The Patrick team had a successful day at the green pointed 52nd Cheltenham Congress, finishing 5th out of 56 teams.The following hand once again highlights how to bid low HCP slams with accuracy.

The 4C bid was a splinter bid showing shortage in clubs and values around 18-19 to force the contract to 4S. But North only has 14 high card points! True, but the hand is worth a lot more than 14 when the spade fit comes to light. According to the Bergen hand evaluation method it is worth the 14HCPs plus 1 for the quality in the diamond suit, plus 3 for the singleton with 4 trumps.In addition there may well be no wasted values in the HCPs, so to my mind this is an excellent bid. 4H was showing a first or second round control in hearts and when North showed nothing extra by signing off in 4S, South had no problem continuing the sequence., South can see his own values are also all working overtime. The club shortage opposite rubbish in South's hand in effect means this is a 30 point pack!.South had no problem continuing with RKCB and when 3 of the five Aces were shown, counting the KS as an Ace, South bid the slam expecting only the AC to be missing amongst the top controls. After the AC lead and switch to a diamond, South had no problem ruffing 3 clubs in dummy to wrap up the slam.

Michael Whittaker