IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

with Larry Matheny

It is difficult to bid minor suit slams. There is a natural reluctance to move past 3NT and possibly end in a poor scoring minor suit game contract if slam is not reached. This N/S pair used a nice tool to help them reach a grand slam in diamonds.

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

Hand 12-46
Dlr	E
Vul	N/S

	AQ9
	Q
	K1074
	AQ963

	107543
	J83
	J8
	1082

	62
	K9742
	962
	J75

	KJ8
	A1065
	AQ53
	K4

West	North	East	South
-	-	Pass	1NT
Pass	3*	Pass	4
Pass	4NT	Pass	5
Pass	5NT	Pass	6
Pass	7	Pass	Pass
Pass

*short hearts

Bidding: North’s jump to 3 showed heart shortness and either 4-1-4-4 or 3-1-5-4 distribution. Steered away from 3NT, South showed his diamond suit and North moved toward slam by using the Roman Keycard convention. South showed two keycards plus the queen of diamonds. When North asked about kings, South admitted to holding two and North bid the grand slam.

Play: West led the four of spades and after finding a 3-2 break in the trump suit, declarer soon claimed all 13 tricks. Most N/S pairs were in 6NT making an overtrick when the club suit behaved.

Copyright ©2012 Larry Matheny