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But how good?

A Good Feature?

When your partner opens with a Weak Two, do you know how forcing a change of suit is? (if you are not sure, then please check with your partner right now!) Our partnership, today, were playing 3 as non-forcing, hence the use of 2NT as a forcing enquiry. The West hand was always going to be interesting but the next couple of bids made the potential of this hand much greater.

 

2is a weak 2 and 2NT asked for a feature (3 would have been to play). What now? You are playing Teams.

Feature asking is a normal method of asking after a Weak 2 Opening. A feature is not a shortage but a side-suit honour (A, K or Q). A minimum hand simply rebids their suit at the 3 level while an extremely strong (major) suit Weak 2 is permitted to jump directly to game.

So, allowing for the fact that East is missing A, they must have an extremely strong Weak 2 honourwise.

Kris Wooles “ 7….partner could have bid just 3 to show a better than average hand but by bidding 4 suggests that he/she has a self -sufficient suit in which I know the ace  is missing but should have at least KQJ10xx where xx could be 98. I would not expect the 4 bid on KQJxxx where 3 would be more than adequate. In bidding 7 there are two assumptions. Firstly, that the heart suit partner has is as described above  and secondly that I can safely get off dummy after a diamond lead. Life’s a gamble! “

Andy Braithwaite “7: partner’s trumps must be completely solid for this bid so I must be able to set up one of my black suits for the 13th trick.

Ambitious but reasonable. A couple can blame the system if indeed 13 tricks are lay-down.

Michael Cornell “6: I will be polite about the system and just call it useless. Probably not on this actual hand but I need next to nothing to  make 7 but I will never find out.

I just bid 6H expecting at least KQJ9xx,  all of  which I will need on a diamond lead.”

 

Stephen Blackstock “4NT: It’s not easy to recover from the unsatisfactory methods and West’s curious first call (did he intend to keep his 12 black cards a secret until the dummy went down?). Surely if 3 is not-forcing then 4 must show clubs. But I will try!

Now I bid 4NT. The only slam that can now be anything other than a wild guess is 6/7. East’s “good hand” is most likely solid hearts and a diamond card. If East shows two key-cards, I then check on the Q (a moral certainty) and then bid 7. His hearts can’t be worse than KQJxxx for the 4 bid. Opposite one key-card, I pray that it is the K (another moral certainty), check on the Q, and then bid 6. That obviously looks for the grand and shows all the keys or a diamond void, so if East holds KQJ10xx in hearts I hope he will judge that is enough to accept. (The reason for wanting the A or solid hearts is so that a diamond lead doesn’t tap out my trump ace and promote a trump trick). wise words...

 

Bruce Anderson “6: a practical bid given partner has shown a strong suit, either KQJxxx or KQ109xx, presumably.

A grand is a real possibility if partner’s “good hand’’ also includes either J or Q. I would be having a word with partner if he/she holds soft values in diamonds; possibly they hold K, which could well be of value. I cannot see a way to get to the grand with certainty, so 6 it is.

 

Peter Newell “6: I’m assuming partner has a good 6 card suit (with 7, non vul partner would surely have opened 3), and has a card outside, a king or a queen. I expect partner's hearts to be at least KQ109xx and so 6 has chances. 

 

A diamond lead could be awkward having to ruff with the A, but partner likely has KQJ and even if there is a heart loser after ruffing with the ace, there is a fair chance of throwing all the remaining diamonds on the black suits.  4NT is also reasonable just to check in on partner’s trump strength  but that does give the opponents a chance to double a 5 response from partner.  

I think our chances are better without a diamond lead so I’ll take the chance of jumping to 6 as I really cannot see how partner cannot have very good hearts to jump to 4.

 

And finally giving partner a choice, which surely most of the time will be 6:

Nigel Kearney “5NT: Pick a slam. I expect he will pick hearts and I hope his heart suit is at least KQJxxx for this auction. Even then some work will be required. Obviously, if he picks clubs, I will be happier and may bid seven.

So, many of the above answers referred to the adequacy of East’s hearts. I can report that on the night they were very adequate for a grand-slam but that 7 failed.

There will be some hands where a non-forcing 3 will be a winner but the East-West hands would have been so straightforward this time if 3 was forcing, enabling East to offer a choice of contracts by bidding 4. A minor-wood ask (4) would eventually unearth the Q was present and 1440 would have been the result.

unlucky!

Normally, 7 would have been fine but ruffing a diamond at trick 1 was only fine for South when declarer had to use their A at trick 1. A cruel ending to the crisp sequence suggested by Kris Wooles and Andy Braithwaite, maybe Stephen Blackstock, too.

I would on balance advocate for a forcing change of suit without an opposition double. Hands like West’s do not occur very often but when they do, it’s a shame if you cannot handle them through natural bidding.

Apologies that there is no “Jan’s Day” article this week, caused by the writer and article being at different Covid levels.

Richard Solomon

 

 

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