4th August – Board 1. Love All. Dealer North.
I wouldn’t risk opening at
the one-level on that South hand and would take a chance on game being
available in one of my three suits opposite a hand unable to respond to a
one-level bid.
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North:
S 9
H J 9 7 6 4 2
D 7 4
C K 10 4 3
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West:
S K J 10 6 4
H 10
D 10 9 2
C A 7 5 2
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East:
S 5 2
H Q 8
D K 8 5 3
C Q J 9 8 6
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South:
S A Q 8 7
3
H A K 5 3
D A Q J 6
C none
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West
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North
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East
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South
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No
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No
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2C/2D
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No
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2D/2H
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No
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2S
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No
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3H
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No
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6H
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End
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South
has a three-loser hand and although there are no guarantees I would not
hesitate to open that hand with my strongest bid available. Indeed the main
problem comes after North bids 3H – showing at least a five-card suit – and
with the inability to cue-bid (because a suit here would be just – er – a
suit) - I would have a pot at the
slam. 6H is easy, even with the spades all wrong and the king of clubs
waste-paper, so that if nothing else should vindicate the strong approach.
3H-6H is a bit too much. So after 3H I went 4NT, asking for aces. The reason is not that I was interested in the ace of clubs, but that I wanted it to be missing. Knowing that my partner had some values, if the club ace was missing then chances are that he has useful values. So after 5C I confidently went 6H. It proved that his only value was the useless of the three kings, but that was just unlucky. (Don't worry David if you didn't think of it yourself, nor would I think of it in the past).
ReplyDeleteNick Misoulis
Oops, I forgot to say, I opened 1S. Ian responded 1NT, I showed my strength at 3D, and Ian responded 3H. Hence I knew his point range, asked for aces, etc.
ReplyDeleteNick
Thanks for your comment Nick but some of the logic escapes me I'm afraid! The fact that you bid a slam after hearing of no aces opposite leads one to think that if partner had held the ace of clubs you would not have bid the slam (otherwise why bid Blackwood)? But if partner held the ace of clubs then the slam is cold on a 2-1 trump break or on a diamond finesse if trumps are 3-0. Declarer would make one spade, six hearts in hand, two diamonds, the ace of clubs and two club ruffs in dummy. The fact is that it would be hard to construct a hand for partner where there is not a play for six hearts given that he has at least five hearts. The fact that he had a four count with a useless king is proof of that as 6H is still an easy make. In fact you were lucky not to be playing in 1S because most people would have passed an opening bid at the one level with the hand opposite. Which is why I would advocate a strong opening.
ReplyDelete