All News

Daily Bridge in New Zealand

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.)

Bridge in NZ.pngnz map.jpg

 
A K 5
A 7 6
10 5
A Q 10 9 7
West North East South
      1 
Pass 2  Pass 2 
Pass ?    

 

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 4Spade-small could be in danger. (Spade-small Jxxxxx  Heart-small KQJ   Diamond-small QJ   Club-small 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 3Spade-small, slam try which in Acol it is not. Rewriting Acol and not one to invite games is:

Matt Brown “3Spade-small: 3Spade-small 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 “3Heart-small. A fake splinter of 4Diamond-small 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 3Heart-small followed by spade support is the normal way to bid this.”

Friday 1st 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 3Heart-small does indeed seem more sensible though after partner bids 3NT, are you really a little too strong now just to bid 4Spade-small? Also, you will not know if partner’s diamond control is the ace, king, or queen.

Michael Cornell also agreed with 3Heart-small.

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 Diamond-smallAK might hit the table from a defender in quick succession.

There is, though, another bid one could make. That is 4Club-small. What does that bid mean? Just strong clubs as a 3Club-small 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

                                    1Spade-small                                                                            1Spade-small

2Club-small                              2Spade-small                                         2Club-small                             2Spade-small

3Heart-small                               3NT                                      4Club-small

4Club-small

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?"

Diamond ace.jpg         diamond king.jpg

2 of 1 Game Force has its problem, too

So, I indicated, as did Matt, that 3Spade-small over 2Spade-small 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

                                     1Spade-small

2Club-small                               2Spade-small

3Spade-small                               4Club-small (club control)

4Heart-small (heart control)       4Spade-small   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:

5Club-small                             5Diamond-small

?

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 Spade-smallQ…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 Diamond-smallK or Diamond-smallA?

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 Club-smallK and Diamond-smallA.” Michael Cornell agreed with Matt.

Nigel Kearney 5Heart-small. 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

Spade-small Qxxxx

Heart-small Kxx

Diamond-small Kxx

Club-small Kx and that is still a marginal slam.

Their hand could be worse, e.g.

 Spade-small Qxxxx

Heart-small Qxx

Diamond-small KJx

Club-smallKx or even missing the Spade-smallQ.”

Surely with your last two examples, Nigel, they would have opened 1NT if point-count allowed and would also have simply bid 4Spade-small 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 Diamond-smallA. With Diamond-smallK, they might now just jump to 6Spade-small

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:

 

South Deals
N-S Vul
A K 5
A 7 6
10 5
A Q 10 9 7
   
N
W   E
S
   
 
Q 10 8 7 6 4
K 8 4
A 3
K 4

 

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

                                    North                                    South

                                                                                    1Spade-small

                                    2Club-small                                         2Spade-small

                                    4NT                                        5Club-small  1 or 4 key cards

                                    5Diamond-small   trump queen ask           6Club-small  Spade-smallQ and Club-smallK

                                    6Heart-small  any extra?                      7Spade-small  Heart-smallK

                                    Pass

(6Heart-small 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 3Spade-small was only an invite:

 

                                    North                                    South

                                                                                    1Spade-small

                                    2Club-small                                         2Spade-small

                                    3Heart-small                                         3NT

                                    4Club-small cue                                  4Diamond-small     cue  (wonderful!)

                                    4NT  Key Card                        5Club-small    1or 4   (i.e. Diamond-smallA)

                                    5Diamond-small  trump queen ask              6Club-small  Spade-smallQ and Club-smallK

                                    6Heart-small  any extra?                       7Spade-small  Heart-smallK

                                    Pass

Maybe one does not need 3Spade-small 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.

North Deals
None Vul
   
5 2
A 8 6
10 9 6 4
10 9 4 3
 
N
W   E
S
   
West North East South
  1 NT 2  4 
All pass      

 

1NT is 12-14 and 2Heart-small 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

Go Back View All News Items

Our Sponsors
  • Tauranga City Council
  • TECT.jpg