Saturday, September 15, 2012

Jennbridge: Slamming in Santa Clara

The first qualifying session of the All Western Open Pairs presented plenty of opportunities for displaying your slam bidding skills.  First, my favorite--presented in the form of a bidding problem.

I decided to open 2♣ with this strong hand:

A 5
K Q 9 6 5 2
A K 3
A 9
I then heard a surprise and undiscussed bid from partner:  3♠.  How to proceed?
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I decided that he must have a good spade suit with extra length--probably 7.  The bid consumed a large amount of bidding space so it must be sending a strong message. (An immediate response of 2♠ would show a good 5, or maybe even a 6-card suit.) I elected to go straight to RKC Blackwood and check on controls.  Over 4NT partner bid 5♣, showing 1 keycard.  What next?
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I then inquired about the queen of spades by bidding 5.  Partner responded 6♣ showing both the spade queen and the club king.  I had obtained a wealth of information.  What now?
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By my count it appeared that we had 12 tricks:  7♠, 1, 2 and 2♣, so I eschewed the spade slam and went directly for the top spot: 6NT!

All Western Open Pairs, Afternoon Session 1 of 4

Board 5
North Deals
N-S Vul
6 3 2
A J 4
10 6 2
Q 8 6 4
K Q J 10 9 8 4
3
J 8
K 5 3

N
W
E
S

A 5
K Q 9 6 5 2
A K 3
A 9

7
10 8 7
Q 9 7 5 4
J 10 7 2
EW 6N; EW 6♠; EW 4; EW 2; EW 2♣; Par −990

Partner had just what I expected (hoped!) and 12 tricks were there for the taking.

Most of the field bid the spade slam which scored a little above average.  6NT took the prize, however, for a score of 36.5 out of 38 matchpoints.

2.  A similar situation came up on board 21 in the same session.  I again opened a 2♣ bid and my partner's response gave me the information I needed to conduct an intelligent auction.

With the East hand I opened 2♣ (I have 9 tricks in my hand!) and partner responded 3♣--a bid showing at least a 5-card club suit with 2 of the top 3 honors.  I now bid 3♠ and partner raised me to 4♠.  With the knowledge that we weren't missing both of the top 2 club honors, I now was able to go straight to RKC, and when partner showed me an ace I bid the spade slam.

All Western Open Pairs, Afternoon Session 1 of 4

Board 21
North Deals
N-S Vul
9 4
J 7 6
K 10 9 8 4
6 5 2
7 5
10 4 3 2
J 2
A K Q 7 3

N
W
E
S

A K Q 10 8 3 2
A K 8
5
10 9

J 6
Q 9 5
A Q 7 6 3
J 8 4
EW 6♠; EW 6♣; EW 5; EW 2N; EW 1; Par −980

The bidding seemed fairly straightforward and I was surprised to receive 32 out of 38 matchpoints for bidding and making the slam in a fairly strong field.  I guess if the East hand opens 1♠, it is difficult to structure the auction in such a manner that the strong hand is able to learn about the good club suit in the West.

I have never liked the recent trend toward restrictive and artificial responses to strong 2♣ opening bids. These two hands are good examples of creative and descriptive bidding by the responder which provides the opener with precisely the information she needs for a winning result.

See you at the table!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love your 6 notrump bid! A great example of matchpoint tactics.

Bob R.
Oregon

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