Contract Bridge TWO SLAMS IN TWO HANDS

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31093, 23 June 1966, Page 8

Contract Bridge TWO SLAMS IN TWO HANDS

fContributed by J.R.W.J In golf it is the hole-in-one, in cricket the hit for six, in tennis the power serve for an ace, in bridge the grand slam which is the most thrilling moment of the game. Such contracts are rare indeed and often difficult to bid, so most of us have to make do with the slightly lesser thrill of a small slam. At a duplicate match the other evening, however, the players had the most unusual opportunity of calling a small slam and a grand slam on successive hands. North dealt the first: N S—6 H—Q109642 D—A KlO 2 C—lo 7 W E S—s S—AKQJ9B74 H—JB53 H—AK D-J7 3 D—Q C—AQJ96C—S4 S S—lo 3 2 H—7 D—98654 C—KB4 2 After a pass from North, East usually opened two spades and West was just good enough to give a positive response of three clubs. East’s next bid of four notrumps was, of course, conventional asking how many aces his partner held. The response of five diamonds showed one ace, so East settled for six spades. Where South led the singleton heart the declarer made thirteen tricks when the club finesse was right. In a case like this. North can hardly do his side any harm by doubling the five diamond bid, thereby asking his partner to lead that suit against the final contract. A diamond lead would not have beaten six spades, but it would have saved an overtrick, often an important consideration in duplicate.

Some Norths did even better. The popularity is growing of the light opening bid, the requirements for which are a good rebiddable suit and two defensive tricks. Provided both partners realise that an opening bid may be based more on a good suit than on thirteen points, they are unlikely to get into much trouble. One of the advantages is seen in this hand, where if North does open one heart it becomes very difficult for East-West to call their slam. Apart from anything else, it is much more likely that the king of clubs is with North. If East, however, is in a gambling mood, his best counter is an immediate overcall of two hearts, to establish a forcing-to-game situation. West should reflect that since

he would have to call three clubs without any strength at all, his present hand is too good for a minimum bid and so he should jump to four clubs. East may then shoot six spades without further ado. The very next hand was a cold grand slam dealt by East: W E S—A3 5—K7642 H-A8743 H—KQ 10952 D—A KlO D—3 C—AlO 9 C—6

Some East's decided their hand had the qualifications for a light opener and called one heart. West brought out the heavy artillery, asking first for aces, then for kings, and settling in seven hearts. One West omitted the formality of first calling four no-trumps to ask for aces, instead jumping at once to five no-trumps to ask for kings. When her very bewildered partner passed they were not in the optimum contract. East is not really strong enough to open, and should allow West to begin with one heart. After this start, one scientific pair had a “Kan-garoo-type” action: W E No 1H 2 S 3 NT 5 H 5 NT 7 H No.

East’s jump take-out to two spades is a bid used to show a hand just short of an opening bid with a fit for partner's suit—without a fit a hand which has already passed can hardly be strong enough to be thinking of game. West jumped to three no-trumps, indicating extra values. East showed his massive heart support by a bid of five hearts, and West called five notrumps. This was the grand slam force, requiring partner to call seven of the agreed trump suit if he had two of the top three honour cards in it, and otherwise to call six. At the other end of the scale was the pah* who bid: W. E. 1 H 4C 4 D 4 S No. Four clubs was asking for aces, four diamonds showed none, four spades (the next higher unbid suit) asked for kings, no bid showed it had been misunderstood. And so another happy partnership hit the rocks.

Tiger On Round.—A postman, G. Somakandan, delivering letters on the outskirts of Tanah Rata, Malaysia, spotted a tiger and started running. Looking back, he saw that the tiger was running too—in the opposite direction.