Vil Gravis's blog

From Wednesday 16/11/2016.
This week there were a number of hands where slam COULD be made, but only one deal where slam should have been easy to bid and make:
Board 17 Dealer N Nil Vul

	7 T9632 A842 KQ9
QJ6 Q T9765 8742		T98532 54 Q3 JT5
	AK4 AKJ87 KJ A63

From Wednesday 2/11/2016
Match point bridge is all about finding the right contract and making the most of it. And if you end up defending, it is about finding the right defence and limiting declarer to what you can. Board 11 is a good example on both counts.

Board 11 Dealer S Nil Vul

	43 963 QJ64 8743
K2 AQT75 T873 A5		JT9765 KJ AK KT2
	AQ8 842 952 QJ96

Hello all readers of these Wednesday Reviews

Please accept my sincere apologies for not being able to continue with the articles for the time being. I have an as yet not diagnosed problem with my wrists and shoulders; arthritis? Rheumatism? OOS? Who knows but writing even this message is quite excruciating. So, sorry, no more Wednesday Reviews for the time being. However I am more than happy to answer any questions that current readers may have and to forward my answers to all on the Wed Review mailing list. Hopefully, normal service will be resumed before too long.

With best wishes for better bridge and better results,
Vil

From Wednesday (21/09/2016).
Board 10 was easier to bid for those who play 'five card spades', meaning that an opening bid of 1S guarantees at least a five card suit. That also means that with exactly four spades and three cards in each of the other suits AND a hand that does not fit in the system's No Trump range you open 1C. An easy concept to understand, I think, but even if you open 'four card spades' the deal should not present a problem for the EW pairs that played this one.

Here is the play problem from last week. West is declarer in 4S. At the time this deal was played, most Souths opened a weak 1NT and West came in with 2S. The Easts either made a forward move with 2NT or raised spades to three. In some cases, if West passed (somewhat conservative but with NS vulnerable, defending 1NT could have been profitable), North made a 'weakness' takeout of 2H, or, if NS were playing transfers which most new players don't do, North would transfer to 2H via a bid of 2D. Nothing should stop West then bidding spades, so let us look at some scenarios where West is in spades, be it in 2S or 4S, with two different opening lead possibilities: the JACK OF CLUBS, or the NINE OF HEARTS. How should declarer play in each case? Let's take a look at all the hands now, just to give you a clue: