Most weeks we choose and comment on an interesting hand from the Monday or Thursday game.

Are two hands enough to make up for some missing weeks of our hands of the week?  Here are two club slams on consecutive boards with lots in common: 2C opening, interference, D0P1, and control bidding to slam.

Let’s start with board 6.  West opens 2♣ and North pre-empts 3♠.  This is a chance for D0P1 to shine.  Playing D0P1 over 2♣ openings. responder doubles with no ace or king (would bid 2♥ without interference) and passes with at least a king.  At least a king opposite a strong artificial opening is enough for game, so the D0P1 pass is a game force (yes, really).  East and West can then both go slowly.  West bids clubs twice to set clubs as trump. Responder can show both aces with control bids, then opener can bid 7♣.  One pair got to 7♣ and two to 6♣.  The best game, for those with less ambition, is 3NT + 2.  Two pairs persevered with spades.  In fact the par result is 7♠X – 7 for -1700, but that would have yielded only one matchpoint since only one pair was in the club grand.

Board 5 has many things in common with board 6.  A 2♣ opening with a solid club suit, spade interference and again a D0P1 pass to force to game.  After opener’s 2NT, responder tries Stayman looking for a heart fit that isn’t there.  4♣ seems a more descriptive response than the pedestrian 3♦ and responder raises to 5♣.  Opener may well go to slam in the hope of beating pairs in 3NT (there were seven).  What is East to lead?  It turns out that the ♦A and the ♠K would be two defensive tricks provided the ♦A scores as trick one.  Maybe East should see this, but it’s tough to lead A from AQ and 6♣ rolls with any other lead.

Bridgewebs will display only one hand in a news item, so here's the same text with Board 5.

Let’s start with board 6.  West opens 2♣ and North pre-empts 3♠.  This is a chance for D0P1 to shine.  Playing D0P1 over 2♣ openings. responder doubles with no ace or king (would bid 2♥ without interference) and passes with at least a king.  At least a king opposite a strong artificial opening is enough for game, so the D0P1 pass is a game force (yes, really).  East and West can then both go slowly.  West bids clubs twice to set clubs as trump. Responder can show both aces with control bids, then opener can bid 7♣.  One pair got to 7♣ and two to 6♣.  The best game, for those with less ambition, is 3NT + 2.  Two pairs persevered with spades.  In fact the par result is 7♠X – 7 for -1700, but that would have yielded only one matchpoint since only one pair was in the club grand.

Board 5 has many things in common with board 6.  A 2♣ opening with a solid club suit, spade interference and again a D0P1 pass to force to game.  After opener’s 2NT, responder tries Stayman looking for a heart fit that isn’t there.  4♣ seems a more descriptive response than the pedestrian 3♦ and responder raises to 5♣.  Opener may well go to slam in the hope of beating pairs in 3NT (there were seven).  What is East to lead?  It turns out that the ♦A and the ♠K would be two defensive tricks provided the ♦A scores as trick one.  Maybe East should see this, but it’s tough to lead A from AQ and 6♣ rolls with any other lead.

We’ve missed a few weeks of these little reports, what with the regional and then a week that lacked interesting hands.  When 21 April arrived, we were back with two cold grand slams bid at some tables, one on 28 HCP and one on only 24.  Key suits in both were spades and diamonds.

On the deal displayed here, EW had the auction to themselves.  West’s plan could be to open spades and then jump in diamonds or to open diamonds and then jump-reverse into spades.  It’s best to describe suit lengths accurately, which can be done with the latter plan followed by a spade rebid.  Once East raises spades, her response to RKCB promises the missing aces and the trump queen.  Looks like 13 tricks to West, to whom outside kings are of no interest so don’t bother to ask.

West needs to ruff two diamonds to make all the tricks.  Win the likely club lead, diamond to ace, ruff diamond low, ruff club to hand, lead another diamond.  North likely ruffs with the five to force the queen, but that doesn’t help.  There’s still a trump in dummy to return to hand and draw the other four.  Goes down only if trumps are 5-0 or diamonds 5-1 or 6-0.

A rosy optimism is needed to bid the slam on 24 HCP (Board 10).  After South opens 1♣, West starts by doubling with ♠AK65 ♥AT94 ♦AK ♣A93.  East has only ♠JT9832 ♦76542 ♣J5 (no hearts) so likely advances only 1♠.  Doubler’s only forcing bid is a club cue, a reluctant choice since it conceals the spade fit.  If East then shows extra spade length, West might think of slam.  When you hold all the key cards, Blackwood is useless!  Maybe West jumps to 5♠ and maybe East raises to slam because of the void.  Three pairs got to 6♠ and one to 7♠.  Thirteen tricks are always there: six spades, a heart, two diamonds, a club, two diamond ruffs and the fifth diamond.  Goes down only if trumps are 3-0 or diamonds 5-1 or 6-0.  Still, it takes lots of optimism to get to any slam.

Exclusion Blackwood is the tool to a confident grand slam on this week’s hand, if you trust your partner.  West opens 1♠, East forces to game with 2♥, and a surprised West sets trump with 3♥.

Normal RKCB does not give you the information you need if asker has a void.  If East asks with 4NT after this start, she learns that West has three key cards.  Odds are that one of those is the ace of his five-card suit.  6♥ is the upper limit if it is.  Playing exclusion, East can ask for key cards outside her void suit.  To ask, she jumps to a suit beyond the agreed game, 4♥, by bidding 4♠.  Hopefully West is not confused by an apparent return to her first suit and answers the second step to show three keys, 5♣.  After that, East, knowing about the ♥AK and the ♦A, can bid 5NT to ask for kings.  West shows the ♣K and East can see 13 solid tricks.  Or, East might worry that West’s opening bid is 10 HCP in spades and a bit of outside stuff, thus zero key cards outside spades, and cautiously bid 5♥ over 5♣.  With three keys, though, West has to go to slam.  In these situations, it’s good to show a king on the way if you have one, thus 6♣, and again East can see 13 tricks,

Ten of 17 pairs got to a small slam.  That’s probably the limit that can be reached by bidding controls because West can’t imagine East’s incredible clubs and East is worried about the trump AK.  The practical route to the grand is for East to take control with exclusion Blackwood.

Alerting Exclusion Blackwood: This falls under the category of "delayed alert."  That means that you say nothing during the auction.  When the auction is over (presuming your side is the declaring side) and before the opening lead is made either player informs the defenders what the bidding meant.

Gavin Wolpert has a nice video about exclusion at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bftQhaZG0Q

 This is a curious hand where no one has 13 HCP.  South is Dealer with a 4=3=4=2 10-count and passes, West also has 10 HCP with 5 lousy spades, again a pass. North has a flat 11 count, normally a pass but this 11 count contains 2 Aces and a King, albeit in 3 different suits.  It is 2 1/2 Quick Tricks and many will open this hand in the only suit that has no points at all: 1♦ .  If 2 1/2 QTs is not your style, this hand will be passed out as happened at approximately 1/2 the tables.  

If N does open 1♦ , East passes and South bids 1♠ , now North has to decide whether to pass 1S with 3 cards or bid 1NT.  If the hand was not so flat it would be easy to pass. If we are on a 4-3 fit, it is good if the 3-card hand can get a ruff or 2, but no ruffing values here and 1N was played at 1 table making, for a nice score NS.  I am surprised that no one played in 2♦ , I could see South pulling a 1NT rebid to 2♦  with their nice holding in that suit.  4 Tables played in 1♠  in the South, this was down 1 in every case.  

Now for the odd ducks.  One NS pair played in 3♦  … maybe hoping for a stronger opener South bid 3♦  as a limit raise - nice diamonds but too weak a hand for my liking. They made +110 for a top NS score, although according to the Double Dummy they can be held to 2 for down 1.  The other odd one is 2♥  in the West, this is difficult to understand since East has the longer hearts, but would not double for take out … they don’t have the spades or the points to make an immediate TO double.  Perhaps it went P - P - 1♦  - P - 1♠  - P - P then double?  West would have a tough call there but the hearts contain 2 honours and hearts score better at matchpoints.  2♥  made 3 for a top score EW, but again, the Double Dummy analysis says they can be held to 1, for down 2. 

A simple (non-jump) advance of partner’s takeout double usually promises zero to about eight HCP.  Even that broad range is difficult to handle, and more so if the opponents pre-empted and the advance has to be at the three level, where the upper limit might be eleven or so.  With no room to invite, doubler may well have to guess whether to bid on.

Lebensohl 2NT can be a big help with this.  When partner doubles a weak-two opening (and responder passes) advancer bids 2NT as a red-flag warning of a weak hand, perhaps no more than 6 HCP.  If the opponents continue to pass, doubler is required to bid 3♣.  In all other cases, double followed by bidding a new suit shows a power double, a hand too strong for a simple overcall.  3♣ in this lebensohl situation is the exception, because 3♣ is only a relay.  After 3♣, advancer chooses where to play, perhaps by passing.

Let’s explore how that plays out on board 6 from Thursday.  Most Souths would open 2♦ even with a four-card major because it’s weak and the diamond suit has two top honours.  What would West do over 2♦?  3NT by East looks promising if East has diamond stoppers and an ace, but how to investigate?

West has too much to just overcall 3♣, but might because it’s a difficult situation.  Nine of 21 did bid 3♣ and were left there.  Five of those went down because NS can get six tricks if they find the spade ruffs after a diamond lead (lead ♠9 to be ruffed as suit preference for hearts).

It seems that at least five Wests doubled, in spite of inappropriate shape for a takeout double.  Those Easts advanced 2NT, lebensohl, if they remembered (it’s easy to forget).  Now West is in a difficult position.  3♣ would be the usual relay, which does not promise a club suit nearly as good as the one held.  East, the advancer, not knowing West’s clubs are so good, would then choose spades to play.  That doesn’t work well either – a seven-card fit with a 5-1 split.  West could jump to 4♣ instead of 3♣, to show a power double, too strong to overcall 3♣ directly.  That’s nominally forcing but East’s only honours are useless diamonds so would likely pass.

In fact, lebensohl 2NT doesn’t help here – just complicates.  Anticipating that, West’s best action seems to be the simple 3♣ overcall.  That does not abandon hopes of 3NT in that East could bid on with a promising hand.  There were eight different contracts on this board, with any plus scoring above average – not surprising in a nebulous situation.

Footnote:  East doesn't need lebensohl 2NT here.  It's used only if advancer cannot bid her suit at the two level (because it's lower-ranking than the overcall suit).  So respond to the double of 2♦ with 2♠ - that's not strong.  With an invitational hand bid 2NT and then 2♠ after the 3♣ relay.  With a game force jump to 3♠ directly over the double.  Yes, lots of ways to bid and misbid these hands.

Choose your opening bid so that you have a rebid.  How many times we heard that?  What then to open as North after two passes?  If you open 1♦ and get a 1♠ response you’ll have to rebid 2♦, which is misleading about suit quality and overall strength, unless you consider the hand strong enough to reverse, which few would.  1NT from partner would leave you badly placed also.  There’ll be no rebid problems after opening 1NT, so that’s theoretically the best choice.  Only two of us did.

ACBL Convention Charts define a 1NT opening with a singleton as natural only if that singleton is an A or K or Q.  Victoria club games (and our sectionals) are played under the Open Chart, which is a list of disallowed bidding agreements.  One that’s disallowed is a 1NT opening that does not meet the definition of natural.  Thus opening 1NT with a singleton that is a jack or less is a disallowed agreement.  Doing so would not automatically get you a bottom board, but the director would adjust the score if your opponents were damaged.

On this board, theoretical virtue was not rewarded.  South was too weak to respond and NS’s safest contract is 2♦, but North was left in 1NT, which should fail.  Both times East led fourth-best from longest and strongest, ♥6.  Declarer won the Q and played three rounds of diamonds, putting East in with the jack to return partner’s suit.  Declarer won the heart ace, cashed diamonds and, needing one more trick, knocked out the club ace.  Eventually East leads a spade.  If West goes up ace EW take the rest of the tricks for down one.  West might, though, save her entry, expecting North’s ♠K to be guarded.  Oops, that’s making an overtrick.

A side benefit of opening 1NT was keeping EW out of the auction.  East has an obvious double of 1♦, after which EW would find their spade fit.  They would take eight tricks only by dropping North’s singleton king.  That’s realistic if North starts with ace and another diamond, exposing South’s king.  North, who opened the bidding, would then be a big favourite to hold ♠K.  2♠ making was -110 for NS, worse than -100 for 1NT down 1.  Maybe opening 1NT was a good idea no matter how you look at it.

This board could or should be opened 1NT in the East at every table then passed out.  There were 16 pairs out of 18 in 1NT with 6 scores of 150, 5 of 120, 3 of 90, and 2 of 180.

One pair, playing a different 1NT range, ended in 3NT in the West down 2 for -200.  Another West player must have made a garbage Stayman bid, passing East’s 2♥ reply for a slightly above average score of 140.

The lead choices for South are ♥6 or ♣6.  The club lead would have been better for declarer if the doubleton was in the declarer hand and the tripleton in the dummy. As it was it did not cost for the defence. If declarer ducks in dummy, the defence will play the A when next in, if declarer plays the Q first then South's A,T are over the K,9.

The heart lead seems to give up a trick, but NS can only get more than one heart if declarer misplays the suit.  They should lead a low heart from dummy inserting the J, won by the K.  Later they play the Q, which drops the T, now the 9 and A are good.

The problem for the defence is finding the spade switch.  North never gets in and is loath to signal with any of the spade cards so must rely on the negative inference of discouraging in the other suits.

The club suit is interesting too: without the club lead declarer must break this suit at some point, but how?  Low to the Q is best but it depends on whether the defence has found the spade switch in time.  If declarer gets to the point at which letting the defence in means losing 3 spade tricks, it’s easy to see the defence cashing out for -90 EW, +90 NS.  With the club lead, clubs are also dangerous for declarer.

Best for declarer is to avoid the black suits and try to set up the reds.  A diamond to the K and another to the J lets South in with the Q, but South has had little information from partner and will want to keep the clubs trapped, so may lead a heart, whether or not they led hearts originally.  The spades in the dummy are weak so South will not want to lead up to declarer in that suit.

Declarer will win the heart return and play out diamonds and possibly hearts too.  This makes for some difficult pitching choices for NS.  North may eventually pitch the top-of-sequence ♠K, which is a bit of a risk not knowing where the ten is located.

The Double Dummy analysis of 1NT is making 2: declarer should get 1 spade, 3 hearts, 3 diamonds (unless they drop the Q - unlikely), and 1 club.  The results of +3 and +2 are likely due to the defence pitching the wrong card(s) during the run of the red suits.  The 3 scores of 90 are more likely due to declarer’s miscalculation than a brilliant defence.  1NT: some love it, some hate it, but it’s always interesting.