Bidding Fast, Then Slow

 

Today, we’ll look at another slam bidding sequence. Sally is the dealer and passes. Walt holds

Walt
♠ KQ7532
♥ KQJ6
♦ J3
♣ 5

That’s 12 points in high cards, but Walt decides to subtract one for not having any aces and having just a doubleton jack in diamonds. Then, he adds 2 distribution points for the 6-card suit and one more for the second suit. That’s 12-1+2+1, 14 points total. It’s clearly enough to open the bidding with 1 spade.

Norm and Sally pass at every opportunity.

Edie finds herself with this strong hand:

Edie
♠ A6
♥ A32
♦ K4
♣ AKQ987

She has 20 HCP plus 2 in distribution for the 5^th and 6^th spades. Twenty-two points combined with her partner’s 13 should make a small slam. They might even have enough for grand slam. The problem is going to be finding a trump suit or choosing to play in NT. She doesn’t have adequate support for her partner’s suit, but she has a strong club suit. No trump looks possible, too. First off, she needs to show her strength. A jump shift by responder shows at least 19 points. It’s forcing to game and is a strong invitation to slam. That sounds like a good choice. She bids 3 clubs.

Walt has just a minimum opening hand, but still…opposite a jump shift, he wonders if a slam is in store. With the bidding already forced to game, there is no hurry. The team needs to find a trump fit if they have one. Edie could easily have 4 cards in hearts. Walt bids 3 hearts. He might want to show his extra length in spades later if he has a chance.

Edie doesn’t like hearts or spades for a trump suit, but her clubs will likely play well in a NT contract. She is worried that Walt will pass if she just bids 3NT, and she wants to be in a small slam, at least. She decides to bid Blackwood to see if her partner has the missing ace. If he has it, she will ask for kings to see if grand slam is possible. She bids 4NT.

Walt shows no aces by bidding 5 clubs.

OK, so grand slam isn’t there, but a small slam should be. Edie bids 6NT and worries a little bit about the diamonds. There is some risk that Walt had a very distributional hand with something like 6-6 in the majors with a singleton and a void in the minors. OK, that is a flaw in the strong jump shift. It uses up a lot of bidding space. Opposite most hands, though, 6NT should play well.

The opening lead is a small diamond--the unbid suit. Edie plans the play:

Dummy
♠ KQ7532
♥ KQJ6
♦ J3
♣ 5

Declarer
♠ A6
♥ A32
♦ K4
♣ AKQ987

Edie’s worry about the diamonds is well founded, but with the lead on her left she will take the king either on the first trick, or later if Norm takes the ace on the first trick. Now, she needs a plan to cash 11 more tricks without losing the lead.

Without jumping through any hoops, she can take the AKQ of spades, the AKQJ of hearts and the AKQ of clubs. That’s 10 tricks. She just needs a 3-2 break in spades or a 3-3 break in clubs to set up the little cards in one of those suits. She can just cash the winners and if one suit breaks badly, she can use the other suit as a backup plan. It’s not 100% guaranteed, but the odds are in her favor.

 

 

Responding to a Weak Two Opener - An Example

Responding when your partner opens with a weak two can be difficult. The weak two uses up a lot of bidding room. That’s great when the opponents have most of the strength. It’s not so great when you have a good hand.

The general principle is RONF or Raise-Only-Not-Forcing. Any bid that you make other than a raise of your partner’s suit is forcing for one round. A raise of your partner’s suit is intended to play there. She is expected to pass.

Let’s look at an example. Sally is dealer and opens 2 spades. Walt passes. Norm is holding this hand:

Norm
♠ KQ4
♥ 653
♦ AK8
♣ JT75

That’s 13 points with extra trump support. A game is possible if Sally is on the top of her bid. Even 3NT is possible, but the weak hearts might make that risky. Norm thinks about inviting game by bidding 3 spades, but then he remembers the RONF acronym. A raise tells his partner to pass.

This hand is a good candidate for the special 2NT response to a weak two opener. The 2NT response asks the opening bidder to show a “feature.” The opener will rebid her suit with a low-end weak two. With a strong weak two, she will show an ace or king in a side suit (the feature) by bidding that suit. With a strong hand and no feature, she bids 3NT to show…well…a strong weak two with no feature.

If Sally shows a feature in hearts, Norm might bid 3NT. His hand is balanced. He is no longer worried about hearts, and the 6-3 fit in spades will likely generate 5 or 6 tricks. It's not hard to envision taking 9 tricks in NT. With any other positive response from Sally, Norm will bid 4 spades.

Sally holds this hand:

Sally
♠ AJT986
♥ Q7
♦ 954
♣ Q2

That’s a solid weak two opener, but it isn’t exactly a strong weak two. It’s not exactly a weak weak two, either. It's in the middle. She doesn’t have a feature to show, and the two doubleton queens tilt the hand toward the weak side. She decides to show weakness and bids 3 spades.

Norm has learned what he needs to know and passes.

As the cards lie, even 3 spades looks unlikely to make. Sally sees 2 losers in hearts, 1 in diamonds, and 2 in clubs. Bummer.

Wide Ranges and Narrow Ranges

 When your partner makes a bid, it is important to ask yourself whether the bid shows a wide point range or a narrow one. If it is a narrow point range, like 10-12, you should assume control of the bidding. Add your points to your partner's and decide whether you should stop in a part score, bid a game, or try for a slam. Sometimes you need to know if your partner is on the high end or low end of that narrow range. In those cases, you should make a bid that invites your partner to bid on if she is on the top of the range, or pass if she isn't.

When your partner makes a bid that shows a wide point range you should be inclined to keep the bidding open for your partner to bid again. For example, an opening bid of 1 spade could be just 13 points or it could be over 20 points, but just shy of the requirements for a strong 2 club opener. That's why you must respond with just 6 points. You want to give your partner a chance to narrow down her point range. You might have the opportunity to show a narrow range with your own hand with your response. If you have adequate trump support (3 or more cards), a single raise shows 6-9 points and a double raise shows 10-12.

So, what sorts of bids show wide ranges and what sorts of bids show narrow ranges? In general, when you bid a suit that has been mentioned before by you or your partner, your bid will show a narrow range. The same goes for when you bid no trump. When you bid a new suit, your point range is usually pretty large.

Wide Ranges

As I just mentioned new suit bids generally show wide point ranges. Some examples are:

• Opening one bids
• New suits by responder
• New suits rebids by opener 

 When your partner makes one of these bids, you will often want to bid again to give your partner a chance to better describe her hand. Let's look at each one in turn.

Opening One Bids

The opening one bid could be anything from 13 to 21 points. That's why you MUST respond if you have at least 6 points. You don't want to miss a game bid if your partner is on the high end. If your partner opens with 1 spade and you have at least 6 points, but fewer than 10, your options are rather limited. You can't introduce a new suit at the 2 level with fewer than 10 points, so your only choices are 2 spades and 1 no trump. Don't worry if your hand looks ill suited for no trump. Your partner knows that that is a possibility. You are just telling her that you do not have adequate trump support and that you have 6-9 points. And guess what? You just limited your hand. That should make her bidding a little easier.

New Suit by Responder

When you open one of a suit and your partner responds in a new suit, she could have as few as 6 points (if the new suit is at the one level) or as many as 18. Not only should you bid. You are forced to bid for this round. You might be wondering, "Six points is a forcing bid?" Well, yeah, but it could be 18. That's why it takes 10 points to introduce a new suit at the 2 level. The 1-over-1 new suit bid will only force the opener to bid at the 2 level as a worst case. The 2-over-1 response might make the opener bid at the 3 level.

New Suit Rebids by Opener

There are some sequences where it seems that neither player wants to limit their hand. Something like

Opener: 1 club

Responder: 1 heart

Opener: 1 spade

That's a perfectly normal sequence, but neither player has narrowed their possible strength ranges. The opener didn't make a jump-shift, so at least we know that she doesn't have 20+ points. Responder can pass with a minimum 6 points if he is happy playing in spades. The players are running out of new suits to bid, so it is likely that one or the other of them will limit their hand on the next bid.

Narrow Ranges

Bids that show narrow ranges are

• No trump bids
• Raises of partner's suit
• Rebids of your own suit

These bids generally show 3 point ranges, although sometimes a point more or a point less. Let's look at each one,

No Trump Bids

Opening no trump bids show very specific types of hands with either 2 or 3 point ranges. A detailed discussion of no trump opening bids is discussed in an earlier post. 

Responding to an opening one bid in no trump shows a specific point range as follows:

• 1NT: 6-9 points
• 2NT: 13-15 points
• 3NT: 16-18 points 

The no trump responses also deny adequate trump support for a major suit opener, and usually deny 4 cards in a major suit that could have been bid instead. It is probably a good idea to avoid the 2NT response to a major suit opener. The SAYC system uses that bid as the "Jacoby 2NT" convention--a conventional forcing raise. We haven't discussed that, yet. It's a little too advanced for now.

No trump rebids by opener also show a specific point range. Minimum rebids in NT show minimum opening hands (13-15 points). Jump rebids in NT show 16-18 points. Here are some examples:

Opener: 1 club

Responder: 1 heart

Opener: 1 NT (13-15 points). 

Opener also implies the lack of a 4-card spade suit or 4-card support for his partner's hearts

Opener: 1 club

Responder: 1 spade

Opener: 2 NT (16-18 points)

Opener implies lack of 4-card support for his partner's hearts, and probably doesn't have 4 hearts, either. With 4 hearts, opener might have bid 2H as a reverse to show the extra strength. See my earlier post on reverses if you are unclear on that concept.

Opener: 1 spade

Responder: 2 hearts

Opener: 2 NT (13-15 points). 

This is a minimum rebid in NT. It shows a minimum strength opener.

Opener: 1 spade

Responder: 2 hearts

Opener: 3 NT (16-18 points). 

Responder's 2-over-1 response promises 10 points, so opener can confidently bid game. This is not a shut-off bid. Responder could be much stronger than 10. His bid has a wide range. He should investigate slam if his points added to opener's possible 18 could add up to 33.

Raises of Partner's Suit

Direct raises of the opener's suit should be well-known to you by now. A single raise shows 6-9 points. A double raise shows 10-12 points.

When the opener supports her partner's suit, it shows a specific point range, also. A minimum raise shows a minimum hand (13-15 points). A jump raise shows 16-18. An immediate raise to 4 shows 19+.

This last bid merits further discussion. Consider this sequence:

Opener: 1 club (13-21 points)

Responder: 1 spade (6-17 points)

Opener: 4 spades

For all that the opener knows, her partner might have just 6 points. She just jumped to game. She would like to have 20 points to do that. I wouldn't blame her for just jumping to 3 with 19, but 19 and some reason to be optimistic is enough to jump to game.

Now, consider the responder's rebid. He might have far more than 6 points, and his partner has just jumped to game based only on his promise of at least 6. Responder does the math and expects his partner to have 20 points. If responder has 12 or more points, he should consider a slam try.

Rebids of Your Own Suit

The same ideas apply when you rebid your own suit. Minimum rebids show minimum hands. Jump rebids show 3-6 points more than a minimum hand. Here are some examples:

Opener: 1 heart

Responder: 1 spade

Opener: 2 hearts (13-15 points)

Opener: 1 heart

Responder: 1 spade

Opener: 3 hearts (16-18 points)

It's a little bit different for the responder. In the sequences above, the opener was forced to rebid. The responder can pass his rebid, so any bid shows a little bit more than a minimum. Consider this sequence:

Opener: 1 club

Responder: 1 heart (6-18)

Opener: 1 spade (13-19 with 20+ she would jump shift)

Responder: ?

With a mere 6 points, if partner wants to rebid hearts, it's too bad. He needs more strength to advance the bidding. He can bid 1NT or pass. With something like 5 clubs and 3 spades, he can take his partner back to clubs, but those are about all of his options.

With a 5-card heart suit and 10-12 points, he can rebid his hearts. If he has 13+ points and 5 hearts, he can make a single jump to 3 hearts. This bid doesn't limit his hand too much, but jumps by responder at this point in the bidding are forcing to game.

Summary

• Bidding a suit for the first time generally doesn't limit your hand strength to a narrow range. 
• Bidding a suit that has already been mentioned by your side generally does.
• Bidding no trump at any point in the auction usually limits your strength to a narrow range.

Another Slam

Today, we’ll look at another slam. It makes easily as the cards lie. I only found one obscure way that it goes set. Those are good odds.

	Norm ♠ 6 ♥ AKJ ♦ QT65 ♣ AQJT3
Walt ♠ AT7 ♥ T3 ♦ 92 ♣ K98654		Edie ♠ 8532 ♥ 86 ♦ K8743 ♣ 7
	Sally ♠ KQJ9 ♥ Q97542 ♦ AJ ♣ 2

Edie is the dealer. She has next to nothing and passes. Sally has 13 HCP plus 2 distribution points for the 6-card heart suit and 1 more distribution point for the second 4-card suit. She bids 1 heart. Walt briefly considers interfering with a jump in clubs, but decides against it. He passes. Edie and Walt pass at every opportunity from now on.

Norm has support for his partner’s hearts, but with 17 points in high cards and 2 distribution points, he is too strong for a single raise (6-9) or a limit double raise (10-12). If he had an extra trump, he could count 3 points for the singleton. In any case, he has 19 points. That’s enough for a jump shift. He bids 3 clubs. Edie passes.

A jump shift by responder is an invitation to slam. Thirteen points by opener plus 19 by responder is just one point short of the 33 needed for a small slam. There is no upper limit to the jump shift, so the partners should take their time finding their best contract. They are already forced to game.

Sally doesn’t know that Norm has support for her hearts. She also knows that Norm doesn’t know that she has 6. The club bid might suggest playing in no trump, but transportation might be difficult. Sally decides that the best choice is to show her 6-card heart suit. Norm also doesn’t know that Sally has better than a minimum opening bid, but she doesn’t want to rush the bidding. She is sure to get another chance to bid since the jump shift is a game force. She simply rebids her hearts with a 3H bid. Walt passes.

Norm doesn’t know that Sally has extra strength. For all he knows, Sally has a minimum opening hand. He has shown all of his strength with his original jump-shift response. He just needs to show Sally that he has support for her hearts. She can push farther if she has more than a minimum hand. He bids 4H.

Now, Sally adds her 16 points to her partner’s promised 19 and wants to be in slam. If Norm has just a couple more than his promised 19 points, grand slam could be possible. It might be hard to find the grand slam, but she starts by with the Blackwood convention to make sure that they are not off two aces. It’s hard to imagine how that could be, but the information might help to find the grand slam. She bids 4NT.

Norm shows 2 aces by bidding 5H. Well, there goes the grand slam idea. Small slam missing one ace shouldn’t be a problem. Norm’s points have to be somewhere useful. Sally bids 6H and everyone passes.

Walt is on lead.

Walt
♠ AT7
♥ T3
♦ 92
♣ K98654

Some people like to lead aces against slams, but from Walt’s point of view, it might just make the play easier for Sally. Getting a club ruff in his partner’s hand is a possibility after Norm’s initial club bid, but unless Edie is void in clubs, leading away from that king could help the opponents. Norm decides to try a safe lead of the 9 of diamonds.

	Norm ♠ 6 ♥ AKJ ♦ QT65 ♣ AQJT3
Walt ?		Edie ?
	Sally ♠ KQJ9 ♥ Q97542 ♦ AJ ♣ 2

There really isn’t much that Walt could do. The diamond lead gives Sally a free finesse, but she would have played it that way for herself, anyway. Sally plays small from dummy, and Edie holds on to her king, hoping to make a trick with it later. She plays the 3 and Sally takes with the Jack.

Sally has to lose the ace of spades. She needs to have a plan to not lose a second one. It all depends on how the trumps break.

If the trumps break 2-2 Sally can simply pull trump, force out the ace of spades and ruff the 9 of spades in dummy. But what if they don’t?

If Sally pulls two rounds of trump and one opponent fails to follow suit on the second one, she has a problem. She still needs to force out the ace of spades and regain the lead to ruff the losing spade. If the opponent holding the ace also holds the missing trump, that player will lead back the trump, and there goes her plan for ruffing a spade. There is still a club finesse that could yield a club ace to discard the losing spade. Is there a better way?

How about leading the king of spades on the second trick? Now, the opponent with the ace will take it. That happens to be Walt. Walt looks at his 6 clubs and the 5 clubs on the board, and decides to take a chance on his partner being void in clubs. He doesn’t like leading away from his king with the AQ on the board, but with only 2 clubs out, the only time Sally is going to think about playing the queen will be when she holds two little clubs. That leaves Edie with none. Walt leads a small club. Sally plays the ace from dummy. Edie follows suit.

Sally starts by testing against a 4-0 trump break. She leads the ace of trump from dummy. If the trumps break 4-0, she will need all of her big trumps to avoid a trump loser. Play will be difficult, but not impossible. We’ll look at that possibility a little later. As the cards stand, both players follow to the trump lead. Sally can afford another trump lead. She leads the king. Both players follow. Wow! Now it’s easy. The trumps are gone. Sally leads to the ace of diamonds and ruffs the 9 of spades. She can get to her hand by ruffing either a diamond or a club and her hand is good.

Suppose someone showed out on the second round of trumps. Now, Sally needs to stop pulling trump. She needs to get the spade ruff in first. She will know where the missing trump is. If Edie holds it, there is nothing to worry about. Sally can lead a club from the board, intending to ruff in her hand. If Edie ruffs, Sally can simply over ruff.

If Walt holds the missing trump, it is probably still safer to lead a club and ruff it. The only time this loses is if Walt started with a singleton club and three trumps. It’s possible, but the opening lead of the 9 of diamonds looks more likely to be a singleton than the later lead of a small club.

Let’s say the club lead doesn’t get overruffed by Walt. Now Sally leads the 9 of spades to ruff in dummy. There is no chance of an overruff there. The Jack is high.

Let’s say that Edie followed suit to the second club. Sally is on the board and still needs to pull the last trump. Sally needs to get back to her hand. Leading a club, again has a higher risk of being overruffed by Walt. I like leading to the ace of diamonds at this point. Walt might ruff, but we’ll take that chance. Sally takes the ace, Walt follows suit, and Sally pulls the last trump. Her hand is good.

Suppose Edie showed out on the first round of trump. Grrr. Sally will need to watch her entries to the board, and try a ruffing finesse in one of the minor suits. Walt’s lead of a small club suggest that he does not have the king. Sally leads the queen of clubs from dummy intending to discard the 9 of spades if Edie ducks, and ruffing if she covers with the king.

To her great surprise, Edie discards! That crazy Walt led away from his king into the AQ on the board. Sally has to ruff. Now what? She needs all of the trumps on the board to pull trump. There is a good king of clubs to her left. Walt started with 6 clubs, 4 hearts, and at least 1 diamond and 1 spade. That only leaves one card unaccounted for. A ruffing finesse in diamonds would require two more diamonds in Walt’s hand, so that is guaranteed not to work. There’s no hope. Sally’s goose is cooked.

Two Ways to Bid a Slam

Today’s hand shows how a pair can bid a slam using simple arithmetic. This isn’t the method that was used when the hand was played, but they still found the slam.

	Norm ♠ 95 ♥ J976 ♦ T64 ♣ 9652
Walt ♠ AQT ♥ K853 ♦ AQ32 ♣ A8		Edie ♠ KJ76 ♥ A4 ♦ K85 ♣ KQ74
	Sally ♠ 8432 ♥ QT2 ♦ J97 ♣ JT3

Walt is the dealer. He has 19 points in high cards and no trump distribution. His hand is too strong to open 1NT (15-17 HCP) and too weak to open 2NT (20-21 HCP). He needs to open with 1 of a suit, intending to jump in NT at his next turn. He opens 1 diamond.

Norm and Sally have next to nothing. They will pass at every opportunity.

Edie doesn’t know how strong her partner’s hand is. It might be a minimum 13 point hand, or it could be just short of a strong 2 clubs. She has a strong hand. She’s got 16 points in high cards and can count one for distribution. It’s not strong enough for a jump shift, but she doesn’t have to show her strength, yet. Any new suit bid by responder is forcing for one round, so she will get another chance to bid after responding with 1 spade.

Walt doesn’t know how strong his partner is. Her 1S response could be as weak as 6 points, or just short of the 19 points needed for a jump shift. He doesn’t expect his partner to have 4 hearts, because she skipped over them. His partner is only promising 4 cards in spades and they might be little ones, so he can’t be sure of a spade fit. No problem. He had jumping in NT in mind right from the start. He bids 2NT.

Now, Edie knows precisely how strong Walt is. His opening suit bid followed by a jump in NT shows 18-19 HCP. No trump looks good to her. She adds her 16 HCP to her partner’s 18 and comes up with 34. That should be enough for a small slam. If her partner has 19 points, the 35 point total isn’t enough for grand slam. She just sits right up and bids 6NT. There is no need to ask for aces. Their side can’t be off 2 aces if they have at least 34 HCP. There are only 6 HCP left for the opponents.

Next, suppose we move one card in Walt’s hand. This is actually the way the cards stood when the hand was played.

	Norm ♠ 95 ♥ J976 ♦ T64 ♣ 9652
Walt ♠ AQT8 ♥ K853 ♦ AQ32 ♣ A		Edie ♠ KJ76 ♥ A4 ♦ K85 ♣ KQ74
	Sally ♠ 432 ♥ QT2 ♦ J97 ♣ JT83

Now, Walt’s hand doesn’t look too good for no trump, unless his partner shows some length in clubs. As before, he bids 1 diamond.

Nothing has changed for Edie at this point. She bids 1 spade.

Now, Walt doesn’t want to jump in NT. The clubs could be trouble and he has found a 4-4 spade fit. He wants to support Edie’s spades and show his strength. When supporting partner’s suit or rebidding your own suit, a minimum bid shows a minimum hand. A jump in that suit shows about 3-5 points (about 1 trick) more than the minimum.

Here, Walt has 19 HCP and can count 2 distribution points for the singleton club, now that they have found a suit fit. For all he knows, Edie might have just 6 points. She could pass a jump to 3 spades. Walt knows that they have enough for game, so he just bids it. He bids 4 spades.

Now, Edie shouldn’t just automatically pass because they have reached game. She should stop to reason, “Walt bid game even though I have only promised 6 points. He must have at least 20 points to do that.” She adds her 16 to partner’s 20 and she should be pretty sure that they have enough for a small slam. Grand slam is a possibility. Now, asking for aces is useful. She would be surprised to find that her partner doesn’t have all the missing aces. She is really interested in how many kings he has. She bids 4NT.

Walt responds 5S, showing the 3 aces that she expected. If Walt has the missing king, grand slam looks likely. She bids 5NT. Walt shows the missing king by bidding 6H. Edie bids 7S.

Responding to 1NT with Nothing But Distribution

 

Sometimes when your partner opens 1NT you can respond with zero points. The main idea is that when your partner has limited her hand, you are in control. You don’t have to worry about the bidding getting too high if you hold the right sort of hand. Let’s look at some examples. In every case, your partner opened 1NT and the next player passed.

You ♠ 987654 ♥ 2 ♦ 543 ♣ 654

Your side has less than half the points, but you still might end up with the contract. Two spades looks like less trouble than 1NT. If you bid 2H as a transfer, partner will bid 2S automatically. Then, you can pass. Well done.

The same idea would work if the spades and hearts were reversed. Bid a 2D transfer and pass the automatic 2H bid from partner.

I wouldn’t try this with a long minor suit. Transferring with a 2S bid will get you to the 3 level. Passing out 1NT looks less risky.

There is also a special case where you can bid Stayman with fewer than the usual minimum of 8 points. Suppose you hold this hand:

You
♠ 9876
♥ T953
♦ 98743
♣ -

Here, you have the luxury of being able to pass any Stayman response your partner might make. Your partner opens 1NT. You bid 2C. If partner has a 4-card major suit, she will bid it. You found a 4-4 major suit fit and can pass. If partner doesn’t have a major suit, she will bid 2D. Having opened 1NT and denied 4 cards in either major, you can expect her to have at least 3 diamonds. Once again, you have found a trump fit and can pass.

The worst that could happen is if partner started with 3-3-2-5 distribution (going from spades down to clubs). If you are that unlucky, you have a 5-2 trump fit and are probably still better off than being in NT.

The moral of the story is to think ahead about what your partner might respond to your bid. Sometimes you can break the rules if you can tolerate all her responses.

A difficult 5 diamond contract

 

Today we’ll look at a hand that was bid and played much differently in real life.

Norm is the dealer and holds

Norm ♠ K3 ♥ 63 ♦ AJ3 ♣ KJ8643

He has 12 points in high cards plus 2 in distribution for the long clubs. He opens 1 club. The opponents pass at every opportunity.

Norm’s partner Sally holds

Sally ♠ AJT97 ♥ AJ ♦ KT874 ♣ 2

Sally has 13 points in high cards plus a few more in distribution. She wants to be in game. With two 5-card suits and enough strength to bid them both, it is better to bid the higher-ranking suit first. That will make it easier for her partner to show his preference after her rebid. She doesn’t need to show her strength, yet. Any new suit bid by the responder is forcing for one round. She bids 1 spade.

Norm just has a minimum opening hand. If he had hearts stopped he might bid 1 NT, but he doesn’t. He can’t support Sally’s spades with just 2 cards. She might have just 4 little ones. He makes a minimum rebid 2 clubs, showing at least 5 cards in length.

Sally continues with her plan of showing her second suit by bidding 2 diamonds. Again, she doesn’t have to show her strength, yet. She has bid another new suit. As responder, that bid is forcing for one round.

Now, Norm is in kind of a tight spot. He can reason that Sally has at least 5 spades since with 4-4 in diamonds and spades, she would bid the diamonds first. She might be 5-4 in spades and diamonds. He doesn’t have enough length in either of Sally’s suits to guarantee an eight-card trump fit. He could rebid his clubs, again, but a misfit is possible. It might be better to hope that Sally is 5-5 in her suits. Her bidding is asking him to make a choice between those two. No trump is looking scarier still since Sally has bid two suits that are not hearts. Norm is forced to bid. He crosses his fingers and bids 3 diamonds.

Sally is happy with the diamond bid. Now, she needs to decide whether they have a shot at game. It takes 28 points to make a minor suit game. Her partner hasn’t promised anything more than a minimum 13. Sally has 13 points in high cards, and can count a distribution point for the 5^th diamond and another point or two for the second suit. That should be enough for game. She bids 5 diamonds. Everyone passes.

Walt is on lead. He holds

Walt ♠ Q82 ♥ K95 ♦ Q952 ♣ Q75

With 4 trumps, Walt would like to force Sally to ruff in her hand to weaken her trump holding. The way to do that is to lead the suit that he expects to be the longest between him and his partner. His partner has been silent, so that is no help. The opponents have not mentioned hearts, so that seems to be a logical choice. Walt isn’t happy about leading away from his king. It might give declarer a free finesse. Still, if his partner holds the ace or queen it won’t do any damage. He leads the 5 of hearts.

Now, Sally makes a plan.

Dummy ♠ K3 ♥ 63 ♦ AJ3 ♣ KJ8643

Declarer ♠ AJT97 ♥ AJ ♦ KT874 ♣ 2

She’s got a loser in clubs and one in hearts. She can’t afford any more. Unfortunately, she might also lose a trick in diamonds and one in spades. She can finesse both suits, but that only gives her a 25% chance of making the contract. This is going to be difficult.

She plays a small heart from dummy and Edie plays the queen. Sally takes the ace. Sally might be able to avoid a spade loser by cashing two rounds and ruffing one in dummy. That works if the spades break 3-3. That’s less than a 50% chance. The finesse is better. Since Sally won’t be ruffing in dummy, she sets out to pull trump. Here, she can finesse for the queen in either direction. She has no clue as to who holds the queen. It is just a guess. Since she is in her hand, she tries the finesse that way. She leads a small diamond toward the board. Walt plays the 2 and Sally plays the jack from the board. It holds. Now, she just needs a 3-2 break in diamonds to avoid a diamond loser. She plays the ace from dummy and Edie shows out. Well, there is no way to avoid losing the queen of diamonds, now.

There might be a way to avoid a heart loser, though. If Sally can discard a heart in dummy before losing the lead, she still has a diamond in dummy to ruff the jack of hearts. This plan requires Edie to hold the queen and fewer than 4 spades. It is better than nothing.

Sally is on the board and cashes the king of spades. Both players follow suit. Now, she leads the small spade for the finesse. In the actual hand, Walt holds the queen and the finesse loses. He cashes his king of hearts and eventually wins a trump and Edie wins the ace of clubs—down 2.

Let’s say the finesse holds. Now what is the plan? Sally will cash the ace of spades and hope that the queen falls. Or, if Edie started with Qx of spades, she would have to play the queen on the second round and Sally takes the ace. In either case, Sally discards a heart from dummy on the third spade. If Walt started with just 2 spades, the contract is sunk. Edie will still hold a winning spade and only one trump in dummy.

Let’s continue on with the happy version of the hand. Sally leads the ace of spades. Walt follows suit. Sally dumps the small heart from dummy, and Edie drops the queen of spades.

Now, Sally leads her small heart and ruffs it with the small diamond in dummy. Now, the hand looks like this:

Dummy ♠ - ♥ - ♦ - ♣ KJ8643

Declarer ♠ 97 ♥ - ♦ KT8 ♣ 2

Walt still holds the Q9 of diamonds. Sally hasn’t lost any tricks, yet. She leads the king of clubs and Edie takes the ace. Now, Edie would like to force Sally to ruff. She leads a heart. Sally can only afford to lose one more trick, and that is going to be a diamond. She is forced to ruff. She plays the 8 of diamonds. If Walt is also out of hearts at this point, he can overruff, but that is no problem. That is the only trump trick he gets. If he returns the queen of trump, Sally takes the king and her hand is good. If he returns a club, Sally can ruff with the ten and take Walt’s queen of trump with his king. Again, her hand is good.

If Walt still has a heart or chooses not to overruff, he will still hold the Q9 of trump to Sally’s KT. Now, Sally cannot lead trump, or else Walt will take his queen and lead back a club. Sally will need ruff with her last trump and Walt can take his last trump by ruffing a spade.

Instead, Sally must keep leading her good spades until Walt ruffs. At that point, she will still hold the KT of trump over Walt’s now singleton queen. She can ruff Walt’s return and pull his last trump to set up the remaining spades.

If Walt continues to refuse to ruff in, Sally will hold the KT of trump as her last two cards, and Walt will hold the Q9. Sally can cash her king of trump and give Walt his queen. She makes her contract.

That was hard. Wasn’t it?

A Grand Slam if You Can Bid It

 

Today’s hand is practically a laydown for 7NT. The problem is finding it. We’ll start by assuming Norm and Sally found their grand slam and plan the play of the hand.

	Norm ♠ KT ♥ T ♦ AKJ52 ♣ AQ765
Walt ♠ JT976 ♥ 982 ♦ T984 ♣ 3		Edie ♠ Q83 ♥ J7643 ♦ 76 ♣ J82
	Sally ♠ A42 ♥ AKQ5 ♦ Q3 ♣ KT94

 

It doesn’t matter what suit is led. Sally counts how many tricks she can take off the top. She has 2 tricks in spades, 3 in hearts, 4 in diamonds, and 3 in clubs. That’s 12 tricks, no matter what. If the diamonds break no worse than 4-2, she will set up her 5^th diamond. If they don’t she can make her extra trick in clubs. If they break no worse than 3-1, she can take all the clubs. If they break 4-0, she can finesse for the J in either direction, and she will know who holds it after cashing the ace. Wow! That was easy. Now, how do they bid it?

Walt was the dealer and passed. Walt and Edie have next to nothing and pass at every turn.

Norm has 17 points in high cards and can count 1 point in distribution for the 5^th card in whichever 5-card suit he chooses plus 2 more for the strong second suit. That’s 20 points, total. It’s not enough for a strong 2 club opener, and his distribution is not appropriate for a no trump opener. He opens the higher-ranking of his two 5-card suits—1 diamond.

Sally counts 18 points in high cards. She might add 1 distribution point later for the doubleton diamond, but for now, that is her partner’s first suit. No matter. She is going to bid her 4-card heart suit and she isn’t strong enough for a jump shift. She knows that her side has enough for game. She doesn’t need to worry that her partner will pass. She is the responder and a new suit is forcing for one round. She bids 1 heart.

Now, Norm does have enough for a jump shift. A jump shift by opener shows 20+ points. He bids 3 clubs.

Now, Sally adds her 1 distribution point for the doubleton diamond, because she has support for her partner’s clubs. Her 19 points plus her partner’s 20+ adds up to almost all the points in the deck. She has grand slam in mind. She could just bid 7 clubs and be done with it. Instead, she gathers some more information. She wants to make sure that they aren’t missing any aces. They shouldn’t be because of the point count, but maybe Norm counted some distribution points. Asking for aces certainly won’t do any harm. She bids 4NT.

Norm makes his Blackwood response of 5 hearts.

That response was no surprise to Sally. Now, she starts wondering about no trump. If Norm has the two missing kings, 7NT seems likely. She bids 5NT and Norm shows the two missing kings by bidding 6 hearts.

Norm’s Blackwood responses account for 14 HCP, and he said he had 20+ total points. Those other 6 points have to fit somewhere. 7NT looks good. Sally bids it.

What could go wrong in the bidding?

I said the bidding was hard. In the sequence I described, it wasn’t hard at all. Here’s one thing that could go wrong. Suppose that after hearing his partner bid hearts, Norm decides to subtract a distribution point or two. He might re-evaluated his hand as 18 points. That’s not enough for a jump shift. He simply rebids 2 clubs.

Now, Sally is in a tough spot. Her 19 points has her thinking about small slam, but even that might not be there. It is probably enough to ask for aces and bid 6 clubs if Norm shows 1 or 2 aces, but Norm’s hand could be as strong as 19 points with his bidding. She hasn’t said much about her strength either. Her 1 heart response could have been based on a 6-point hand. She’d like to make a forcing bid that shows her strength, but what would that be? A jump raise in clubs only promises 13 points. At least it is forcing to game. She could jump to 3NT, but that only promises enough for game, and her partner could easily pass.

You see? That’s a tough choice.

Let’s say she chooses to ask for aces. She still doesn’t know that her partner has anything more than a minimum opener. She bids 4NT, her partner shows 2 aces by bidding 5 hearts. That’s good enough to bid 6 clubs. Asking for kings is too risky. If her partner has just 1 king, he will bid 6 diamonds, committing them to 7 clubs. It might work, but if Norm had just a minimum opening hand of 13 points, they are likely in trouble.

What actually happened

When I played this hand, I was holding Sally’s hand. My partner opened with 1 club. That’s a mistake. He should open the higher ranking of two 5-card suits. Perhaps he wanted to show his strength with a reverse. As I mentioned in the post on reverses, they are usually not planned in advance.

I responded with 1 heart, and my partner did reverse by bidding 2 diamonds. At this point, I expect him to have 5 clubs and 4 diamonds and 16+ points. His 16 points plus my 18 or 19 points should have me thinking about slam in clubs, but my hand looks like NT will play well. I chose to jump to 3NT to show an opening hand. Now, my partner re-evaluates his hand for NT and subtracts his distribution points. Having just 17 HCP opposite 13 points, he decides to skip any slam exploration and passes.

What’s the Moral of the Story?

Try to bid so that your partner knows your strength to a narrow range whenever it is practical. Sometimes it is not practical. You might need to give your partner the opportunity to narrow the strength of his hand. Some hands are just hard to bid.

Addendum

Let's take a look at what the players know about their partner's range at each bid.

Norm opens with 1 diamond

Sally knows that Norm has at least 13 points, but could be as strong as 23 or so. If Norm were stronger than that range, he would open 2 clubs. 

That's a big range, but there is plenty of time to learn more.

Sally responds with 1 heart

Norm knows that Sally has at least 6 points, but could be as strong as 18 or so. If Sally were stronger, she would make a jump shift to 2 hearts.

That's a big range, but there is plenty of time to learn more.

Scenario 1: Norm rebids 3 clubs

Norm has made a jump shift, showing at least 20 points. Now his range is narrowed to 20-23 or so. Sally is in charge of deciding whether to stop at game or explore slam.

Scenario 2: Norm rebids 2 clubs

Norm decided not to make a jump shift. Now, Sally can narrow his range to 13-19 points. She knows a bit more about Norm's hand, but it is difficult for her to decide where to go with her 18 points. It is also difficult for her to limit her own hand.

Scenario 3: Norm opens 1 club and rebids 2 diamonds

Norm has reversed. That shows at least 16 points. He didn't make a jump shift, so his point range is going to be 16-19. That's a reasonably small range. Sally is in charge of deciding whether to stop at game or explore slam. Sally expects that Norm's clubs are longer than his diamonds since he bid them first.