Vil Gravis's blog

This deal comes from Thursday 9/12/2021. Perhaps not surprisingly, the final contract almost always was 4S by East, even though a 5C sacrifice should be found without too much difficulty. That is, if NS play “Truscott” and North uses his or her imagination rather than follows what the book says. Let me show you the deal so you can judge for yourself.

Board 3 Dealer S EW Vul

	Q432 T87532 T92
9863 J85 AKQ6 K4		KQJ542 AT6 J9 Q7
	AT7 K97 4 AJ8653

Thanks for your input. The question, once again:
Match Point session.
Dealer E. EW Vul
You are South

South	West	North	East
1	Pass	1	Pass
?

What's your rebid, holding:

6

AK832

AQ743

AT

There were a number of different views on this one, the main issues being:
a) is a rebid of 2D forcing?
b) is a rebid of 3D GAME forcing?
c) after a response of 1S and then 3NT when opener rebids 2D, what can opener expect from partner's hand?

This deal from recent play was sent to me by one of my regular panelists. The declarer play rather than the bidding is what will interest the reader. It is not very often that we find a vulnerable vs not vulnerable sacrifice paying off, and as my correspondent writes, this one did not either, because when this was played, 5C doubled went down two, with nearly all other tables returning a +480 when only one EW pair bid to a very good heart slam. I find it difficult to see how NS would end up in 5C doubled rather than EW in either 5H or 6H. But let’s not puzzle over the bidding, but look at the play.

Dealer N NS Vul

	T865 3 5 AKJ9863
Q973 KQ87 QJ742		KJ AJT95 AKT98 4
	A42 642 63 QT752

Vil thanks everyone that responded to his Next Question article. As many suspected, 6C is a very good end result. After his opening 1C, partner actually held:

Axxx

AKQJ

x

Txxx

KQ2

T3

A53

AQJ52

and 6C was a breeze despite a club loser to the king offside.

Match Points session
Dealer W EW Vul

South	West	North	East
-	Pass	1	Pass
?

What do you bid and why, holding

KQ2

T3

A53

AQJ52

Your answer, please, to me at villyn@xtra.co.nz