Slammin’ at the Sectional

It is acknowledged that Precision excels at slam bidding. Late in a session at the Victoria Sectional an acquaintance remarked to John and I, ‘you must be doing well, because there were so many slams.’  We were, ending a distant third. It is not well understood why Precision produces better results time and again. One of the main advantages is in the assignment of the captaincy, a weakness in 2/1 methods. When one partner takes charge, the chances of screwing it up are halved. Here is a failure in that regard.

John	Bob	John	Bob
♠ AKT	♠ J98532	1♥ *	4♣**
♥ 98762	♥ AQJT	4♦	5♣
♦ J	♦ A85	5♥	Pass
♣ AQ95	♣ —	* 11-15 HCP	** splinter

The abnormal aspect of the hands is that the long major suit holdings do not include top honors. Responding 1♠ would be bad, one of the worse starts, the reason being that the priorities have not been established. Under that circumstance cooperative bidding practices may not be successful, as each player will downgrade because of the poor quality of his own suit, rather than upgrade because of his great support.

I supported immediately with a space consuming splinter, John made a mild slam try with a ‘Last Train’ 4♦ . I was happy to reveal my void, which acted adversely. John signed off, and I passed on fear his high card values were in diamonds, not spades. Believe it or not, taking 13 tricks resulted in a dead average board when everyone should have reached 6♥ .

I take the blame. As responder I can see it will be difficult for my partner to envision a slam when he is missing AQJT in the trump suit, therefore, rather than make a descriptive splinter, I have to take charge. My initial response should have been a takeover Jacoby 2NT, after which partner is obliged to describe his hand to me. I then decide.

John	Bob	John	Bob
♠ AKT	♠ J98532	1♥	2NT*
♥ 98762	♥ AQJT	3♣**	3♦
♦ J	♦ A85	3♠	4♣
♣ AQ95	♣—	4♦	6♥
		Pass
		** 6 losers	* Jacoby

This is crude, but sometimes crude gets the job done. 3♣ shows a 6-loser hand. There is no getting away from it, despite the bad heart suit. 3♦ and 3♠ show aces. It is much easier for opener to bid spades below game than above it. 4♦ shows second round control. Although the knowledge of opener’s hand is not perfect, responder knows enough to bid 6♥ . Precision limits the opening bid to at most 15 HCP, so it appears there are not enough spare controls lying around to attempt a Grand Slam. This is unlikely to be wrong, but if it is, we tip our hats to the better bidders, of which there were none.

The next deal was a bit of a mystery as getting to an obvious slam was worth 35 out of 38 matchpoints. The strong hand took charge and made the final decision.

John	Bob	West	John	East	Bob
♠ KQJT75	♠ A964	1♦	Dbl	Pass	2♥
♥ 3	♥ QJ9862	Pass	2♠	Pass	4♠
♦ AQ	♦ 9	Pass	4NT	Pass	5♣
♣ AQJ5	♣ 86	Pass	6♠	All	Pass

West opened normally, so it seems initially that the slam depended on the happy placement of the ♣K, however, the chances are better than that; the opening lead can help. Indeed, the opening lead was a heart won by the ♥ K. West tried to cash the ♥ A, and the hand was over. Both minor suit kings were onside, so it merely saved time.

This result had nothing to do with Precision, but note the assignment of the captaincy. This is the way when a player opens a Big Club, which provides a partnership with a great advantage over those who have to share the responsibilities on an equal basis. A closely defined limited response can prove to be a great advantage.

John	Bob	John	Bob
♠ 3	♠ A965	1♣*	2NT**
♥ AK83	♥ Q4	3♦	3♠ (♠A)
♦ AQ9843	♦ K62	4♣	5♣
♣ A5	♣KJT3	6♦	Pass
		* 16+HCP	** 11-13 HCP

This sequence is not going to win a bidding contest, but it scored 31 out of 38 matchpoints when the diamonds split 4-0. John said at the time, ‘it is the first time I was hoping for a bad split.’ If one thinks along the lines that 17+13 adds up to 30 HCP, then one is definitely off the track on this one. To bid the Grand Slam declarer needs to know is how many of those 13 HCP are wasted in spades. Finding out will not be easy. That is why so many players give up too easily on potential Grand Slams – they know that most will not get there, even if it makes. This is a sad state of affairs. Grand Slam bonuses should be increased to encourage the improvement of bidding methods.

We employ cooperative methods when called for. The captaincy can be resigned by the Big Clubber when he is at a loss of how to continue. I am good at that.

Bob	John	Bob	John
♠ Q6	♠ AJ9852	1♣*	1♠**
♥ AK982	♥ —	2♥	2♠
♦ AKT6	♦ 543	3♠	4NT
♣ 75	♣AJ64	5♠	6♠
		Pass

This time we bid a bad slam that made on imperfect defence. When opener doesn’t support responder’s suit immediately, we resort to ‘natural’ cooperative bidding. When John repeated spades, he was showing a 6-card suit, which I could support. I believe in the adage, ‘support with support’. This does not rule out the possibility of reaching 6♦ on a 4-4 fit, although admittedly it makes it harder. All-in-all it is better to bid simply early in the auction, and leave the clever stuff to later. John took over with RKCB.

The opening lead was a trump – some people never learn. Trumps were drawn using a diamond entry to dummy, and it was down to running off some spades hoping for a phantom squeeze or something nice happening in diamonds in a 7-card ending.

John	Dummy (Me)
♠ 2	♠ —
♥ —	♥ AK9
♦ 43	♦ KT8
♣ AJ64	♣ 7

The ♦ 3 was played to the ♦ 8, losing to the ♦ J. The ♣A won the club return and the last spade was played in the hope that a squeeze may be taking effect. Judging from the accurate discarding that it had not, John discarded the ♥ 9 and played a diamond to the ♦ K. When these proved to have been dealt 3-3, he had 4 winners remaining, 12 in all.

No factual history is complete without its tragic event. It is part of the Theory of Chaos that a small slip can lead to a great catastrophe. Think of Tiger Woods: he would still be winning major tournaments if he hadn’t carelessly left his cellphone lying about the house. Here I slipped up by over-ruling the captain’s decision.

John	Bob	John	Bob
♠ AKT8	♠ 9654	1♣*	2NT**
♥ KQ52	♥ A9	3♣	3♥ (spades)
♦ A4	♦ 9532	3♠ (ask)	3NT (no AKQ)
♣ JT8	♣AK7	4♣ (ask)	4NT  (5 controls)
		5♠	6♠
		Pass
		* 16+HCP	** 11-13 HCP

The major difficulty arose from the fact that my high-card controls were placed in my short suits. It is unusual for an 11-point hand to have 5 controls, the equivalent of 17 HCPs. The 1♣ opener usually delivers 6 controls, and with 7 controls opener is expected to make some move towards slam. I assumed our trumps were solid, partner held significant extras, and was inviting slam. Wrong. That would be normal, but good bidding is about revealing what is, not assuming what should be. I had shown my all and should have passed like a good member of the crew.

A heart was led and declarer had to decide which defender to play for the ♠QJ. Being conveniently in the dummy he finessed the ♠T, losing to the ♠QJ tight. Grrrr. Even if he had picked up the spades, he would have had to play his RHO for the ♣Q doubleton. The Goddesses of Bridge may be willing to favour you with an advantageous placement of the cards, but you still have to take advantage of their generosity. So the winning line was: ♥ A, ♠A, ♠K, ♠T, ♣A, ♣K, claim. Easy. Deep Finesse got it right.

Table Talk

Bob: I wonder why Phil Mickelson takes all those crazy chances.
John: You should know because you do the same.
Bob: That’s right! The difference is he is successful.
John: That’s one difference.
Bob: And the public loves him!
John: That’s another.

Lady; Do you play golf?
Bob: No, but I like to watch, just as I like to watch women, but take no action.
Lady: You’re showing your age.
Bob: I no longer feel the need to hide it.

Bob: I don’t see your husband playing today.
Lady: No, he was bending over in the garden and hurt his back.
Bob: He should know better by now, I mean, he is the unbending type.   (No laughter)

Man: You said you played Precision, but you didn’t alert any of your bids.
John: They were all natural.
Bob: Perhaps we all should start alerting those as well.
Man: True. (Laughter)

John:  That was one of my former patients who is still alive.
Bob: Not much longer – his wife will kill him if he keeps playing that way.

John: I wonder what the others are doing on that board.
Bob: Don’t ask, otherwise you may end up thinking just like them.