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.