Gone To Waste

5th January – Board 9: East/West Vul. Dealer North.

The results on the following board were feeble I’m afraid, which is a shame when a good hand goes to waste, but to my mind the fault can be laid squarely on the shoulders of West who never realized what a good hand he held.

West	North	East	South
	No	2C/2D	No
2D/2H	No	3NT	No
4H*	No	5NT	No
6S	End

Whether playing Benji Acol or not East will surely show a flat 25/26 point hand, although the sequence to 3NT can hardly be described as dainty. (In fact Eric Kokish from Canada has devised a method round this, but never mind.) Over 3NT surely, surely, West would want to show a six-card spade suit and this should be done via a transfer. Why a six card suit? Well with only five, playing in a possible 5-2 fit might not be so appealing. For the record over 3NT in this auction one should play red suit transfers and a 4C bid as asking for opener to bid four-card suits upwards. Anyway back to East. Even if partner has zero points but with six small spades, even then six spades would just require a 2-2 break. So what is wrong with bidding Josephine, 5NT, asking partner to bid 7S holding both the king and the queen. Only one pair reached a slam and that was 6D!