This Week At North Penn

Tuesday through Saturday games will be Royal STaC offering 25% Gold, Red, Silver, and Black points.

Mon, 10a

Mon, noon

Tue, 10a

Wed, 9:30a

Wed, noon

Thu, noon

Fri, 10a

Sat, 10a

Open

0-1500

Bid & Play

Open

Open

0-750

0-99

Board Meeting

STaC

STaC

Handicap Swiss Teams STaC

STaC

STaC

Upcoming Special Events

4 Is Enough

Handicap Pairs

0-750 Swiss Teams

Handicap Swiss Teams

Evening Pizza

Board Meeting

Wednesday, 05/13

Thursday, 05/14

Friday, 05/15

Thursday, 05/21

Friday, 05/29 (pizza at 6:00, game at 6:30)

Monday, TBD

Bid & Play

This week Mitch will do a mini lesson on opening leads. There will be a handout!

Education

Joann Glasson's May Zoom classes will be held on Monday, May 11 & 18 at 10:00 a.m. See flyer for details.

Deal Analysis

by Mitch Snyder



The Elusive Slam(s)

I occasionally hear bridge players say that slams run in pairs. While this isn’t true all the time, there are occasions when they do. Here’s a case where there are three consecutive slam hands that would, interestingly, be played together in a three board movement.

Some slams are harder to bid than others. They often involve a great trump fit and less than the 32-33 HCPs used as a benchmark for slam bidding. That mark is great for balanced hands heading to 6NT, but suit slams can frequently be made with fewer HCPs.

Hand 1

Note all the possible slams available on this hand, but can you get to one? Any will do. In the Common Game, slam bidders were rewarded with at least 80% of the matchpoints. With the diamonds breaking 2-2, the play is unremarkable so let’s look at a couple possible auctions.



First off, I don’t recommend a 2D opening by W. This hand is a gold mine if there is a heart fit.

Auction 1

* With his great shape and working 9 HCPs, west wants to make a slam try. Since a 3NT bid would imply 4 spades, a 3S bid here is used as an artificial slam try. When using Stayman, a bid of the other major after a major suit response shows a fit and slam interest.

^ Missing a keycard, east can’t ask for kings so he settles for 6H. If east knew about the long diamonds or the 2 kings, he might try 6NT.

Auction 2

* If 3S is too esoteric for you, you could try 4D. This is a natural bid that promises 5+ diamonds and slam interest. Although this might get you to the superior NT slam, it could make getting back to hearts difficult when hearts is the right strain. 

^ With both black suits double stopped and a diamond fit, east has no trouble bidding 6NT.

Hand 2

It’s not easy to get to a 26 point slam, but let’s look at some auctions. On this hand 12 tricks are always available but can you get there?

Auction 1

2C was game forcing and after W rebid spades E showed a non-minimum by bidding 3S. A 4S bid would show a minimum. West cuebid 4D to show a first or second round control and E was off to the races. W showed 1 keycard with 5C or 5D and the next bid 5D/H asked for the Q of trump. A 5S reply would deny the Q.  The 6D bid confirmed the Q. 6D also denied holding the club K and confirmed that the diamond control was the K (which E already knew).

The Play

A well known bridge player once remarked that he never met a long suit in dummy that he didn’t like.  On this hand, dummy’s clubs are going to provide the 12^th trick.

There are 2 losers, the heart is unavoidable but the diamond loser can go away on a club as long as the club break is no worse than 4-2. To pull this off you need 1 or 2 dummy entries after 3 rounds of clubs are played, one to ruff again if necessary and one more to get back.

If the opponents start with 2 rounds of hearts ruff the 2^nd and immediately cash 2 clubs and ruff the third with a high trump. Play 2 rounds of trump ending in dummy, ruff another club high and pull the last trump if necessary.  Enter the dummy with a diamond and pitch your 3^rd diamond on the last club.

Hand 3

South has a nice hand that gets even better when clubs are supported. He embarks on a slam investigation with some control bids.

After N’s club raise, S is thinking possible club slam so he makes a control bid. The 3D and 3H bids show a first or second round control. Some partnerships bid controls (A or K) up the line, others only cuebid aces. Skipping a suit tends to deny a control there.

In either case, N cooperates showing a spade control and keeping 3NT alive as a possible final contract. (N knows very little about S’s hand, S is the captain here).

Still interested in slam, S makes a second cuebid and N bids spades again showing  AK of spades.

If S bids Blackwood now, a 5D response, if playing 3014, will force to you to 6C off 2 controls. Using 1430 responses you can stop at 5C. Funny thing, many players who use 1430 switch to 3014 if clubs is the suit, protecting against this situation when there are zero keycards.

I auction 1, S bids 4NT anyway The Elusiveand is rewarded with a ‘2/without’ response and happily bids 6. 

In auction 2, S eschews 4NT and just bids 6C.

The Play

On a diamond lead (best) E takes his ace and the defense is done. Declarer wins trick 2, pulls trump, ruffs a heart and runs spades to pitch the other hearts. With both spades and clubs breaking evenly, declarer can take 13 tricks if a diamond isn’t led.

Conclusion

Don’t be a slave to HCPs.

Ask the Expert

Email your questions, or a pesky hand, or something you’d like to know about bidding or playing to Toysie Walker. She will forward them to the panel, one will be chosen, and the question and answers will be printed in the following week’s email.

May Birthdays



Tay Adams

Donald Baker

Connie Berman

David Cohan

Lori DiFerdinando

Suzanne Franks

Bob George

Richard Godshall

P. J. Ingram

Frank Lucard

Madelyne McKee

Bruce Neff

Carolyn Per

Sheldon Per

Alison Shoemaker

Mitchell Snyder

Robert Taylor