So Unfair

24th October – Board 21: North/South Vul. Dealer North.

Of all the innovations over the last few years I think Splinter bids would rank very near the top of any must-have list. The hand below is a case in point where responder can give a no-cost message on the way to a fine slam.

	North: S 10 5 2 H A J 6 D K 10 C 10 8 7 5 2
West: S A J 9 8 H K 10 9 8 7 D A C K 9 3		East: S K H Q 5 4 3 2 D J 7 6 3 C A J 6
	South: S Q 7 6 4 3 H none D Q 9 8 5 4 2 C Q 4

West	North	East	South
	No	No	No
1H	No	3S	No
4NT	No	5D	No
6H	End

That 3S bid shows the values for 4H with a singleton spade and West should be charmed. A check up ensures that there are not two top losers and a slam on minimal values is reached although you do have to be careful. On the likely small club lead declarer should play low from dummy because the rule of 11 shows that South only has one card higher than the five. (By playing the jack prematurely you might set up a club loser for yourself.)

Even so it looks as though there are no worries – nor would there be if trumps broke 2-1 – but as it happens you have to play the king of hearts from hand first when you can hold your trump losers to one. Having bid such a fine slam it would be so unfair to fail because of a bad break.