An Easier Slam

Today, we’ll look at a small slam that is easy to bid and easy to make. Not every lesson needs to be hard.

	Norm ♠ A98 ♥ A983 ♦ AK6 ♣ A52
Walt ?	Dealer: Edie W N E S     Pass 1D Pass 2H Pass 3H Pass 6H Pass Pass Pass	Edie ?
	Sally ♠ QJ6 ♥ KQJ7 ♦ Q9875 ♣ 4

 

The Bidding

For this lesson, the opponents’ hands don’t matter much, so I haven’t shown them. Edie passes and Sally chooses to open the bidding. She has 11 HCP and can count 2 points for distribution—one for the 5^th diamond and one for the second suit. Walt passes. Norm has 19 HCP and balanced distribution. No trump seems like a good place to land, but he doesn’t have an appropriate no trump response. Remember that no trump bids generally show a specific point range. Point ranges for trump responses to a one-of-a-minor opening are:

1NT: 6-9 HCP

2NT: 13-15 HCP

3NT: 16-18 HCP

Another issue is that Norm should be thinking about slam. His partner should have at least 13 points and he has 19. Just one more point makes the 33 points needed for slam. Sally could easily pass the 3NT response with a minimum opener. The solution is to make a jump shift. The jump shift by responder shows 19+ points, is forcing to game, and strongly suggests that slam is possible. Norm bids 2H. Edie passes.

Sally is happy with hearts. She responds 3H. That bid doesn’t give any additional information about the strength of her hand. It just shows a heart fit. Walt passes.

Now, Norm has a difficult decision to make. He is happy to have found a heart fit, but he still likes no trump. The problem with no trump is that 3NT is likely to be passed and 4NT is the Blackwood ace-asking convention. Norm needs to give up on no trump. He needs to be happy with finding a heart fit.

Now, how does Norm figure out if their side has enough strength for a small slam? How about a grand slam? What about all the holes in his hand? Let’s consider the last question first. Sure, it looks like his hand is only good for 5 tricks, but Sally has to have her 13 points somewhere. That’s why you consider the combined strength of the two hands when deciding where to place the contract. There really isn’t any way to figure out if Sally has the 14 points needed to add to Norm’s 19 to get to 33. He just needs to take a chance. There isn’t any way for him to figure out if Sally has the 18 points needed to get to the 37 needed for a grand slam either. Norm is going to need to leave that up to Sally.

What about Blackwood? Well, there is no information to be gained from asking for aces. Norm has them all. He could bid 4NT, knowing what Sally’s answer will be, and then bid 5NT to see if she has the missing 3 kings. What does he do if she answers with 2 kings? It’s hard to say. Norm just skips all the rigmarole and bids a small slam.

The bidding isn’t over, yet. Sally knows that Norm has at least 19 points. If she happens to have 18 or more points, she can raise the 6H to 7H on her own. She knows that Norm hasn’t learned about her extra strength yet, and his first jump-shift bit has told her that the team has enough strength for grand slam.

The Play

Edie is on lead and starts with a small club. Norm starts by counting his losers. He can only afford to lose one trick.

	Dummy ♠ QJ6 ♥ KQJ7 ♦ Q9875 ♣ 4
	Norm ♠ A98 ♥ A983 ♦ AK6 ♣ A52

There shouldn’t be any trump losers unless the missing 5 trumps break 5-0. Norm might lose the K of spades. He shouldn’t lose any diamonds, but clubs might be an issue. He could try to ruff two clubs in dummy, but he will need dummy’s high hearts to pull trump. A better plan is to discard the club losers on dummy’s small diamonds after that suit is established. That will work if the 5 outstanding diamonds break 3-2. If all else fails, there is a spade finesse for the king. So, there are multiple ways to make the hand.

Plan A: Pull trumps. If they break 5-0, Norm will lose a trump trick. If that’s the case, he’ll need the favorable diamond split and the spade finesse. Knowing which hand holds the trumps, might open up some fancier plays, but we won’t get into those.

Plan B: Pull trumps. They break 4-1. Now, Norm needs only the favorable diamond break OR the spade finesse. He can try the diamonds first by leading the A and K. If they break 4-1, he leads to the diamond Q and tries the spade finesse.

Plan C: Pull trumps. They break 3-2. That’s the easiest way. After pulling trumps, each hand has a little trump left. If the diamonds break 4-1, Norm can ruff the 4^th diamond in his hand and return to the board by ruffing a club. Then, he can cash the 5^th diamond to discard his losing club.

Let’s play through one of those scenarios. Norm starts by taking the A of clubs and cashes the A of hearts. Both players follow. He leads a small heart to the K on the board. Walt follows and Edie shows out. Norm is on the board with this holding:

	Dummy ♠ QJ6 ♥ QJ ♦ Q9875 ♣
	Norm ♠ A98 ♥ 98 ♦ AK6 ♣ 52

Norm is going to need the QJ of hearts to pull Walt’s trumps. There is still a spade to lose. If Norm finishes pulling trumps before knocking out the K of spades, he can lose a club—having no more trumps in his hand. Therefore, he needs to switch gears and work on the spades.

He tries a finesse. The finesse doesn’t need to work, but it doesn’t hurt to try. Norm leads the spade Q from dummy. Edie follows small. Norm ducks in his hand and Walt takes the K. Now, Walt leads the K of clubs. Darn! Norm can’t afford to use one of the high trumps to win this trick, and he can’t afford to lose the trick either. He’s sunk.

Let’s back up. Suppose on trick 2, Norm leads a small trump to the KQJ on the board. He takes the K and leads the Q. Edie shows out. Now, Norm is in almost the same position, but he still has a small trump on the board that he can ruff a club return with.

	Dummy ♠ QJ6 ♥ J7 ♦ Q9875 ♣
	Norm ♠ A98 ♥ A9 ♦ AK6 ♣ 52

 

Now, Norm tries the spade finesse that loses. Walt returns the K of clubs, but Norm can ruff with the 7 of hearts. Walt still holds 2 trumps. Norm is on the board and cannot afford to lose any more tricks. Once trumps are pulled, he has two spade winners and can run the diamonds as long as they split 3-2. He leads the J of hearts and the 6 of spades to the A. As long as Walt didn’t start with 4 trumps and the singleton K of spades, Norm will win this trick with the A and can pull Walt’s last trump. Then, it is a simple matter of running the diamonds. This play works with an unfortunate 4-1 trump break and a losing spade finesse, as long as the diamonds break 3-2. Those are pretty good odds.

	Dummy ♠ J6 ♥ J ♦ Q9875 ♣
	Norm ♠ A9 ♥ A9 ♦ AK6 ♣ 5