Play with an Expert

East will be delighted when partner opens the bidding. Surely a slam is on, but which one?
Do you know that a new suit by responder is forcing for one round? If you do not please add it to your repertoire of bridge knowledge. West with a minimum hand initially gives preference to partner’s first suit, spades. When East continues with 3 ♦ to set up the game force, West unfortunately now shows the diamond guards by bidding 3 NT. What is forcing over that? Who knows. Be bold and practical and bid slam. Three EW pairs got all the way to 7 NT and were favoured with a lucky 13 tricks when declarer, after discovering that the Spades do not play for five tricks, takes the finesse for the Queen of Diamonds and then finds that suit breaks 3-3. Making five hearts, three spades, four diamonds and the A♣.

East will Pass as dealer and South may open a weak 2H. This will be West’s last chance to get in on the action on this board and he may DBL for take-out. Whether East bids 2S or passes the DBL converting it to penalties his side will score well as they make nine tricks in Spades and can defeat 2H by two tricks.

West will Pass and N may well open a weak 2H. He is likely to score well in match points if left to play there as it only goes one down for -100 and EW can make 3D for +110. If N passes E will open a weak 1 NT. His partner may well remove to 2D (or 3D depending on their system ) and score above average match points.

South will be pleased to see partner open 1S. There are many different ways of arriving at the best contract of 6S using sophisticated methods but a simple approach can get you there. South should reason that if partner is minimum 7S will be too high but 6S should have good chances. Although 7S makes on this deal it is really “against the odds” to get higher than 6S. Further when there is no practical bidding method available, bidding quickly challenges the opponent faced with little information about which minor to lead.