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 Slamwards Bidding

Sometimes, we have so many high card points (hcps) between our two hands that one player in our partnership will drive our partnership to slam. Yet, we can still bid to what we hope is the right time to bid slam by some co-operative bidding. Let’s view a bidding sequence from the seat of South, the opening bidder:

  AJT953

 A8

 AT87

 K

That’s a nice 16 hcp hand with the K of dubious worth though as long as we play in a suit contract, we will not have more than one loser in that suit.

With the opposition silent, our partner bids 2, showing a natural club suit and 10+ hcp. Although we cannot be certain, that K could become a very useful card. What then should our next bid be?

We want to tell partner more about our hand. Partner knows we have spades. We should mention our other suit, diamonds. So, 2?

No! We would bid 2 if we had a weak opening hand with say 12 hcp and the same shape. We know we will play this deal in at least game, maybe even higher. So, jump to 3 showing at least 5 spades and at least 4 diamonds with 15-19 hcp, enough to force to game knowing our partner has 10+ hcp. Partner’s second bid is 3. Let’s recap and think about partner’s second bid.

                        North                         South

                                                            1

                        2                               3

                        3

3 is an interesting bid. When we bid 3, our partner knew we were heading to game and yet chose to bid 3. There are two principles which are relevant here and which are well worth adopting. The first is called “4^TH Suit Forcing”. This means, that when our side has bid three suits, then the bid of the fourth suit (in this example, hearts), asks initially for a hold in that suit. It denies interest in your suits and looks to play in no trumps.

In this example, North would bid 3NT if they had a hold in hearts and 3 if they did not. Yet, North bid 3! What that means is that North has genuine support for spades. Remember, a fit is at least 8 cards in a suit between the two hands. North knows only we have 5 spades. Therefore, they must have at least 3 spades or else they would have bid 3, or 3NT. Sometimes it is not what partner bids but what they did not bid that counts.

If partner held a minimum hand with 3 card spade support, they would bid 4. That is our second principle, “the principle of fast or slow arrival”. The faster you bid to your game contract the less hcp you have. Therefore, because North bid only to 3, they are better than minimum. Slam bells should start to ring!

Here, our next bid may vary depending on whether we have learnt to use 4 or 4NT to ask for aces. There are also different approaches particularly in respect of the 4NT bid. Here are three sequences which should all take us to the same spot:

North                                     South

                                                1

2                                           3

3                                           4 ace ask

4    1 ace                             5 king ask

5    1 king                           6

Pass

North                                     South

                                                1

2                                           3

3                                          4NT ace ask

5  1 ace                             5NT  king ask

6  1 king                            6

Pass

North                                     South

                                                1

2                                           3

3                                           4NT ask for the 4 aces and trump king.

5   2 out of “5 aces”             6

Pass

In time, we will discover that the first, 4, Gerber sequence is not a great approach though in one’s first few years, it works well. It also identifies for us by the 5 level, that North has a king as well as 1 ace.

The second approach is good but because you start at 4NT, you cannot discover about kings below the 6 level. So, this approach has drawbacks too.

The third approach is called “Roman Key card Blackwood” with the response showing the number of important or “key” cards partner holds. These key cards are the 4 aces and the king of the agreed trump suit. It also tells whether or not partner holds another important card, the trump queen. In fact, 5 above denied holding that card. This is a good approach.

What was common to all sequences was that South knew that North held an above minimum hand and that North held the missing ace. That information was enough in each case for South to bid slam.

Only in the third example did South know that North held the S. Even though South knew the Qwas missing, they had an extra 6^th spade and could hope that the Q would fall under the ace or king.

So, there we are in 6. Now is the time to plan the play with West leading the K. Here are your 2 hands:

 

We will be back with the play solution one day later than usual on Monday.

Richard Solomon

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