Too Ghastly


24th May – Board 23. Game All. Dealer South.
One of the hardest things in bridge is to know when a bid is forcing or not and here it was imperative that East/West were on the same wavelength.

North:
S K 10 9 7 6 4
H A 6 5
D 10
C Q J 3

West:
S Q J 5
H K 7 4 3 2
D A 9 4
C K 10

East:
S A 2
H none
D K Q 8 7 5 2
C A 9 8 6 2

South:
S 8 3
H Q J 10 9 8
D J 6 3
C 7 5 4


  West
 North
  East
  South
    
   
   
    No
    1NT
     2S
    3D
    No
    3NT
     No
    4C
    No
     5D
     No
    6D
   End


3D in this auction is absolutely forcing and cannot be passed. (Which is why Lebensohl was invented!) Note also that 1NT is a better bid than 1H on those West cards being a better overall description of the hand, with the thought of having to rebid the suit after a 2C response being too ghastly for words. Similarly 4C is forcing because you never remove a game contract into a partscore! 5D shows positive support and overall liking of the hand leaving East in no doubt to bid on to the slam. As it happens all thirteen tricks are available with the minor suits being well behaved.

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