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December 2004
SLAM BIDDING
The following deal was recently published in to the ACBL column “Our Readers
Ask” by Eric Kokish.
NORTH
S) K
H) K Q J 10 9 7 6
D) A 10 6 4 2
C) - -
SOUTH
S) 10 8 7 5
H) A 8 3 2
D) K 7
C) A 6 2
It was presented as a deal which is nearly impossible to bid. Believe it or not,
here was the suggested bidding:
NORTH SOUTH
1H 2S
3D 4C
4D 4H
4S 4NT
5C 5D
5H 6H
Six rounds of bids! And four footnotes explaining them. Do not try to decipher
this unbelievable sequence. Thanks to StdAm21, this deal is not difficult
providing you have a strong faith in the hand evaluation rules. You should be
able to find this slam in three rounds thus:
NORTH SOUTH
1H 4H
4NT 5H
6H
Look at the hands again. South has 11 high-card points plus 2 for the fourth
heart. This hand warrants a game raise showing support and 13 or 14 points. Now
the key is how North counts her values - 13 high-card points, 3 for the void in
clubs, AND 4 points for the sixth and seventh trump cards - 20 points in all.
With a promise of 33 total points, North now engages Blackwood. When you have a
void, Blackwood is somewhat problematic. If South has but one ace, slam will
fail if is the club ace but will win if it is either a heart or spade ace.
The
odds are two to one in favor of finding a useful ace so North takes the chance,
and the problem goes away when South shows two aces. The slam is on. To make it,
you need to ruff a couple of diamonds but that is easy since there are only two
trump to draw.
THE CONVENTIONEER
As you know, the Blackwood
convention was invented by Easley Blackwood eons ago. It has been said that if
he had a nickel for every time his convention was properly used, he would have
been a rich man.
But if he had a nickel for every time his convention was
misused, he would have become a millionaire.
BridgeSnaps newsletter is produced by
John S. Thomas, author of Standard American 21. |
