All News

CHRISTMAS “CRACKERS”

That’s with an emphasis on “cracking good hands”. You know the type of hands you always claim never to hold. “10, 11, maybe 14 counts are my usual limit”. If you say that , then you are suffering a little touch of amnesia or could it be that you have had bad experiences from high point-count hands?

These all occurred in the last three months and while, if I was pressed to take a lie detector, I would have to admit that they did not all come my way, I saw the way they were abused by many.

What these hands, therefore, have in common, is the possession of 25 or more hcp.

"big hands"

Exhibit 1.

                   West                             East

                    AK                               QJ943

                    Q5                               K87

                    AKQ5                          JT2

                    AKQ82                        53

Dealer West. All Vul.

This one should really have been a breeze. I remember a textbook which said a positive response to 2 should be “an ace and a king or the equivalent”. A queen, two jacks, a 10 and a reasonable 5 card suit add up for me to “equivalent” and the bidding could flow comfortably:

                   West                             East

                   2                                  2

                   2NT                               3NT

                   6NT                               Pass

2NT sought any other suits, more information but 3NT said there was none beyond five spades. Note that the J provided a certain entry to dummy’s spades. Good cards, sometimes, are these jacks.

If East had gone all shy and bid just 2 first time round, slam should still have been reached, though it would be a lot easy with one little agreement:

                   West                             East

                    2                                 2

                   2NT                                 3 (transfer)

                   3                                 3NT

                   4NT                                6NT

                   Pass

The agreement is that the 2NT rebid shows 23+ unlimited, if that is your minimum point-count for the rebid. Therefore, the 2NT rebid after a 2 opener forces to game.  Very occasionally, you will get too high when the responder has no more than a jack but developing powerful hands is much easier if you can keep the bidding as low as possible.

East was happy to just bid 3NT opposite 23-24 balanced but when West showed more (shall we say 25-26 with the raise to 4NT..quantitative), East owned up to their extra strength.

Exhibit 2.

                   West                             East

                    AQ2                             K654

                    AKQ53                        J94

                    A3                               K986

                    AKT                              Q8

Dealer West. All Vul.

When this board was played, at one of the strongest club sessions in the country, all 14 pairs reached slam but half of the pairs played in a small slam..and claimed an overtrick very quickly.

Surely 9 hcp is enough for a positive response to 2 after which the auction could proceed:

                   West                             East

                    2                                 2NT

                    3                                 4

                   4NT                               5  (0 or 3 key cards)

                   5NT                               6  2 kings outside hearts

                   7/7NT                         Pass

2 kings with nothing outside and a flat hand are not enough for 2NT. If East had just the J extra, then 7 is safer (ruff the club loser) though at Pairs, 7NT scores better and without the Q from partner,requires an even spade break. It was easy for West to drive on to grand-slam. Yet, if you insist on responding 2 with the East hand (‘waiting”), the certainty of raising to grand slam would be gone:

                   West                             East

                   2                                  2

                   2                                 3 (“slow arrival”)

                   4NT                               5 (0 or 3 key cards)            

                   5 NT                              6 (2 kings)

                     ?

But would West now have the confidence to expect extras? I doubt it. Alternatively, West could bid 2NT over 2 intending to show a balanced hand with 5 hearts. That would probably see East doing the ace-ask, a 5 key card response (5NT) not being the easiest to check for kings and extras. Again, however, 2NT with 23+ balanced as a rebid is preferable to 3NT no matter how strong the 2 opener is.

Exhibit 3.  We have had a flat 25 count, a nearly flat 26 count and finally, in case counting is not your strongest point, try a flat 28 count with a bit of shape:

                   West                    East

                    AKQ8                 J964

                    AKQ2                 97543

                    AQ3                   4

                    A2                      765

Dealer East. All Vul.

OK, so you usually hold hands the East hand. Take a look at the other side of the table. It really is quite an easy deal with our one piece of system:

                   West                    East

                                                Pass

                   2                        2 (definitely correct, this time!)

                   2NT                       3 (Transfer)

                   3                        3

                   7                         Pass

Note that where you are in a game-forcing auction, there are sometimes hands even too strong to jump to game as a super-accept. Had West bid 4 over 3, East would certainly have shut up shop! Yet, if 2NT and hence 3 were not game-forcing, West would have had to make-up a bid…and the great grand-slam would likely be missed.  As it was, East had a very few seconds to prepare themselves to be declarer in the grand slam. East could have been weaker and the grand would still have made!

Not one pair in the National Teams in New Plymouth bid to 7 while 20 out of the 28 pairs who held these cards missed slam altogether.

Maybe we do not get such “cracker” hands that often but when we do, we certainly want to bid them to the correct spot. Happy Christmas to you all..and we will have some more bidding issues to look at in the New Year.

Richard Solomon

Ps Those who play against me may know I try to grab the West seat. The above three West hands may indicate why..well, shh, but West did not hold them all at the table!

Go Back View All News Items