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Graham- quite right I mis-recalled 2 not the 1 Ace

wo points: Slam bidding at “Pairs?” And dogs who don’t bark Our score is compared with those of other pairs. If our score is bigger then we get more imps. And the ones with the most imps win the competition If you avoid bidding a slam at Pairs but everyone else bids and makes it, you will lose a shoal of imps. But if everyone else goes down (even if because of a really rotten split), you get all the imps! Trying to assess the standard of the other room, and then trying to play with or against the room is way beyond me! My call: bid a decent slam if you reasonably can and play it as well as you can The quiet dog? She hasn’t used 4th suit forcing so she has no ambitions- her hand must be limited. But she expects to make 4H (its Pairs- you don’t go down just for fun- it would lose a lot of imps) and she expects opposite few/any H and quite a minimal 1C/1S. So I’m expecting she has just one heart loser. I hold Qx so I’m not expecting to be Hbroken. Like you Pete a couple of bullets could easily fill a very nice slam With ordinary B/W you just ask “how many aces” Answer “Two” Bingo. No Aces out and just one loser in H= 6 With my 5 Ace RKCB I ask “including the K trumps as an Ace, how many “Aces” have you and can you tell me about the Q trumps” Answer “Two “Aces” but missing the Q trumps:- 5H” I’ve got the Q trumps so no surprise there, and I’m assigning K trumps as one “Ace", so an Ace is missing. Its possible opp can cash AC and give partner a C ruff but more likely Ace D and can only exit safely. 6H it is! I’m sitting quietly now. I’ve tabled dummy. I’m wondering why no claim. Partner plays my QH…covered by K!! Argghhh! Well I hope you don’t have to drive back with that (now devastated losing) pair trying to make light chat….

My answers to your 3 questions, and a few thoughts on west’s bid after the 2S, P...? In my village X shows 4 S or a strong enough hand to adjust- that means I adjust if partner bids Ss. After the X you rely on 4 spades but if west adjust I reassess Even if east passed then a free 2S now should show a tad stronger than a Q (likely under the cosh) moreover with a flat 10 losers. Definitely pass not 2S But let’s say we are when we are...it come to 2S-P-? What now? Well it’s teams, so our chums will be showing their score on this hand in half an hour, what are we going to offer our score? Reflect its one of those hands with points roughly split, so potentially quite swingy hand. The absolute worst would be chums offer -600; they banged 3NT and the D fell 2-2/Q Singleton and just enough to make a C finesse. We’d just have to be philosophical on that. A more good result is chums offer +110/140 in 2/3H and we make a plus too- a very useful half dozen imps. The bad one would be chums offer -110 as their opp went plus, just as we go down too- that could be half a dozen imps out- not good, not at all! So as West I’d reflect that it’s really important that we go plus here, and I’d try to deliver that by rank better Bridge (and not playing against the odds and evidence) So first let’s assume East’s 2S bid had 4 points and 5 Ss- how will she fare in 2S? Trying to play finesses is likely impossible- the hand tends to be too weak to access. East is unlikely 4 Hs so a nice C/H Cross ruff looks asking a bit too much. So I’m imaging something like 3S+1H ruff+ hopefully 1D but asking for 2 might be too much and 1C, possibly 2 in the finesse. Total 7. Oh dear- it’s quite likely east will go down even if she has more shape and power. If I’m right on this then I must adjust now. The chance of a minus is too high What about 3C now? Let’s assume now east either pass, so I’m in a 4-4 fit in C, or east bid 3D, so I’m in a 5-3 fit. How many tricks now? 1S, 0H, so I focus on the minors and need 8 tricks now. In D I’m hoping for Cs finesse and ruff. And in C then she is something like 4/5: 2/3: ?: 4 so short Ds and hope to set them up. Either way I can see 1+0+5+3. Hence 3C after 2S-P-?

Lovely hand, thank you for showing it I agree with most of previous and might just add some of my reasoning a little more explicit: and suggest some thoughts on a different auction: In my village 2C is powerful: both ~ half the pack or pretty close, and certainly no more than 3 losers: that means it’s 1H for me East’s call now? First thought of course is bang 4S. But, but! When I am Queen of my Realm I know I have the last word (holding the S). And critically: my partner has not had a chance to speak yet. If I bang 4S partner will probably pass and when now if N bids 5H? What now? No, for me a nice quiet 1S for me and see what happens. (If it’s passed out I’m not able to make 4S anyway so why offer an easy plus to opponents?) Looking at all the hands now I’m expecting 2H from S, pass by West and now time for North to think more It’s gone 1H-1S-2H-P-? I like 3!S now very much. Partner: if only you can show some control in C I can now visualise 6H. So 3S for me as North Back to East. My machinations haven't working out too well. With spade shortage I’m really worried they can make 6H. Probably primary fit in H but the often second suit fit, slightly likely they have a secondary D fit now. I don’t regret by 1S but it might look a bit too tame now and I’ve opened a door for them. What to do now? Well stand up: bang the 4S now. I might be slightly down but I smell a good result if they can jut double... South might offer 5C with a void and an Ace, but second round control is very hard now. My golden rule on Souths hand is on Tuesdays I bid 5C. And on Wednesdays I pass No south could X without at least a trump trick: agreeing that helps partner to assess things now. There are other variants at such an awkwardly high level. A 4N? I think the hard one is 1H 1S 2H P 3S 4S P P to North. Mum says leave the 5 level to the others, but heck, she is out just now and she might not complain on such extreme playability and such potentially low defensive power. 5H and hope. And 6H if our team is well behind and we need a cracker result X Bon voyage!

Sensible advice already offered in my view: ~17/19 (2C shows 9+ and we seek 26 for game so 3NT has 17. With 20+ you open 2NT etc So I’ll just offer a thought on the position of the 2C hand now. Let’s say has extras, What now? The point is that usually we don’t want to be in a slam missing an Ace and a King The reason is that with balanced hands you will usually lose the A and if you have to rely on finessing for the K that’s a 50/50 chance. And mum tells us need 75% for a slam How to avoid missing an Ace and a K? Well if the 2C has 17+ and you know partner has 17-19 then we are sure we are not missing an A and K. 17+17=34, so opponents only have at most an Ace and a Queen out). A perfectly decent contract in 6NT Any more on the 2C hand? Well, a straight 4NT after the 3NT is often quantitative- partner is saying if you have 17 pass but if you have 18/19 bid 6 Not every would agree with me on this incidentally, they would treat is a Blackwood, but they treat it that way they are not much better off. The point was to avoid bidding 6NT missing an A and a K So 1S-2C-3N- ? 6= I have 17+ and 4= I have 16 exactly, your hand is in 17-19 range, so pass with 17 but bid 6 with 18/19 Incidentally there are plenty of hands that make slam with other combinations but this is the basis for slam bidding balancing hands relying on points Good hunting! 0Deary

Dear Santa, Portia has very kindly shown me a 1,10,0,2 shape topped by AKQ. I well remember been dealt with that very hand nearly 20 times during the last million hands I played… In my twenties I just banged 6H. But opps was soon in 6S. Once I tried 7- wrong, partner had super trumps and 6S was down. So the second time I passed- wrong, this time 6S was cold and 7H only cost 500 In my thirties I tried 4N. Op rudely bid 5S. But fortunately my partner knew her DOPI/ROPI and passed (showing 1 Ace). But op crudely bid 6S, and I was in the same problem I had in my twenties In my forties I asked about opening 2C. But the Director told me that 2C is a rather special bid, cannot be psyched, and 11 points are way short of when you are announcing a 2C. So it would be wrong to announce 2C this way- its more of a pre-empt hand than a powerhouse In my fifties I had a cunning plan. Pass. Surely someone will open. They did. 6S after a quiet partner: same problem In my sixties I finally realised that what I wanted from Santa is more information. What has partner got and which seat has the spades. So a gentle 1H. Expect a vigorous auction, but sit back and listen. I might not get it right in future either, but at least I might get enough information to decide. 1H-2S-X-4S is different to 1H-4S-p-p or 1H-1S-1NT-4S so reflecting- what others did bid (and what they didn’t) bid should help A lovely hand Porteus, thank you very much for sharing it! My seasons best wishes to all 0Deary