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Slamming Problems.

Three slams in four successive boards recently with two making and only one bid…and you can guess which one was the only one bid, the one you should not make…and that one made! Is there anything to learn from the bidding and the defence?

Two of the slams have something in common, a  7-card heart suit. In the third slam, the heart suit is a little of a worry as you will see immediately below:

 

2 is a Weak 2 while 3 is South making a nuisance of themselves!

 

1 promised at least 2 clubs.

 

                             

 

 

So, are you satisfied with game or should you be looking higher?

First board

Back to our first deal. An ace-queen, a singleton in the enemy suit and four trumps does not sound much but you were opposite a potentially strong partner…and up to this point could have a really poor hand. East contented themselves with a raise to game and rather wished they had done a little more.

 

West could have anticipated the singleton, given South’s nuisance bid, but they were loathe to move any higher opposite what might only be 3 – card spade support. A 4 cue-bid followed by key-card, or any form of Blackwood, would have seen West try for 6. The slam needed little more than the A and J or a long heart suit.

While East’s hearts were a little lacking, there was a good chance the J would appear quickly as it did. North found the most challenging lead of the J. West could win with A, draw trumps and cash their top hearts and 12 tricks were made in comfort, but only 680 scored.

Certainly, a club lead and 3-1 trump break would threaten the slam if J did not appear in 3 rounds though that is being rather pessimistic when an initial diamond lead would make 12 tricks relatively easy.

No-one from the 71 tables in play bid this slam.

Second board

Opposite 18-19 balanced, East launched straight into Roman Key Card. West showed 0 or 3 and East had no doubt which. 6 was East’s next bid and the world, well all at the table, waited for South’s lead. There are times to go passive against a slam but when nothing else appeals and you have the king of dummy’s first bid suit, perhaps an attacking lead away from the king is better against 6 of a suit. It will at least get declarer thinking.

 

 

The trumps hit the table first. “Nice trumps” quipped East and the club suit came down last but by that point, West had already put down three aces and all had seen the diamond lead. One club disappeared immediately on A and two more a little later after trumps were drawn and spades unblocked…making 13 tricks!

Ace asking with a void is a risky business. Swap West’s minor suits and 13 tricks would not tax any declarer. A 4 cue-bid (or 5 if you show aces before kings) would be much better. West can see a potential club problem after 4 and should then cue 5. East also will see the problem and with some reluctance would sign-off in 5, correctly. Two wrongs here, 4NT and the opening lead, did not make one right, unless you were East-West.

Out of 71 pairs, 22 bid to 6 and made the slam, 11 each from the East and West seats. The slam failed 13 times but only 5 times when East was the declarer. A speculative A lead from the North is perhaps more appealing, though only maybe with Q a reasonable alternative.  Only 4 East-Wests could claim the moral high-ground by playing in 5!

Third board

In our third deal, South’s 3 looks rather an under-bid, though agreeing trumps and getting anything meaningful from their partner might prove hard if South made a slam-try descriptive 4 bid. Would North know which suit was trumps?  Also, as potentially good as one’s hand is, the trump suit could be better! South did not bid after their partner raised to game but rather wished they had:

 

Trumps are the big issue. If North held 2 key cards, you are not guaranteed to be comfortable in slam, though would be unlucky if slam did not have a play. North might have more than one heart, too, though those two key-cards could be AK. However, opposite a 0 or 3 reply, you could either presume it is 3 or sign-off and North should raise.

Alternatively, over 4, bid 5, cue-bid, and this time if North holds the top two spades, they would have to find a very good reason not to bid 6.

West could not threaten with any opening lead. Q disappeared on the K lead as A took the first trick. Two top spades were followed by A, ruff, A and a second heart ruff. Then a club ruff enabled South to draw trump and claim all 13 tricks. If the Q had not fallen in two rounds, there would still have been 12 tricks on normal breaks (i.e. 3-2 trumps and hearts).

Only 4 out of 71 pairs bid and made this slam.

So, two quite nice slams rarely bid and one rather not nice one made more often than it should have done.

Richard Solomon

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