Improve Your Play #22

IMPROVE YOUR PLAY #22 with Larry Matheny

The splinter bid has been around for a long time but many players fail to take advantage of it. Simply stated, a splinter bid shows support for partner's suit and shortness in the suit bid. Here it is in action.

VUL: E/W
SCORING: Matchpoints

Hand #22
Dlr	N
Vul	E-W

	A9
	KJ85
	8
	AK8762

	J10643
	107
	5432
	Q4

	752
	6
	AKQ1096
	1093

	KQ8
	AQ9432
	J7
	J5

West	North	East	South
	1	2	2
Pass	4*	Pass	4NT
Pass	5	Pass	6
All pass

*Splinter Bid

BIDDING: After North's 1

opening bid, East made a weak jump overcall of 2

. At unfavorable vulnerability, this showed a very good suit with little else. South had an easy 2

call and North, holding extras, jumped to 4

. This splinter bid showed the values to bid 4

as well as a singleton or void in diamonds. That was all South needed to move toward slam. His 4NT call asked for the number of keycards (aces + heart king) and responder showed 0-3. Realizing they were missing one keycard, South settled for the small slam.

PLAY: South lost the first trick in diamonds and was able to claim the rest. To fully appreciate the value of the splinter bid, just visualize North with two small diamonds. Now North would jump to 4

over South's 2