Missed Slam

[TWO4BRIDGE]

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Making 13 tricks...... IMPs

 

A few pairs who reached slam had West make the 4H rebid over South's 1S... and East went RKC ... or East opened: ( p ) - 1H - ( p ) - Jac2NT .... and West eventually went RKC .

 

One alternative bid I saw in the postmortem was a 3D-jump cue SPLINTER by Opener [ instead of a 3H ( or 4H )-jump ] , which no one used .

[ArtK78]

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Making 13 tricks.

 

A few pairs who reached slam had West make the 4H rebid over South's 1S... and East went RKC ... or East opened: ( p ) - 1H - ( p ) - Jac2NT .... and West eventually went RKC .

 

One alternative bid I saw in the postmortem was a 3D-jump cue SPLINTER by Opener [ instead of a 3H ( or 4H )-jump ] , which no one used .

I consider the West hand as a game force after the free 1♥ bid by partner. But I would bid 4♦ as a minimal game forcing splinter raise.

 

3♦ should be an invitational or better than game-forcing splinter raise. Responder treats it as game-invitational and bids accordingly. With a better than game-forcing splinter raise opener bids again over a signoff and moves towards slam opposite anything other than a signoff.

 

The West hand would be a better than game-forcing splinter raise if the ♣K642 were replaced by the ♣AQ42.

 

The West hand would be an invitational splinter raise if you took away one of the major suit Ks.

 

I am sure that East will move towards slam if opener rebids 4♦. Once East confirms that his side has all of the keycards and a 10 card heart fit, a grand is possible. Follow-up RKCB bids will reveal the possession of the ♣K, and East can bid 6♦ to ask if West has anything else if he thinks he needs more. The possession of the ♠K in addition to what West has already shown should be sufficient for the grand as East can count 13 tricks - 6 hearts, AK of spades, AK of clubs, A of diamonds and two diamond ruffs (assuming 2-1 hearts).

 

EW might still get to the grand if West has AKQJ of hearts instead of the K of spades. But it would be a little more difficult to count 13 tricks.

[goodwinsr]

What exactly is East missing to open the bidding?

[Cyberyeti]

I would never have passed the E hand after which bidding the grand is trivial.

 

I would treat the W hand as better than GF opposite the free 1♥ bid, particularly if it suggests 5 of them as it does for us, slam is decent opposite as little as xx, xxxxxx, xxx, Ax.

 

We actually have a system bid for this, if 1♥ wasn't a free bid, a 3N rebid would be about a queen stronger than this, as it is this hand is perfect showing exactly a 4414/1444 big hand (we have an artificial 2N rebid to deal with x4x5 hands). Partner now knows his hand is huge and the auction proceeds 4♣-4♦-4♠(KC)-4N(0/3)-5♥(signoff opposite 0)-5♠(3+♠K)-5N(anything else)-6♣(K♣)-7♥.

[mikeh]

I see absolutely nothing wrong with passing as East, and would be annoyed at any partner who did open. I'd be ok with 1♥ with x AJ10xxx 109xxx A, and think it clear with x AJ10xxx A109xx x, not because I love the opening but because I dislike it less than the alternatives.

 

When one's first suit is headed by the 10, that is a hint that maybe your hand isn't as good as you might otherwise wish.

 

As for the subsequent auction, Art's views seem to me a little idiosyncratic. The 'free bid shows extras' idea, which was never universal, basically became extinct maybe 40 years ago. The idea that one differentiates between strength of splinter rather than length is interesting but not, I think, mainstream. I'd prefer 3♦ as a stiff, invitational or better, and 4♦ as a void, but doubt that there is any broad acceptance of that approach either.

 

In any event, I would splinter as West, whether gf or invite+. The controls (and LTC) are simply too good to just bid 3♥. I'd rather bid game, but if I'm bidding game, it is criminal not to show the stiff. It's not as if slam is remote: there are many sorts of blah 9 or 10 counts that make slam good if partner holds 5 hearts as good as Qxxxx.

 

Once West splinters, East has a huge hand. The 6th trump is enormous, almost always allowing at least 2 ruffs in dummy. 8 trump tricks, the diamond Ace and the club A is 10 tricks using only 7 of partner's hcp.

 

I'm not sure what I'd do, but keycard isn't unreasonable. We must surely have 5 level safety.

 

Assuming 4N (for me, usually it would be a kickback 4♠), we get the 3 keycard response, over which we can rekey.

 

Partner's 6♣ specific King response gets us to 12 tricks already, using only 14 hcp. Note I wouldn't ask for the heart Q.

 

It isn't clear to me that we can reach grand. Maybe 6♦ by East: it isn't asking about the known diamond situation so it should implicitly convey the message that we're interested in grand, and is there a reason for bidding it? I'd be impressed by a partnership that bid this way AND had West bid grand, knowing what was going on.

 

Btw, for cyberyeti: why does 1♥ suggest 5? If it does, how do you bid, say, 2=4=3=4 shape?

[lalldonn]

It isn't clear to me that we can reach grand.

Wow, am I looking at a different set of hands than other people? After a diamond splinter and 3 keycards response I would just bid 7♥ as east and not even waste time with 5NT. What would I be waiting for? Even if you can construct any hands where the grand is not good, there would be very few and they would have to be carefully constructed, and you would surely still have some sort of reasonable play.

 

Everyone gets a lot of blame. I don't like anything but the 1♣ and 1♥ bids. Not east's pass, west's 3♥ bid, or east's 4♥ bid.

[Cyberyeti]

Btw, for cyberyeti: why does 1♥ suggest 5? If it does, how do you bid, say, 2=4=3=4 shape?

My club shows 4+ so I bid 2♣ inverted 10+ not denying 4M if I have the values, pass or 1N if not, if I'm 34 in the majors I double.

[mike777]

I open 1h and show nonminimum hand after 2nt raise.

[ArtK78]

As for the subsequent auction, Art's views seem to me a little idiosyncratic. The 'free bid shows extras' idea, which was never universal, basically became extinct maybe 40 years ago.

Mike, I didn't say that the free bid showed extras. I just referred to East's bid as a free bid.

[lowerline]

[hv=pc=n&s=sqj983hqd87cjt983&w=sakt4hak74d3ck642&n=s752hj3dkq952cq75&e=s6ht98652dajt64ca&d=n&v=e&b=9&a=ppp1c1d1h1s3hp4hppp]399|300[/hv]

Making 13 tricks...... IMPs

 

A few pairs who reached slam had West make the 4H rebid over South's 1S... and East went RKC ... or East opened: ( p ) - 1H - ( p ) - Jac2NT .... and West eventually went RKC .

 

One alternative bid I saw in the postmortem was a 3D-jump cue SPLINTER by Opener [ instead of a 3H ( or 4H )-jump ] , which no one used .

 

Not reaching 6 is incomprehensible... The blame for not reaching 7 is shared: East for not opening 1♥ and West for not splintering after the 1♥ response.

 

Steven

[han]

For what it is worth I think that using 3D here as a splinter is not a good treatment. In competition you will want to raise to 3H more aggressively than without. For example on x AKxx xxx AJ10xx I think that everybody should want to bid 3H (I tried to phrase this carefully because I know there are some posters who usually want to bid less than they should).

 

If you bid 3H on these hands, then it seems like a good idea to use 3D as a traditional 3H bid. This could be either x AQxx Axx AJ10xx or Axx AQxx x AJ10xx. Over both 3D and 3H you could use 3S as a shortness ask, if the opponents give you the chance.

 

I would have opened the east hand 1H and I would bid 4D with the west hand. Basically I agree with lalldonn but I'm not going to say it.

[han]

Mike, I didn't say that the free bid showed extras. I just referred to East's bid as a free bid.

 

Please also note that the 1C opening was in fourth seat.

[Zelandakh]

As an aside, Pass, 1♣, 2♠ or something else with the South hand after 2 passes?

 

On the ATB, West seems to have made the first clear mistake, while East made one clear mistake subsequently and a potentially questionable call beforehand. That adds up to West getting the major share for me, but there is plenty to go around.

[Trinidad]

I can certainly understand not opening the East hand.

 

West's 3♥ is an underbid. I would have bid 4♦. I can somewhat understand 3♥, but it is a misbid.

 

East's 4♥ is IMO the biggest underbid.

• 
   
  
• You have a 6 loser hand with two aces.
  
• Partner has shown an unbalanced hand with 4 hearts and 4+ clubs in the 15-17 range.
  
• North has advertized that partner may be short in diamonds, the suit where you hold length and no wasted values. (If you would have had North's diamonds it would habe been entirely different.)
  
• You have already limited your hand by not opening. This means that partner won't go crazy if you make a slam try.
   
  

That makes it completely automatic to bid 3♠.

 

Rik

[Lovera]

I consider the West hand as a game force after the free 1♥ bid by partner. But I would bid 4♦ as a minimal game forcing splinter raise.

 

3♦ should be an invitational or better than game-forcing splinter raise. Responder treats it as game-invitational and bids accordingly. With a better than game-forcing splinter raise opener bids again over a signoff and moves towards slam opposite anything other than a signoff.

 

The West hand would be a better than game-forcing splinter raise if the ♣K642 were replaced by the ♣AQ42.

 

The West hand would be an invitational splinter raise if you took away one of the major suit Ks.

 

I am sure that East will move towards slam if opener rebids 4♦. Once East confirms that his side has all of the keycards and a 10 card heart fit, a grand is possible. Follow-up RKCB bids will reveal the possession of the ♣K, and East can bid 6♦ to ask if West has anything else if he thinks he needs more. The possession of the ♠K in addition to what West has already shown should be sufficient for the grand as East can count 13 tricks - 6 hearts, AK of spades, AK of clubs, A of diamonds and two diamond ruffs (assuming 2-1 hearts).

 

EW might still get to the grand if West has AKQJ of hearts instead of the K of spades. But it would be a little more difficult to count 13 tricks.

I think that you ought bid the same a grand when you have 12 tricks in your count too if you then don't get it. But, as cards lie, you realize it also if, instead of ♠K there is Q or without ♠K there is ♣Q plus K or if you have, alternatively, Q in trump suit with a squeeze in black suits. East has the best position to query and i suggest to ask for Q to have ♣K information.(Lovera)