Vil Gravis's blog

Your Call 16

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Sat, 23/11/2024 - 18:39

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

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Wed, 20/11/2024 - 15:00

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

Your Call 13

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Sat, 02/11/2024 - 10:22

This one, from X-Clubs, is not just about bidding but also about opening leads and declarer play.

Board 4 from Tuesday 29/10/24
Dealer West All Vul

A3
98643
92
KT75
K95
T52
KJ7
Q643
JT762
7
Q8654
A9
Q84
AKQJ
AT3
J82

Slams 04

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Tue, 17/09/2024 - 10:18

Before we look at our double dummy problem let’s take another look at the bidding.

Board 9 from Thursday 12-09-24
Dealer N EW Vul

3
Q97
Q975
J8654
KJ876
K83
2
AKT7
AQ
JT652
AKJT
Q2
T9542
A4
8643
93

East opens 1H and West bids 1S. First question: what does East rebid?

Slams 03

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Sat, 14/09/2024 - 14:30

These East-West hands were close to a slam, but should a slam have been bid or avoided, and how should the EW hands have been bid? Those are good questions that may not be easily answered, even after you see the full deal. The deal will also provide the reader with an excellent ‘double dummy’ problem.

Board 9 from Thursday 12-09-24
Dealer N EW Vul

3
Q97
Q975
J8654
KJ876
K83
2
AKT7
AQ
JT652
AKJT
Q2
T9542
A4
8643
93

Slams 02

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Thu, 05/09/2024 - 16:20

This slam should not have been a difficult one to bid, and was worth 90% to those NS pairs who bid and made 6NT.

Board 18 from X-Clubs on 3/09/24
Dealer E NS Vul

A962
7
AQJ752
AQ
T83
J98543
T
742
754
AQT2
983
965
KQJ
K6
K64
KJT83

Slams 01

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Sat, 31/08/2024 - 20:42

Welcome to my new series, SLAMS. Slams is almost always part of the conversation after every session of bridge. So it seems, by popular demand, I just have to do this. Hopefully this series will interest slam fans and suggest how to bid them, as well as how not to bid them, and how to make them when you manage to bid them. Board 12 from Wednesday 28/8/24 should provide us all with the inspiration to always look for the Mt. Everest of bridge, the Grand Slam.

Board 12 from Wednesday 28/8/24
Dealer West NS Vul

83
98764
QJ86
94
A5
J2
732
AKJ732
KQT97642
A5
AK5
J
KQT3
T94
QT865

Your Call 12

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Mon, 26/08/2024 - 14:46

The very first board of the session produced a deal where both sides had the opportunity to gain the upper hand with some aggressive, albeit reasoned, bidding.

Board 1 Dealer from Friday 23/08/24
North Nil Vul

JT76
75
A943
T96
Q5
AT8
KQ752
K42
3
KJ943
6
AJ8753
AK9842
Q62
JT8
Q

Your Call 11

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Mon, 19/08/2024 - 13:22

This deal presents a difficult bidding problem, and when the bidding problem was solved, a not so difficult problem for declarer that was nevertheless not solved by every declarer. And when the bidding problem was not solved and the NS pairs ended up in an inferior 3NT, many EW pairs still failed to take advantage of their luck by letting declarer make the unmakeable 3NT.

Board 21 from Thursday 15/08/24
Dealer N NS Vul

4
7
AKT62
AKT852
KT82
KQT5
J975
4
J65
J9832
Q4
Q73
AQ973
A64
83
J96

Your Call 10

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Tue, 13/08/2024 - 16:41

We can now look at the possible scenario when slam has been reached. Which slam is best? I suggest that if the bidding is accurate and truly reflective of the combined hands, it should be 6NT. East would probably have used Key Card and West shown one key card in spades. Despite East knowing that West has a very long and almost self sufficient spade suit, East will know that West’s spades are missing the ace or king. Therefore the most likely problem in a 6S slam will be in spades, and East’s hand is so good that if the spades ‘behave’ there will be no problem, but if the spades break badly and can not be set up without losing two, then 6NT might still make. I would normally argue that with a spade suit like West's, the slam should be played in spades not No Trumps, but this one is an exception and in fact that is what I, as East, decided on.

Board 24 from Thursday 9/08/24
Dlr West Nil Vul

T43
T8762
2
8632
AQJ9852
KJ64
J5
6
AKQ95
AT8
AQT9
K7
J43
Q9753
K74

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