This is an example of a type of slam that can often be hard to bid i.e. one with a relatively low combined point count but with two running suits and good controls outside. Here it is made easier by the fact that North' has two good long suits. I was playing with Colin Elliott playing a strong club system and he choose to open a prepared 1D. I responded 1S and when Colin raised to 2S I made a slam try by jumping to 4C as a splinter. Colin has a complete minimum in terms of high cards but has four good trump,. two Aces and a great holding of three low opposite my shortage; so he judged correctly to cooperate by cue-bidding his Ace of Diamonds. I now just checked on Aces before jumping to the virtually cold slam. But look at the South hand. If it had one more Heart and one less Club the slam would be virtually playless as there would now be losers in both Clubs and Hearts. Slam would require either a wildly unlikely singleton HK or East to find an attacking lead away from the HK. I like to think Colin would just have signed off instead of cue-bidding if he had been 4-3-4-2!
Andrew Hughes and I (well, just Andrew really) found it using our no frills bidding system with a spade opener from N, a limit bid from S (me) then N went Blackwood and decided to go for it...
Nic and I open 1N non-vul with a decent 11 count. It went 1N-2H-2S-3D-4S-4N-5S-6S.
ReplyDeleteThis is an example of a type of slam that can often be hard to bid i.e. one with a relatively low combined point count but with two running suits and good controls outside. Here it is made easier by the fact that North' has two good long suits.
ReplyDeleteI was playing with Colin Elliott playing a strong club system and he choose to open a prepared 1D. I responded 1S and when Colin raised to 2S I made a slam try by jumping to 4C as a splinter.
Colin has a complete minimum in terms of high cards but has four good trump,. two Aces and a great holding of three low opposite my shortage; so he judged correctly to cooperate by cue-bidding his Ace of Diamonds.
I now just checked on Aces before jumping to the virtually cold slam.
But look at the South hand. If it had one more Heart and one less Club the slam would be virtually playless as there would now be losers in both Clubs and Hearts. Slam would require either a wildly unlikely singleton HK or East to find an attacking lead away from the HK.
I like to think Colin would just have signed off instead of cue-bidding if he had been 4-3-4-2!
Andrew Hughes and I (well, just Andrew really) found it using our no frills bidding system with a spade opener from N, a limit bid from S (me) then N went Blackwood and decided to go for it...
ReplyDelete