Bridge: 7 No Trumps baby!

The Game Room
121

Yes. Even with points but in the wrong places, 5D can be poor.

True, but that is why it is best to have a way out. In this case, you can always outbid partner in diamonds if s/he keeps bidding clubs. Note that 3C does not have to show a genuine suit, so that should help partner not get too excited. If you open 1D and have a hand that us too strong to rebid 3D (because that is non-forcing), you may manufacture a 3C bid to get the game force established. Say you hold x KJx AKQxxx AQx. You open 1D and partner bids 1H. Now what? You are too strong to bid 3D, plus partner might pass when 4H is good (xxxx AQxxx xx xx). You cannot bid 3NT with a singleton spade. The solution is to bid 3C. If partner bids 3D, you can bid 3H to show your 3-card support and, by implication, short spades.

I once cue bid 4D, which got doubled. Partner passed it back to me and I redoubled to show that I had first round control (our cue bids only show first or second round control). I had a void. Partner passed! RHO then bid something to save us playing 4D redoubled on a 4-0 fit.

122

My fun hand from this week:

I held as dealer South: (None vulnerable)

S: A T 4 3
H: A 8 7
D: A 9 6 2
C: 8 6

The Bidding:

S: (me) 1D
W: 1S
N: 2D (strong, 10 or more points, at least 4 diamonds, no 4 card+ heart suit)
E: P
S: 3D (I could have bid 2 no trump, but I wanted to show a weak hand with at least 4 diamonds. I could have had as few as 3 for my opening bid)
W: P
N: 4NT! (Traditional Blackwood)
E: P
S: 5S
W: P
N: 6D

All pass.

Partner lays down this:

S: K 8
H: K 6
D: K Q J 8 7 4 3
C: Q 9

Fortunately I do not get a club lead. West opts for her singleton Diamond 10. All play around to my Ace. Now what?

123

Drop a club into your lap. Show your hand and announce I’ll give you a club trick. I cover the other board losers with my two aces and a rough and hoped they don’t count your cards. :slight_smile:

Or if you want a legitimate play. The only thing I see that might work is to draw trump, cash your winners, trump a H and a S, then with your last spade throw LHO in and hope he has to give you a rough-slough having decided the only thing he had to protect was his QJ of spades so he tossed any clubs he had.

124

Without a defensive blunder, the only chance is to play SK, SA and ruff a spade, hoping SQJ drop in three rounds.
This is likely not to happen, and you can raise the chances of a defensive blunder with a pseudo-squeeze. Run 6 rounds of trumps before touching the side-suits, hoping that the defender with 4 spades also has honours in hearts and clubs and guesses the wrong suit to keep. Then, SK, SA, spade ruff with dummy’s last trump, cash HK and get back to your spade winner with HA.

All in all, a great example of the risks of Blackwood. :wink:

125

I can see a way to make this without a defensive error, on a hand consistent with the bidding and lead. However, it’s very unlikely I would find it at the table. In real life I would bang out 6 rounds of diamonds and put some pressure on LHO. LHO probably has something in every suit (hence the safe trump lead) and does not have both A and KC as then would have led one. The most likely error is LHO coming down to just three spades, in which case KS, AS, ruff establishes the 10.

It is tempting to throw a club towards the queen. If LHO wins with KC, they know you are missing an ace but have to guess which one. If they guess wrong (surely you would not be mad enough to play clubs missing AK?) you now have some squeeze prospects.

The problem is that the bidding has been very illuminating. They know you have three aces and a minimum, therefore nothing else of note. If you play a club and LHO wins AC, they know you do not have KC and can play another club to partner.

Now here is the legitimate line. You need LHO to have: 5+ spades (a given); 3+ hearts including at least three of QJT9; KJT or AJT of clubs (and can have other small clubs).

You play out 6 rounds of diamonds coming down to:



                    K8
                    K6
                    2
QJxx                Q9            x
QJ                                9xx
-                                 -
AJ                  AT43          Kxx
                    A87
                    -
                    -

Note that West has yet to discard.

If W discards a spade, you play KS, AS, ruff a spade to establish the 10.
If W discards a heart, you cash KH and finesse East for the 9H.
If W discards JC, you exit with a club, throwing a spade from hand. You can now squeeze East in hearts and clubs.
If W discards AC, you play QC, establishing the 9.

Incidentally, I don’t like the Blackwood bid. You have shown a minimum hand yet your partner is playing you to have three aces, plus you also need either QH, or KC to get rid of his club loser. That gives you at least 14 points, which you will not have after the 3D bid. And what was he going to do if you responded 5H, so you are missing 2 aces? I suppose he could bid 5S and hope you bid 5NT, losing just the first 6 club tricks.

126

Your read is exactly what happened, except West had the KJx of clubs, not the ace. I ran all the diamond but one, cashed the spade king and led a spade to my Ace of spades. West had been forced to guess, and had reduced her spade length to 3 before I touched the suit. When I ruffed the 3rd spade my ten was established. Contract made!

127

On perfect defense, with just KJx or AJx (i.e. without the 10), West can discard all the clubs and East will be left with AT over the Q9, so you cannot exit with a club as East will simply cash another club.

128

Freak hand from the club today. (EW vul)

Sitting South as dealer, you pick up this:

♤: VOID
:heart:: J
♢: KQJT7532
♧: KQ85

THE BIDDING:

S: 5 ♢
W: 5 ♤
N: 6 ♢
E: 6 ♤

S: Now what?

129

I pass. I do not know whether partner was sacrificing or hoping to make, so I need to leave the final decision to him/her.

130

I agree. Similar to bidding after an open of some number of no-trump, the hand that has described itself the least should be the one to make the tough decisions.

131

I looked at the hand and could see at most one defensive trick. So I bid 7 diamonds. This is doubled by East.

××××××

West held:

♤: AKJT98643
:heart:: K962
♢: VOID
♧: VOID

Partner held:

♤: 7
:heart:: AT875
♢: 986
♧: JT74

And finally East:

♤: Q52
:heart:: Q43
♢: A4
♧: A9632

××××××

I lost the two minor suit aces for -300. Hurrah!
6 spades is cold, E-W.

132

My partner and I had a freakish hand come up today. I’ll present it as a bidding problem.
Both vulnerable you deal and open 1 Spade with
:spades: KQ87642
:heart: A4
♢ AK54
:clubs: -

Your LHO overcalls 2 Diamonds; partner jumps to 4 Hearts; RHO passes.
What do you call?

133

I guess I pass. Partner went directly to game instead of a cue bid. My hand may not provide enough club ruffs, and my spades are only semi-solid.

134

It depends on what 4H means. With most of my partners it means singleton or void heart, with at least 4 spades, in which case I can probably bid 7S as there are not enough points outside hearts and diamonds for him not to have AS.

I suspect that you play it to mean lots of hearts. He is unlikely to have much else as a) s/he should then start with 2H, which is forcing, and b) LHO must have something outside diamonds. Still, if partner has x KQJTxxxx x xxx slam is great unless they lead a trump. Even on a trump lead you are home if the hand with AS does not have another trump to lead - a reasonably likely prospect with only 3 hearts between them. The question is how to make a slam try. 4S is natural, 4NT gets an answer we cannot interpret because of the void club, 5C/D are possible. 5H would normally be asking partner to bid 6H with a diamond control. If you do not have that agreement, I bid 5H, otherwise I bid 5C.

135

You play splinters even in competition like this? Is that common?

You haven’t discussed it with partner but assume that 5H means “I have control of all side suits, bid 6H if you have good trumps.”

Now the other problem. Forget that you’ve seen the North hand. :smack: Holding
:spades: 5
:heart: KT9876532
♢ 7
:clubs: 65
on the bidding
1S 2D 4H P
5H P ?
What call do you make? (In practice you get a Diamond lead and take 13 tricks.)

136

I would probably still pass, but I commend you if you pushed to 6 hearts.

137

On reflection, it is more common just to play a jump in opponents’ suit as a splinter and the other suits as natural or a fit-jump.

At the club where I play, people usually play it as:
[ul]
[li]If opponents have bid a suit, I do not have control in that suit, else[/li][li]If we have bid three suits, I do not have control in the fourth, else[/li][li]Do you have good trumps?[/li][/ul]

Tricky. When I suggested 5H I was wanting partner to bid on with something like the suit I suggested: KQJTxxxx. I suspect I would pass with the broken 9-card suit. If partner has a singleton, you don’t want to be in slam, even if partner has all the other suits completely covered. Maybe I was wrong to suggest 5H. Partner would like a 5C cue bid, but I still don’t see that hand bidding 6. Maybe the other hand is good enough to bid 6H over 4H.

138

I held the nine hearts and passed 5 Hearts with little thought, but now I wonder. What would I do with

  • KQJxxxx
  • KQJxxxxx
  • KTxxxxxxx
    ?
    Surely I’d have bid 6H with KQJ-eighth and presumably KQJ-seventh. But K-ninth is a better suit than either, especially since the extra trump might be essential as the 12th trick. I looked at my “broken suit” and passed, but how “broken” is it really with NINE cards?

Partner made a great 5 Heart call, maybe. Should I have said “Six Hearts”?

139

However 4H over 2D is a double jump not a jump. I’d certainly play it as a splinter. 3H would be a weak jump

140

Not opposite a singleton or void it isn’t. Partner already knows you have good hearts from the 4H bid, so 5H is asking if you have very good hearts, which I take to mean will play for no more than one loser opposite a singleton or void.

Opposite a void, small singleton or jack singleton you will usually have two losers.

I don’t think so, for reasons already indicated.