NZ SIMULTANEOUS PAIRS BOARD 1
Board 1 gave an opportunity to bid a grand slam:
Board 1, N dealer, nil all vulnerability
Axx
QT
K9x
AKJxx
Qxxx. JT98
xxx Jxxxx
Qxxx. xx
xx xx
Kx
AKx
AJTx
QTxx
However the lure of bidding 7NT may have been a trap for many with the Q to find whereas 7 is cold. This board shows the advantage for bidding systems that can show exact shape and location of key cards of one of the partnership’s hands.
Acol players are probably bidding something like:
1 1
2N. ?
South now has a surprising difficult bid to make depending on system agreements. They are certainly thinking slam but how to get there? For this story we assume 4 at this point is conventional asking for A and North shows 2A and 2K. Certainly enough to then bid 6NT with no other knowledge about partner’s shape except balanced with 4+ . Bidding 6NT making 6 (or 7 if guess Q location correctly or can induce West to cover) is still giving a reasonable pairs board as surprisingly some pairs are only in 3NT and one or two bidding 7NT are going light.
We play an unusual 1 relay based system that allows us to determine the puppets hand shape so our bidding would be:
1 1N
2 2
2 2
2N 3
3 4
4 5
5 6
6 6
6 7
-
I won’t bother you with the detail but North has learned South has a 4432 shape with K, AK,A,Q and so stops in 7 planning to discard a diamond on 3rd and ruff and losers, and recognising there is a potential loser if played in 7NT. There is a systemic positional advantage as if South had opened the bidding with our methods we couldn’t identify North had the Q. So identifying the potential loser we would probably also stop in 6NT in this instance.
Worth all the extra bidding to obtain the extra shape information? Possibly not in pairs where following the natural systems pack is generally more rewarded. If you were one of the pairs that managed to bid and make 7 well done if you made this bid because your systems allowed you to identify partner’s shape to allow you to recognise the risk in 7NT!
Latest Posts on this Thread
- JOHN O'CONNOR27 Oct 2018 at 07:57PM
Is this from the event that is due to be played on the 2n of November?
- ZACHARY YAN27 Oct 2018 at 11:40PM
While standard bidding systems also have flaws, playing against strong club systems I will jump overcall on next to nothing if I believe you have slam.
- STANLEY ABRAHAMS28 Oct 2018 at 05:12PM
Which bid identified that the diamond queen was missing?
- Brad Johnston31 Oct 2018 at 06:44PM
This is from the NZ wide last year.
7NT isn't that bad of a contract. By cashing 10 outside winners you can figure out that West started with 4 diamonds, making them a favourite to hold the queen.
I can't remember the percentage we got for 1520 at the time, and the result look-up for these events a year ago is dubious [which is a shame, because I can find the results and hands from 6 years ago at the Otago Bridge Club] - SEAN LYNCH01 Nov 2018 at 01:47AM
Brad, well done for solving the mystery of when this nostalgic hand was played and for making 7NT last year. Unfortunately there is no prize.
I think when the Q
appeared it would have been reasonable to chose to finesse the way you did but I don’t think you can be 100% certain West had 4. Consider if you had been sitting West with 5 to QJ and 3without the Q. Would you not have false carded by playing Q on 2nd after discarding 2 earlier if you thought partner might have Q?Stanley, the answer was the 7
bid confirms the Q and denied having Q. 6 was a relay asking for suit of Partner’s Q after partner had already denied by inference having Q. Plan was to play in 7NT if partner bid 7 showing Q relying on to break 2-2 or finesse to work. After 6 bid North can already see 7 will make if break 2-2 or finesse works.
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