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The good and the bad.

One of the advantages of a splinter bid (showing a side-suit singleton or void with trump support for your partner) is to identify when the two hands do not match so that you can sign off at the game level. A sign of such wastage is high honours other than the ace in the suit in which partner is short.

I was intrigued how the Panel would view a holding of K8543 in this suit, on the face of it a poor holding with the king not pulling its full weight, or maybe no weight at all. However, the hand below did have a rather good feature about it, too.

4 shows a singleton or void club with heart support. Oh, it’s forcing to game! How great are your ambitions? Worth a cue bid? Where to from here?

Stating it loud and clear and, well, Michael, no violence, please.

Michael Ware “4NT: and bid slam opposite 2 key-cards. Anyone bidding 4 should be shot. Partner makes a slam-try and we have AKQ of trumps - we accept!”
Actually, there is no need for violence as there are no 4 bidders. However, Michael’s approach is by no means universal:

Peter Newell “4: While my clubs are not great opposite a splinter, I have great trumps, a diamond shortage and a couple of spades: so keen to show some interest.  Given partner has no heart honours and probably no club honours, he is likely to have good spades and cards in diamonds…which is quite encouraging. I prefer to cue to find out whether partner has first round club control.”

It is now very common for a cue-bid to be a first or second round rather than “first round before the second round "(hence 4 cue). There is also another meaning for 4(see below). Not really prepared to sign off in 4 though floating the idea is:

Michael Cornell “4:  cue or "last train", take your pick. Partner is non- minimum without a heart honour- slam has good play opposite say AKQxx,10xxx, Axx, x and partner can be much better.

If partner bids just 4, "do we take another bid" may be the question as without a heart honour, this is likely? (I would, probably key card).”

“Last train” is the bid below the trump suit at game level and says “I have some slam interest but am not that sure. What do you think?” Back, though, to the cue-bid:

Nigel Kearney “4: I have far too much to sign off. Cue bidding my diamond control is the obvious positive action. There's no alternative that I can see.”

Bruce Anderson “4: a forward move given partner has splintered and so underwritten game when holding trumps that can only headed by the 10 at most. With a strong spade suit, he/she can now take control with RKC if the only issue is my trump quality. With a club void, A, and at least  AKJxxx, partner can bid a grand after finding out my trumps are headed by AKQ, or settle for a small slam with a club void and no A.”
As the South hand indicates, it is not that simple. While you are interested in slam, I am not sure you will be that keen on the grand unless partner is super- huge.

Kris Wooles “4: I’m not ashamed of my hand and will bid 4 being a little edgy that I have only second round control. If partner now bids an expected 4 I will bid 4NT and then 6 after a 2 aces response and if that response can also show a void, I would likely bid 7. What is tricky is if partner has a solid spade suit but is void in clubs and slam could easily be cold. If so, he might bid 4NT himself. Partnership style around cue bidding is relevant here.”

In view of my rather large number of clubs, I would rather take control and err on the conservative side when it comes to deciding the level of slam. However, to gain the full benefit of key card, you need a response which shows, say 2 key cards and a void.

Stephen Blackstock “4NT: There must be play for seven opposite three aces, as I expect more high cards in addition. Any try for a grand will have to be driven by my hand, as with terrible trumps, partner will not be accepting invitations.

If all he wanted was good trumps, he could have asked. So, the implication is that he has deep losers in spades and/or diamonds. Looks like I can cover those.”

Matt Brown “4NT : I think key-carding is clear and if partner shows 2+a void, grand rates to be good; if he magically has 3 keycards (singleton A) grand is surely close to a claim. If partner shows 2 (normally), I cannot see him not having enough for small slam to make.”

So, united in going forward despite the semi-wasted K and extreme club length but with differing views on how to continue. There was one thing a little wrong with the splinter as you will see below:

 

 

That was the lack of a 4^th trump in the North hand. That North  hand looks good for a 5 Exclusion Key Card ask after 2 if you play it as such and that would see South in 7 very quickly.

Would they make it? Not on J lead as declarer will not be able to enjoy the favourable lie of the spade suit. One club can be discarded on a high diamond and three more can be ruffed in dummy though the combination of the bad diamond break and the well-protected A will see no resting place for the “useless” K.

However, on a trump lead, it will be “all systems go” for South with the A remaining as an entry to discard 4 clubs on high diamonds and spades after trumps have been drawn. Had the spade break been less kind, then 13 tricks would become harder to achieve.

So, splinters are good and when deciding whether to move towards slam after the splinter bid, you must not just consider your holding in one suit but the whole hand.

Great trumps. Partner cannot be denied!

Pathway to Success?

 2 was a Weak Jump. After partner's negative double, you show a balanced 15-17 and are soon in game. West leads Q and you are some way off 9 tricks. What's your plan? A clue of sorts. Our declarer did nothing particularly wrong but finished up two down. Can you do better?

Richard Solomon

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