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Does partner have the ace or the king...or neither? That is the question.

THAT DIAMOND DILEMMA.

You bid all the way to a grand-slam in some style and then hear that dreaded sound “double” from one of the opponents, even worse when it is the opponent on lead. No Lightener this time. They are staring at something not to your advantage. There is no escape. You sit there and take your medicine…and later after you record -200, only one down, of course, you discover that the opponents rested very safely in game. If only….

( if cue-bidding is not your scene, then perhaps this article is not for you….though you may still like to try bidding the North-South hands.)

 

You are playing a natural system. Let’s say Acol. Where to from here?

Lots of aces and partner favourite to have 6 spades as with a flat weak no-trump and a poor 5 card spade suit, they could/should have opened 1NT, if able. On a good day, you might make grand-slam while you might even just conjure up a disastrous opener where even 4 could be in danger. ( Jxxxxx   KQJ    QJ    J6… is that really a 1 level opener?)

How, then, to proceed? Acol players may wish they were playing 2 over 1 game-force as the clearest, most convenient bid for you to make is 3, slam try which in Acol it is not. Rewriting Acol and not one to invite games is:

Matt Brown “3: 3 still should be forcing, so I bid that. Having it as a natural invite is nowhere near as useful. “

Great if that is your agreement but for most it is not. So, you have to manufacture a bid, or do you?

Nigel Kearney “3. A fake splinter of 4 has some appeal as it sets trumps and we'd prefer partner’s secondary honours to be in hearts. It could also stop the killing lead. But 3 followed by spade support is the normal way to bid this.”

Friday 1^st May (when Nigel sent his answer) "may" be the day for fake splinters but perhaps not on the other 364, or 365 this year! If you are going to show a splinter when you must follow to 2 rounds of the suit, then go the full way and use Exclusion Key Card Blackwood, showing a void diamond! They will certainly lead a trump against your slam after that bid!

Bidding 3 does indeed seem more sensible though after partner bids 3NT, are you really a little too strong now just to bid 4? Also, you will not know if partner’s diamond control is the ace, king, or queen.

Michael Cornell also agreed with 3.

Using any version of Blackwood will not help when partner shows no ace/key card. Slam might be cold but can you risk bidding it when AK might hit the table from a defender in quick succession.

There is, though, another bid one could make. That is 4. What does that bid mean? Just strong clubs as a 3 call in this sequence would be not-forcing? One of these two following sequences should show long clubs while the other ought to be a cue-bid agreeing spades:

North                        South                                     North                        South

                                    1                                                                            1

2                              2                                         2                             2

3                               3NT                                      4

4

It is worth discussing which because apart from using Matt Brown’s approach in Acol, there seems no easy way to find out whether you have a diamond hold good enough for small or maybe grand slam.

     "Partner, do you have either
       of these cards? If so, which?"

        

2 of 1 Game Force has its problem, too

So, I indicated, as did Matt, that 3 over 2 is the way to go. You can find out if partner has a diamond control…..or can you? Let’s follow through the sequence where a pair do play this as a slam try:

North                        South

                                     1

2                               2

3                               4 (club control)

4 (heart control)       4   it is very unlikely a minimum hand would bid over the game level at this point.

So, you are back to  " square 1" with Blackwood not helping at this point. Therefore, you try again with another cue-bid as you know clubs are under-control:

5                             5

?

Wonderful, partner has a diamond control too. If it is the ace, we could make all 13 tricks (just a little matter of partner having Q…6 spades, 2 red aces, and 4 maybe 5 club tricks or maybe one of the red kings, too).

Yet, how do you know whether partner is showing the K or A?

Matt Brown “5NT... If partner's diamond cue is not the ace, they should sign off since I've denied a diamond control already, but I want them to know to co-operate towards grand with the K and A.” Michael Cornell agreed with Matt.

Nigel Kearney “5. I am certainly worth another try but not good enough to drive to slam. Partner has already signed off once and so should look favourably at a hand with all working cards such as

 Qxxxx

 Kxx

 Kxx

 Kx and that is still a marginal slam.

Their hand could be worse, e.g.

  Qxxxx

 Qxx

KJx

Kx or even missing the Q.”

Surely with your last two examples, Nigel, they would have opened 1NT if point-count allowed and would also have simply bid 4 over any slam try?

There used to be a guide-line that even if one shows first and second round controls at the same time, a cue-bid of a new suit above the game – level should always be first round control. Therefore, South has the A. With K, they might now just jump to 6

So, it looks like Matthew and Michael are on their way to grand while Nigel should at least reach small slam as these were the two hands:

 

 

The irony of these hands is that, this time, Roman Key-Card Blackwood would have worked perfectly:

                                    North                                    South

                                                                                    1

                                    2                                         2

                                    4NT                                        5  1 or 4 key cards

                                    5   trump queen ask           6  Q and K

                                    6  any extra?                      7  K

                                    Pass

(6 guaranteed that all the key cards were present.)

No missing ace! A wonderful grand-slam. Yet, most languished in game. Let’s just check on the sequence where 3 was only an invite:

 

                                    North                                    South

                                                                                    1

                                    2                                         2

                                    3                                         3NT

                                    4 cue                                  4     cue  (wonderful!)

                                    4NT  Key Card                        5    1or 4   (i.e. A)

                                    5  trump queen ask              6  Q and K

                                    6  any extra?                       7  K

                                    Pass

Maybe one does not need 3 to be forcing after all!

  After a session on cue-bidding, let’s have something much less strenuous for Sunday morning. An everyday “run of the mill” lead.

 

1NT is 12-14 and 2 is a natural overcall.

Less strenuous? It could be the difference between beating or not beating this contract. That seems pretty strenuous or stressful! Don’t you love it?!

See you on Sunday.

Richard Solomon

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