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             is the risk worthwhile?         

A Reason to bid above Game.

Today, we give you the opportunity to make a bid not often used but can be rather successful when it is. It is a reason to go to 5 of a major, with a purpose.  Here is the situation:

 

 

 

There are different approaches you could take here. One is to play a Jacoby 2NT after 1 confirming game force values and at least 4-card heart support. It asks partner to bid a shortage… and if that shortage was in spades, then you would certainly be interested in slam.

You might also be interested in slam if South had a control in spades, certainly the ace, maybe K as long as East did not get a spade ruff after West cashes A.

Certainly, Jacoby would help in this situation though is not universally played. Where not, then North would need to continue as above with a natural 2 and then see how the auction developed.

Today, with a pass from East, South raises diamonds, a minimum hand with probably 4+ diamonds although on some days might only have 3.

Where to now? You might try a 4 cue-bid or maybe even 5 which would be Exclusion Key Card Blackwood with diamonds as trumps. The latter would not work if South held no first or second round control in spades and responded above 5.

There is another way….and perhaps it is a bid you could have made over 1. That bid is 5. Indeed, it is probably clearer over 1 than over 3. In the latter case, North has no idea that hearts is our preferred trump suit, though actually if South has what we need for slam, then we can convert 6 back to 6 if necessry.

 

A jump, or even a raise from 4 to 5 of a major, after the opponents have bid a suit, asks partner to look at their holding in the opponent’s suit and to bid slam if they have 1^st or 2^nd round control in that suit.

So, over 5 above, South will raise to slam, presumably 6, with control in spades and pass without. While there is a slight risk that South has neither K nor Q, they did open the bidding and the absence of one of these cards would mean slam would be no worse than a finesse.

As you can see, South had a “near useless” AK and yet either red suit slam was cold. Indeed, all South required was K and Q, a 5 count!

The problem with cue-bidding 4 is that South would look at their AK and would know that their K was not a great card since their partner had to have no more than one club...for their cue-bid.

There are other ways of reaching slam. After the Jacoby 2NT, South would show their spade shortage which would make North very keen to go “slamming”. Despite the varying approaches available, only 6 out of 16 North-South pairs reached 6 in a strongish 5A Pairs event.

Traditionally, the bid/jump bid to 5 of a major asks partner to bid slam with good trumps. The need to do that has to some extent been overcome by playing Roman Key Card rather than other forms of Blackwood.

Identifying holds in the enemy suit can be difficult in a situation like the above or say where the bidding goes:

West                    North             East                South

3                         3                   Pass                ?

where South has a good hand but a couple of small clubs.

Perhaps worth remembering…

Richard Solomon

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