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A Lesson for all…. Whether Novice, Junior, Intermediate or Open. It is fri day.

Staying out of Slam!

There is in today’s deal a lesson for all four players at the table. Here’s the opening lead issue:

 

The sequence is the actual sequence, not the recommended one.

When this deal was played, exactly half of the 38 North/South pairs reached what turned out to be a very poor slam and over half of those pairs failed in their slam. What, though, would you lead to 6NT after the above sequence?

Against 6NT, we want to find as safe a lead as we can. Therefore, we would not lead a diamond while the lead of a club away from Jxx is potentially a very dangerous lead for the defence.(The vagaries of opening leads is such that the lead of either minor suit would be fine for the defence, this time!) Looking at the major suits, even though it is North who bid spades, the spade lead, top of a sequence carries less risk than the heart lead. Top of a sequence is usually a sound lead especially in looking for a safe lead. It is unlikely to give away a finesse position the declarer could not otherwise take themselves. Let’s look at all four hands:

 

The diamond lead is only safe because J is in dummy rather than in declarer's hand. A club works out brilliantly this time, partly because the slam is so poor with West holding KQ.  The spade lead is also safe but the heart lead is not. Indeed, it is the lead most likely to let an otherwise impossible slam make. Declarer will play low from dummy and will score 3 heart tricks whichever heart West played. All declarer had to do then was to take a successful diamond finesse and they would have 12 tricks (5 spades, 3 in each red suit and the A). On the lead of any other suit, North can only make two heart tricks and 6NT should fail.

At some tables, West was on lead to 6NT. Once again, top of a sequence is a great choice, here K.

1NT opening with a 5-card major

Note in the above auction, North opened 1NT with a 5-card spade suit. It is quite common and acceptable if one’s shape is 5332 style. It saves rebid problems and gets the hand's point count across quickly. There are ways South could discover if their partner had a 5-card major though simple Stayman was not one of them.

South was stuck for a bid after 2 (4NT would be an ace ask with spades as trumps.)and took an over-optimistic approach which should have failed. For a reasonable chance for 6NT, the partnership needs a minimum 33hcp between the two hands, maybe a little less if a 5-card suit is held by either player. If 1NT promised 12-14, then South knows they do not have enough hcps. Thus, after looking for a heart fit using Stayman, they should simply bid 3NT and produce a very good dummy for that contract.

If South wanted to try for slam (and looking for the heart fit via Stayman is a good approach), the alternative is to use a 2 range-finder or else bid 4NT directly over 1NT asking opener to pass if they are minimum or bid slam if maximum. Since, North has a 12 hcp hand, the contract would be either 3NT or 4NT depending on the method used.

Playing a 12-14 1NT opening but where the 1NT denies a 5-card major, the bidding would start:

South would expect their partner to hold 6 spades and might press on to slam. 6 would be a much better contract if North did hold a 6-card trump suit. This rebid difficulty after a 1 opening bid is an important factor in why many pairs open 1NT with a 5 card major.

On the above lay-out, South needs to only bid 3NT and not look for slam.

Playing a 15-17 1NT opening bid?

Where one’s opening 1NT is 15-17, North will open 1 and then bid 2NT over South’s 2 response. Now, South can use 4NT in the same way, being a trifle optimistic. Really 3NT would be enough.

Better slam than 6NT….

Here, as stated, 6NT is a very poor slam needing more than a successful diamond finesse , indeed a heart lead. However, while 6 is also a poor slam, on the above lay-out, it should be made whatever the opening lead. Let’s say East led 10.

North draws trumps and then plays K, A and ruffs a heart, a better chance than taking a second round finesse. When Q falls in three rounds, North will have 12 tricks, again after taking a successful diamond finesse.  

That 5 pairs bid and  made slam (3 in no-trumps, 2 in spades) does not make either slam a good one to bid. Remember 14 declarers failed in their slam. The lessons here are:

• ·       For the defenders in their choice of opening lead (though this time minor suit leads against 6NT were fine for the defence, fortunately).

• ·       For South in realising they certainly are not strong enough to insist on slam and really once there is no heart fit, not really strong enough to even invite slam.

• ·       While one may be able to stop short of slam after 1 opening by inviting with 4NT, it is a good example of defining the North hand as a weak no trump type even with a five card major.

• ·       For declarers in 6, it is a good play hand, too. 6NT just should not make.  

Indeed, an interesting hand for all.

Richard Solomon

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