Monday afternoon April 30, 2007

Pretty simple; the spade people went crashing, the no trump people lived to see another day. Two Souths supported North's but-the-textbook-says-I'm-supposed-to-show-a-4-card-major bid of 1S. No trump was pretty tough. It all depended on whether East stopped after winning the spade lead with the king and shifted to a club. There was no sense returning a spade, which only set up North's Q-J, so a heart was returned. The key play came next; how many tricks do you need? Seven. How many can you count? Six. Declarer needs to lead LOW from his hand, conceding the king of diamonds while he has control of hearts and clubs. Defenders can do nothing now; three diamonds, two hearts and two clubs.

Thursday evening May 3, 2007

This bidding sequence didn't happen either, although at two of the tables there was aggressive heart competition. Everyone reached five diamonds, making six. With heart competition, the only way to describe the control east has in hearts is to cuebid hearts. This takes partnership agreement and some courage, but see how East's 3H bid really perks West up; who now knows that his 4 ratty hearts aren't a problem. Interesting hand.

Thursday evening May 3, 2007

Unfortunately, this didn't happen. Everyone stopped at 4S making 6. South has no natural bid other than a 3-club jump-shift to tell North about the 18-point hand he has. Two NT is too weak, 3NT is a shutout, 3 spades is too weak. A four-diamond splinter bid is a moderate lie but doesn't convey points. Once the aces are fleshed out in the bidding, the choice narrows down to 6 spades or 6NT. It all depends if you had meat for breakfast!

Monday afternoon April 30, 2007

OK, maybe you wouldn't insert a two club overcall of partner's one diamond opener. Modern bridge bidding hammers 1H on this hand, forcing partner with her hand to bid 1NT hoping the spades will work themselves out; works them out all right, to the tune of four hearts, four spades and/or a couple of diamonds. This is an excellent competitive bid against 2 spades. In this case, South had a West in a No Lead condition. The best lead would have been a club. Instead, West led through North's strength, declarer's queen winning. Yea! That's one trick! A low spade was captured by West's queen, followed by a diamond which was taken by the ace, sluffing a heart. Another low spade forces out the ace. West does not want to plunk down his king of hearts, so he leads another diamond, ruffed by declarer. The king of spades is cashed, followed by three rounds of trumps. The defenders get two spades and two hearts. Well played.

Monday afternoon April 30, 2007

Should the team have gone to 6H? No way. Using cuebids as above, not used during the bidding of the hand, it would be clear to both East and West that neither claimed a stopper in diamonds. West's 3S bid is a we've-agreed-on-hearts-I-have-a-stopper-in-spades bid. East's 4C bid says the same about clubs. West's 4H bid says "I don't have a diamond stopper." Cuebid up-the-line when you're bidding for slam. Could it make? Sure. It did twice. The ace and king of diamonds are split and you have to get lucky on the second defensive lead.

Monday afternoon April 30, 2007

Three teams bid and made slam, two in spades, one in NT. The play was really routine; it was the bidding that was important. Six NT posts a 990 while 6S racks up 680. Nicely done.

Friday evening May 4, 2007

To call this a fun hand is a gross understatement. Look at it! Somebody at table 1 (Joann, Eddie, Rita or Frances) actually shuffled the cards and came up with this beauty. Unfortunately, the bidding above never happened; BUT other really interesting stuff did. Four hands had some number of clubs making six. John and Mac bid and made four spades EW; losing only the ace of spades, the ace of diamonds and the ace of hearts. The contract goes down with a diamond lead. At one table (players not identified), NS racked up +1600 with a 6 spade redoubled down three. (look it up). Regardless, the competitive bidding above is the only Cuebidding To Slam that works. Someplace along the line North has to cuebid the ace of spades to tell partner. The energy from the table indicates an unusual hand. Draw one round of trump then cross ruff the hand out. What fun!

Friday evening May 4, 2007

Moxie. Poor Diane ran out of double cards! It takes moxie to take all the cards out of your bid box. The bidding was frenetic. Are you going to double this one? OK. How about this one? OK. How about this one? #@(&^. You're West and on lead. Adrenalin running heavy on the table. What would you lead? Sad to say, it wasn't a club! Can you imagine holding South's cards?

Saturday morning May 5, 2007

In bridge, courage and luck go hand in hand. At two tables 5C each made 6, while 3NT made four and six. Unfortunately, no one bid either the club or NT slam. Assume you're East and on lead. A diamond lead forces North to be bold and daring. With the jack and king outstanding, you're darned if you do, darned if you don't. You had meat for breakfast and real coffee. None of that pretend stuff. Up with the ace! Yes! Six clubs, three spades, two hearts and a lonely diamond. Now go take a potty break.

Saturday morning May 5, 2007

The bidding is slightly speculative, however since both Jo and Charlotte have been to the Cuebidding to Slam Workshop, we assume it's fairly close. Once trump was established, each of the bids was a control, including South's 4C bid holding only 1 club. Remember, the objective of the cuebid is to prevent the 2-card-in-a-suit-makes-the-slam-go-down-1.

Saturday morning May 5, 2007

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong in being lucky at the same time being good. The slam in spades is much better bid than the slam in NT, however a diamond lead from the beginning sets the contract. Unfortunately, the tendency is not to lead away from a K-J holding, instead leading something passive like the 2 of clubs. In this case the club lead rocks home a spade slam and a top board. Woo-hoo!

Saturday morning May 5, 2007

Ahem. Into the bold wild blue yonder. West trumps the second club lead and looks at the prospects. OK, the jack of trumps has to fall. Let's lead trumps. It did fall! Now we're playing no trump, contract romps with 6 diamonds and three spades. It's OK to be optimistic.

Saturday morning May 5, 2007

This hand came close to actually happening. Declarer trumps the opening diamond ace and loses a club. She then trumps East's ace of hearts as all three players say "No hearts!" Ruff a club, ruff a diamond, then ruff another club with the ten. Lead the king of spades to force out the ace; ruff any return, draw the last trumps and claim! Down 1.

The unusual bidding requires North to choose the suit of the slam. North's 6C is a "partner, please choose" bid. Four hearts doubled makes 4 by EW, losing only two hearts and a spade.

Imagine you're South and you're the gentle soul who picks her hand up one card at a time, as was the case here! After about the eighth black card in a row, the adrenalin starts to kick in. THIRTEEN BLACK CARDS IN A ROW!

Bridge is fun.