 2025 Eve - Board 10 |
Show Detail |
There were some very exciting hands last Tuesday evening. It is rare that every table bids a slam on a particular hand and it nearly happened on three different deals during the evening. My thanks go to Roger Eaton who highlighted the hand above where every table did reach slam and half of those reached the grand slam.
Please do have a go at playing the hand yourself before you reveal our expert's answer.
|
| Show Answer |
Answer
======
You pick up the north hand and think how on earth will I manage this huge two suiter and then partner opens the bidding! I’ve listed two possible sequences above.
The first for those playing a weak no trump and the second for those playing a strong no trump. The weak no trumpers find their heart fit immediately and north can see that the important cards that are missing are the two black Aces and the KQ of trumps.
Playing Roman Keycard Blackwood you can check for those cards very easily. The five diamond response shows zero or three keycards out of the four aces and the king of trumps. You yourself have twenty points, so for an opening bid partner must surely have three of those keycards. Now five spades asks for the queen of trumps and five no trumps shows the queen without any outside kings. So far so good. Could we have a diamond loser? It is possible, but partner may have the queen of diamonds or a doubleton diamond or even a black side suit which may provide some discards. So the grand slam looks odds on and may even make some of the time with the double diamond finesse. So it’s time to be brave and bid the grand slam.
The strong no trumpers need an extra round of bidding. After north transfers it is common practice that the no trump opener should break the transfer with four card support. So three hearts here shows a minimum hand with four trumps. The remainder of the auction is the same as for the weak no trump pairs. Roger and his partner Ted even demonstrated another way of bidding the grand slam. North responded two no trumps to south’s one heart opener showing a good heart raise. They then exchanged some cue bids where south showed both black aces before north jumped to five no trumps (a grand slam force) asking partner if they had two of the top three heart honours. South had an easy seven heart bid. So well done. So tip of the day – one of the few conventions that you really need to play is Roman Keycard Blackwood as it can make things so much easier when you are investigating a slam. |
|
|
|
|
| StrongNT Grand Slam - 15 Jul 2025 Eve - Board 10 |
Show Detail |
There were some very exciting hands last Tuesday evening. It is rare that every table bids a slam on a particular hand and it nearly happened on three different deals during the evening. My thanks go to Roger Eaton who highlighted the hand above where every table did reach slam and half of those reached the grand slam.
Please do have a go at playing the hand yourself before you reveal our expert's answer.
|
| Show Answer |
Answer
======
You pick up the north hand and think how on earth will I manage this huge two suiter and then partner opens the bidding! I’ve listed two possible sequences above.
The first for those playing a weak no trump and the second for those playing a strong no trump. The weak no trumpers find their heart fit immediately and north can see that the important cards that are missing are the two black Aces and the KQ of trumps.
Playing Roman Keycard Blackwood you can check for those cards very easily. The five diamond response shows zero or three keycards out of the four aces and the king of trumps. You yourself have twenty points, so for an opening bid partner must surely have three of those keycards. Now five spades asks for the queen of trumps and five no trumps shows the queen without any outside kings. So far so good. Could we have a diamond loser? It is possible, but partner may have the queen of diamonds or a doubleton diamond or even a black side suit which may provide some discards. So the grand slam looks odds on and may even make some of the time with the double diamond finesse. So it’s time to be brave and bid the grand slam.
The strong no trumpers need an extra round of bidding. After north transfers it is common practice that the no trump opener should break the transfer with four card support. So three hearts here shows a minimum hand with four trumps. The remainder of the auction is the same as for the weak no trump pairs. Roger and his partner Ted even demonstrated another way of bidding the grand slam. North responded two no trumps to south’s one heart opener showing a good heart raise. They then exchanged some cue bids where south showed both black aces before north jumped to five no trumps (a grand slam force) asking partner if they had two of the top three heart honours. South had an easy seven heart bid. So well done. So tip of the day – one of the few conventions that you really need to play is Roman Keycard Blackwood as it can make things so much easier when you are investigating a slam. |
|
|
|
|
| Use the Bidding- 21 Jul 2024 - Board 37 |
Show Detail |
Get the Best out of this Hand.
Please do have a go at playing the hand yourself before you reveal our expert's answer.
|
| Show Answer |
Answer
======
My team played today’s hand against the winners of the Swiss Teams and they showed good technique to bring home a game swing.
At both tables North decided they had an opening bid, which was brushed aside as both west’s declared three no trumps.
North led the king of hearts, then the queen, both ducked by declarer and then a third round to clear the suit.
With a combined twenty-nine points between the hands declarer knew from the bidding where all the outstanding points were, so the club finesse will surely fail allowing north to cash two more hearts.
An alternative line of play is required and that is to simply cash your winners in spades and diamonds. North, who we know has QJ spades, two winning hearts and the K of clubs will be in trouble as when you come down to the last four cards they will be forced to discard a heart or bare the king of clubs.
If north does throw a heart and still has the Q spades then you can play a spade to endplay north. They can cash their last heart, but will then have to lead a club away from the king. On the actual hand the favourable spade position led to an overtrick, but if north had started with QJx of spades then the play would have been essential. |
|
|
|
|