Two Advanced Slam Questions

[gurgistan]

[hv=d=w&v=b&s=sk82hq9dajcakt972]133|100|Scoring: IMP

In an uncontested auction:

 

I am dealer and open 1♣. Partner bids 1♠. I bid 2♣. Partner bids 4♠. I bid 4N 1430. Partner bids 5♠. I bid 5N Kings Ask. Partner shows 6♦ "ordinary blackwood step style". I know we have all the aces, 3 Kings (including trump king) and the Queen of trumps. I bid 7♠.

 

1. Is is okay bidding grand slam missing one king?

 

2. Tops, for this hand was someone in 7N. Is it feasible to routinely convert a 7 level bid into 7N?[/hv]

[manudude03]

First of all 2C is a huge underbid (unless you have a specific agreement that 2C is stronger than 3C).

 

You don't need all the kings to bid the grand, you just need to be confident enough that there are 13 tricks. It is much better for 5NT to ask partner to bid whatever king he has and also to allow him the option of bidding grand himself. 7S looks like a reasonable gamble though.

 

It is ok sometimes to convert a grand into 7N, but you're buying the drinks if it's wrong.

[Zelandakh]

1. Is is okay bidding grand slam missing one king?

 

2. Tops, for this hand was someone in 7N. Is it feasible to routinely convert a 7 level bid into 7N?

1. It is OK to bid a grand missing 2 aces and 2 kings if you know there are 13 tricks there and the opps cannot cash (voids + enough trumnps).

 

2. It depends to some extent on system. If you have a system where one partner knows everything and the other nothing then you are something of a passenger and cannot really convert. In most systems the information is shared so if you know enough that 7NT must be at least as good as the suit grand then it is right to convert. Similarly you might choose to convert after a Lightner Double with some hands where you would have been happy to sit otherwise.

 

On this hand your 2C bid was awful. Partner can never take you for this hand and you are risking being left there on many hands where game is routine. A possible auction might be

1C - 1S - 3C - 3S - 4D - 4H - 4N - 5S - 5N - 6D - 7S

[straube]

I think I'd open 1C and rebid 2N over 1S. I think 3C overemphasizes the clubs a little and I'd rather show the balanced nature of my hand. I'm a bit worried about my partial heart stopper, but I'd prefer the lead come to my hand if we're in 3N. If we belong in spades we'll have some form of checkback and our auction might even be easier than over a 3C rebid.

[ONEferBRID]

7S seems safer.

On this hand you have no idea about partner's Cl holding.

You may have to ruff a Cl to set them up.

 

As an alternative slam auction, if 4NT definitely agrees Sp, you could ask for 3rd Rnd Ctrl of Cl :

4NT - 5S ( 2 + sQ )

6C! - ??

.........6S = no 3rd Rnd Cl Ctrl ( correct to 7S )

........6NT = cQ...( correct to 7S or 7NT )

.........7C = cQJ.. ( definitely correct this to 7NT )

.........7S = xx doubleton Cl ( leave in 7S )

[aguahombre]

It is really hard to evaluate an auction where two hands show limited values with 2C and with 4S, and then there is more bidding.

[bucky]

The answers to your two advanced questions are very simple:

 

1) As the rule of bridge is concerned, as long as you can take 13 tricks, you've made a grand. Plenty of grands are cold albeit missing one, two, or more kings. There are also plenty of hands where you have all aces and kings but cannot take 13 tricks.

 

2) Again, if you can count 13 tricks in a suit contract as well as in no-trump, try 7NT. Even if it is not MP scoring, 7NT is the safest if you have 13 tricks from top.

 

I know you didn't ask, but there can be more interesting discussion on the earlier bids. I think 2♣ is terrible, 4NT is questionable at best (sorry for being frank).

[whereagles]

1. Is is okay bidding grand slam missing one king?

 

2. Tops, for this hand was someone in 7N. Is it feasible to routinely convert a 7 level bid into 7N?[/ONEHAND]

1. Depends. If you have 2 or 3 sources of tricks (clubs here), you can go without 2 kings even. If hands are both flattish, it's more risky.

 

2. I can count 7 spades, 3 sure tricks in the reds, 2 clubs. That's 12 tricks, so the spade grand is better because you don't know where the last trick will come from. Ruffing a club can set it up, so you should play spades.

[pooltuna]

1) It is more important to try to count tricks than worry about 1 second round control in an offsuit. So assume you take 5♣ tricks, a conservative 6♠ tricks, and 2 other offsuit aces. You can see you have very high odds to take 13 tricks.

 

2) If you are talking about your partner, he is supposed to be counting tricks as well, He knows your side has all 5 controls (5NT promises this) and a longish ♣ suit. If he can count to 13 I would expect him to play in the safer 7NT contract (no ruff possible).

[wyman]

I'll also point out (more in the B/I vein) that 4N is bad with no heart control. How embarrassing it will be when you find that you're missing 1 KC and bid 6S only to have opps cash ♥AK.

 

Much better would be to cuebid 5D over 4S.

 

However, if you did this on this auction, partner's head would explode, since you can't really be making a slam try here after 2C. Trying to put together a rational auction after such a huge understatement of values is near impossible.

[Bbradley62]

dupe deleted

[Bbradley62]

[hv=d=w&v=b&s=sk82hq9dajcakt972]133|100|Scoring: IMP

Tops, for this hand was someone in 7N. Is it feasible to routinely convert a 7 level bid into 7N?[/hv]

Since you specify that you're playing IMPs, there should be no difference between the scores for 7♠ and 7NT. (In XIMPs, it's conceivable that there could be a teeny tiny difference, but that's extremely unlikely.) Therefore, partner should only correct if he can very clearly count 13 top tricks and wants to avoid a ruff. But, as several others have pointed out, your partner cannot be expected to be able to count tricks after your terrible 2♣ bid.