IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny

 

Here is another complex auction that carried North-South to a great grand slam.

 

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

#10-44

Dlr

W

Vul

E/W

S

A1043

H

K76

D

AK9

C

Q95

S

Q65

H

J95

D

J42

C

10874

  pad  

S

K9872

H

8432

D

3

C

J63

 

S

J

H

AQ10

D

Q108765

C

AK2

West

North

East

South

  Pass

  1NT

   Pass

    2NT*

  Pass

   3D

   Pass

    4D

   Pass       4S        Pass       5H

   Pass       7D        Pass      Pass

   Pass     

 

   *transfer to diamonds

 

 

BIDDING:  Here is a recap of the N/S auction:  South showed a long diamond suit and North’s 3C bid was a “super accept”.  South’s jump to 4D initiated Roman Keycard Blackwood (4 aces + trump King).  North admitted to hold three keycards so South was now interested in bidding the grand.  His 5H bid asked North if he held the king of hearts and North said yes by bidding seven diamonds. 

 

PLAY:  West led a trump and South soon claimed all of the tricks.  It’s true there were also thirteen tricks in notrump but most pairs stopped in 3NT and only a few bid the small slam.  Minor suit slams are difficult to bid partly because of the reluctance to go past 3NT.

 

 

 

Copyright ©2010 Larry Matheny