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Big hand: little hand.

There are frequent discussions about how forcing a sequence is when one partner opens 2. I have already stated that I think 2 is best treated as forcing to game and that the partner with less than nothing just has to keep going until a game is reached.

Today’s responding hand has a little more than “less than nothing”. Game has been reached but the onus appears to be on this weak hand as to whether the bidding goes any further.

 

2 was negative or “waiting” and 3 and 4 were natural. Partner seems to be almost “all black” with 4 showing 5 spades and 6+ clubs. Where to from here?

Note that South has gone out of their way to show their longer suit first. 

The question is how forcing is 4? Opposite a weak hand with mainly red cards, there is a case for passing, though even with 2 cards in each black suit, 5 should be the bid since partner went out of their way to emphasize club length.

Yet, with any kind of spade support, 4 should be forcing. That bid was the only way partner could express their shape and they might be massively strong. So, with an ace which may or may not be useful and a handy trump holding, you are certainly worth a move…but which move? I showed some interest in slam by raising to 5 and partner duly accepted.

 

West led 9 and the deal seemed to be about black suit queens…and finding a way to dummy to dispose of the heart loser on the A. There are two ways to get there, firstly if the Q falls in one or two rounds and if not, then by ruffing the third round of clubs, successful if the defender with Q held at least three clubs.

This day was a nice day as the Q fell doubleton. Unless you found your way to grand slam (a very bad contract), you would now secure your contract by playing a third round of trumps to dummy to reach A. Then, you can take the club finesse not caring if it fails. Of course, if you needed all 13 tricks, the lay-out is extremely kind and you must reach dummy via a club ruff after cashing the two high spades.

The South hand is extremely powerful and well worthy of a 2 opening. An example of what can happen if you only open 1 occurred at one table:

West                    North             East                South

                                                      Pass                1

Pass                      1                   1                2

All Pass

North really should have bid again, 3 perhaps (they had their 6hcp, after all) but they could never imagine their partner was so strong. Some fault there on both sides of the table.   

So, the deal was a reward for sensible bidding and careful play. In the Open Field at the Gold Coast, out of 144 tables,  24 slams failed while a further 64 pairs failed to reach slam. Food for thought.

Richard Solomon

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