Vil Gravis's blog

Your Call 21

Now for another hand from the past, but one where West had an obvious takeout double that few Wests made use of but some of my panelists did see as being ‘fit for purpose’.

Dealer W Nil Vul

K8
AT7
K2
AQT93
A9742
KQ3
A843
4
6
J98
Q86
KJ872
QJT
6542
J974
65

Your Call 20

This deal comes from Friday 30/01/25. The bidding by NS was pretty tame but was as described in YC19, with North overcalling 2C and passed back to West. This was the first problem I posed to my panel of club players, with many opting to continue bidding and only one or two leaving North in 2C. Considering NS can make 7C passing would have produced a reasonable outcome. This was the scenario at one table when West decided to bid 2H after North’s overcall and two passes: North bid 3C, East 3H, South 4C, pass, pass and East then kept competing and bid 4H. North, despite being a died in the wool conservative, having ventured a mere 2C overcall with his first bid, was now more confident and doubled 4H. The NS defensive play was far superior to their bidding and West was down five for 1100 and not a happy declarer. East is recovering in A&E from tomahawk blows to the head following a late night discussion with West.

Board 24 Dealer W Nil Vul

AT87
AT7
A
AQT93
KQJ63
Q643
Q3
K7
954
K982
T8652
8
2
J5
KJ974
J6542

Your Call 19

I could title this “Spot the Difference” or “Respect Your Passing Partner”. I sent out three bidding problems to a panel of club players. Firstly let me give you the hand you are asked to bid, sitting WEST as was the case at the time:

You are West and Dealer at Nil Vul

KQJ63
Q643
Q3
K7

Problem 1. You have opened 1S and North has overcalled with 2C. After two passes, it is your call. What should you be thinking? Why has partner PASSED?

Opening Leads 25

The second one from our first Tuesday session of 2025 has the same theme but in a different context.

Board 23. Dealer S ALL Vul

Q3
J52
J752
T642
98764
AQ6
QT8
K5
JT
KT874
9643
J3
AK52
93
AK
AQ987

Opening Leads 24

From our first Tuesday session of 2025 come two interesting deals where what we have discussed about opening leads can make all the difference to the result. That is why we have agreements about opening leads.

Board 11
Dealer South Nil Vul

Q982
AK76
AKQT7
K53
QT64
QT3
J94
AJT76
AK8
954
52
4
J97532
J82
863

Your Call 17

Preempts are not just there to be used as interference value against opponents, they are also there as a constructive tool. In this deal, North had a perfect 3D opening but few Souths made the best use of the information.

Board 17 from Tuesday 3/12/24
Dealer N Nil Vul

T8
A3
KJ76532
84
J74
J87
94
K9763
Q953
QT54
8
QJT5
AK62
K962
AQT
A2

Slams 05

Thursday last was a session for slams, but surprisingly this one escaped most NS pairs.

Board 19 from Thursday 28/11/24
Dealer S EW Vul

A7
AQ
KQJ92
Q942
QT2
K73
63
KJT83
9854
J65
T854
65
KJ63
T9842
A7
A7

Double Dummy 22

This is worth reporting. My hapless correspondent wanted to know where he went wrong in a 4H contract that everyone was making. Deep Finesse was there to prove that he should have made 4H like every other declarer, so where did he go wrong?

Board 13 from Friday 29/11/24
Dealer N All Vul

Q743
QT86
943
42
J2
2
KJT76
A9873
KT6
73
Q85
KQJT6
A985
AKJ954
A2
5

Your Call 16

This one was sent to me by a regular correspondent, who was justifiably proud of the fact that their partnership bid to the excellent 7H grand slam. Really, it should not have been difficult for most pairs, yet even 6H was a rare occurrence. One pair across all of X-Clubs did bid to 7NT and scored an undeserved 100% when West kindly discarded a heart on the run of South’s diamonds after a club lead, but let’s talk about how to arrive at the small slam in hearts at least.

Board 16 from Friday 22/11/24
Dealer W EW Vul

JT5
KQ9532
76
A5
Q87
T864
J4
J987
K943
7
932
KQT62
A62
AJ
AKQT85
43

Your Call 15

This deal comes from the NZ Wide Loveblock event on Friday 15/11/24. I have chosen it because a deal like that will never come up again but it does illustrate the need for a more intricate bidding system to handle an opening 1NT from the opposition, not just Hamilton (aka Cappelletti or Pottage - ed), which seems to be the most common in current use. Let’s look at the full deal before I make some suggestions.

Board 4 Dealer W All Vul

AKQ862
KQT9432
J4
A75
T943
AKJ5
973
8
AKQJ82
Q83
T5
J6
765
T97642

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