One hand, six questions

Managing a hand with a lot of points is not easy, whether it be in adverse silence or competitive bidding. Be ready for some flexibility. And good luck!

With N/S vulnerable, you hold the following hand as South:

1- How do you open this hand?

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Although you hold “only” 22HCP, the right opening bid doesn’t seem obvious. On the one hand, you could open with a forcing 2♣ and then rebid 2♥ when partner responds 2♦. On the other hand, opening 1♥ offers more flexibility and the auction isn’t likely to stop there because of your singleton Spade. In theory, semi-forcing or general forcing 2♣ openings should be made with one-suiters rather than two-suiters. For this reason, I’d prefer opening 1♥ which leaves more space and allows a better description of your hand. But opening 2♣ is also reasonable enough. Opening 1♥ gives you 10 points while the choice of a strong 2♣ only allows you to collect 6 points.

2- Your partner opens 3♠. What do you bid? Try to imagine how this will continue.

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In a position of unfavorable vulnerability, your partner’s 3♠ opening should be solid. In addition to the likely holding of KQxxxxx in Spades, your partner probably holds a useful side card that will allow you to play the slam. The main question is that of the quality of your partner’s trumps. To check that out, several ways are possible. The modern way is to use 4♣ as RKCB, allowing the partnership to stop at 4♠ if necessary. More conservative players use the classic RKCB at 4NT and then ask for the trump Queen following partner’s most likely response of “one keycard”. Dinosaurs can also use a Josephine 5♠, asking partner to bid slam with two big honors in trumps (or maybe KingJack eighth, which is also possible). Take 10 points if you have initiated a verification process rather than shown a control (6 points) or signed off in 4♠ (3 points).

3- You open 1♥, lefty overcalls 2♠. Your partner doubles and RHO bids 3♠. What do you say?

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The way the bidding unfolds, your hand just became huge! Your opponents obviously have points in Spades and your partner has made a negative Double for the minors. At this point, start with a Double to ask partner to show his longer minor and then ask him for Aces next! If you stop before slam, you have to quickly be treated by an expert for excessive pessimism. 10 points for Double, 5 points for the mysterious bid of 4♠ which takes up too much space. 3 points for an early and hasty jump to slam (5NT or 6♦). Nothing for any other call!

4- You open 1♥ and your partner responds 1NT. Plan the next two rounds of the bidding!

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Your partner has at most three Spades and two Hearts and therefore eight cards in the minors. This ensures a fit in a minor, you just have to find out in which one. Start by bidding 3♦ to show a game forcing hand with at least five Hearts and four Diamonds. If you hear an unenthusiastic response (3♥ or 3NT), continue with 4♣ to complete the description of your hand. A slam is largely playable as soon as your partner has either six Clubs to the King, or King-Queen fifth, or the Ace of Diamonds and five Clubs with a big honor. On the other hand, with the stiff Ace of Spades you should be weary of playing 3NT. Score 10 points if you planned to go on over 3NT. Only 2 points otherwise..

5- You open 1♥ and your partner raises to 2♥. How can you find out if partner has the right cards?

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You chose to open 1♥ to leave some space for your partner: this is the moment to use it wisely. The simplest bid is to make a Splinter of 3♠ in order to show your Spade shortness, allowing your partner to judge the usefulness of his points. You can make slam with a very modest hand opposite like ♠8765 ♥Q42 ♦J6 ♣KQ32 KQ32 if your partner has no lost points in Spades. The problem with this bid is that it permanently buries the Diamonds, while 6 Diamonds could be the only making slam if partner has for example ♠654 ♥Q53 ♦A1076 ♣654. The 4-4 fit allows you to take more ruffs than the 5-3 fit, in which you’ll lose two Club tricks. Therefore, the trial bid of 3♦ rgives you 10 points while the Splinter of 3♠ only gives you 6. For any sign off in game you’ll get 3 points.

6- You play 6 Hearts as South (none vul.):

West leads the Spade 10. You play low in dummy and win with the Ace in hand. Play to the best of your interests… Be careful, Diamonds don’t break well!

See the solution

If the opponents had stayed silent during the whole auction, a reasonable plan would be to discard two Clubs from dummy on the King-Queen of Diamonds and then ruff a Club and a Diamond in dummy. But this needs Diamonds to be no worse than 5-3 and you know this is not the case here. The best line is a dummy reversal! Win the lead in hand and play a small Heart to the 10 (everybody follows). Then ruff a Spade with the Heart Ace. Play a Heart to the Queen and ruff a Spade with the King. Next get to dummy with the Diamond Ace and ruff the last Spade with the Jack. You ruff a small Diamond, draw the last trump and claim with the Club Ace and King-Queen of Diamonds for twelve tricks (one Spade, three ruffs in hand, four trumps in dummy, three Diamonds and one Club). What timing!

The full deal

Add up your points and divide by 3 to get your score out of 20!

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With N/S vulnerable, you hold the following hand as South:

6- You play 6 Hearts as South (none vul.):

The full deal

What score did you get?

You need a Funbridge Premium or Premium+ subscription to keep reading.

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With N/S vulnerable, you hold the following hand as South:

6- You play 6 Hearts as South (none vul.):

The full deal

What score did you get?

You need a Funbridge Premium or Premium+ subscription to keep reading.

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