Monday afternoon May 28, 2007

After spades were agreed upon for trumps the pair began cuebidding controls, Janet's 4H denying the diamond ace. Judy jumped right to slam. The proper play when holding eleven trumps an missing the king is to play for the drop; however, when holding 10 or fewer trumps the proper play is to finesse the king. Since there was no place to dispose of the inconvenient heart, Judy finessed the king. It won! Nice bid.

Monday afternoon May 28, 2007

I have two pieces of advice when the opponents aren't bidding and it's obvious you have no fit. First, bailing out to NT will only get you into trouble. Second, stop bidding. North's holding does not justify a rebid in hearts or the introduction of a new suit. South promises 6 clubs and seven other cards, none of which have anything to do with hearts. If North's diamonds were AK instead K-garbage, then bidding diamonds would be reasonable. If her hearts were AQ-six instead of A-garbage six, then a rebid would be OK; however, neither hearts nor diamonds can be rebid by North. South knows the hand is very strange because West has at least 4 spades, maybe 5. It's North's job to pass quickly on this one.

West gets off to the ace of spades, then shifts to the queen of diamonds. Instead of covering, discard a heart in hand. If West continues with a diamond, ruff in hand and ruff a spade with the club king, then ruff another diamond. Draw three rounds of trump. Lose a big spade. A diamond back uses the last trump, cash the good spade and take the ace of hearts..

Saturday afternoon May 28, 2007

What a great hand this is! The key bid in this sequence which did not take place Saturday afternoon is East's cuebid of 4 spades, showing West that he has a stopper in that suit, which could only be a void given the bidding. In the play, the key to victory is on the very first trick. Declarer must toss a heart from dummy on the first spade trick, draw trumps, force out the ace of hearts, and cross-ruff the hand out. If West gets sloppy and throws a diamond on the first trick, feeling temporarily secure with the K-Q, South must smoothly play the 3 of hearts if hearts are led from the board to the king. If hearts are led from West to East's queen, take the ace and get out with a diamond to West's trump. Declarer is cooked, down one. Bridge is wonderful!

Saturday afternoon, May 28, 2007

Again, you asked how to get this done. North has faith in his partner that he has a run of spades. There was no intelligent way to ask him if he had the king of clubs. In order to prevent losing two hearts off the top, North converted South's spade slam to one in NT, thus protecting the king of hearts. North was rewarded; making 13 tricks if East does not lead a heart.

Saturday afternoon May 28, 2007

Pete finds herself in the very unusual position of playing a slam in diamonds with a singleton in her hand! The king of spades is taken by the board's ace. Crossing all fingers and toes, trump is drawn. Yea! The jack and ten fall, the nine takes East's seven. The top hearts are run. North makes five hearts, six diamonds and the two black aces. Yahoo!

Thursday evening May 31, 2007

After South's four diamonds bid, trump was established. North's 4 heart bid is a cuebid, showing control of the suit, which is all South is looking for. Six is solid, with only a heart loser.