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Now two questions come to mind, the first being “Should I have corrected to 7N?” This was a very strong field, Adam Grossack was in it, as was Jiang Gu, David Hoffner, “Buffalo” Bill Pettis, all Grand Life Masters. The rest of the players were not slouches either. So 7S did not rate to score as well as it would in a club game. Clearly partner has spade support including the king, and he has promised two of the top 3 honors in clubs. If he has the ace and king, as he did, I can pull trumps ending in dummy and dispose of my losing heart and diamond on the AK of clubs. On the other hand, if he has ace and queen of clubs, I would need some luck to get to dummy multiple times to ruff the king of clubs out. He could also have the heart jack and I have only one losing diamond which goes on the club ace. Or he could have the diamond king. Well, I chickened out and passed 7S as did 6 other NS pairs – the 3 enterprising pairs who bid 7N walked off with 91% of the matchpoints.
Now the second question is why did two pairs fail to reach a laydown grand slam? And how did one pair only bid to 4S, holding 14 top tricks? I do know this happened against Adam Grossack, I was not able to catch him to find out how it went down, but I have a conjecture.
First, we have to set the stage. North is a Grand LM with over 17,000 points and 1900 platinum. South is a client with under 2000 points.
South opened 2C as I did. Adam’s client overcalled 2D, despite the bad suit and unfavorable vulnerability. Now good players deal with interference over 2C thusly: double shows a bust hand, no ace, no king, no two queens and suggests defending. Pass (which is alertable)1 shows values. After a double showing a bust hand, responder can pass the 2C opener’s rebid. North, the pro, passed to show values. South, the client, did not alert the pass and leapt to 4S, bidding what she could make in her own hand. Now North is a player whose ethics are beyond reproach, and cannot take any inference from his partner’s failure to alert. He has to pretend she alerted his pass as value showing, and has still signed off in 4S. And that is how I surmise they stopped in 4S with 14 top tricks.
1An example from ACBL’s new alert procedures dated 4/15/24:
After a Very Strong 2C Opening and a 2H Direct Overcall, a Pass showing 4+ HCP: “Alert.”
Another excerpt from the alert procedures to bear in mind (bolding mine):
Alerts must be made verbally by saying the word “Alert” and visually by tapping the “Alert” strip or showing the “Alert” card in the bidding box. When a call has been Alerted, an opponent, at their turn to call may ask about its meaning. The preferred form of the question is a simple “Please Explain.”
The new ACBL alert procedures can be found here.
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