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This deal comes from a match point session, where aggression and enterprise was generally rewarded but not as much as it could have been had the NS pairs found the very simple way to communicate, which the cards they held allowed them to do. The deal is a bit freakish but that is where the better results can be obtained by aggressive bidding, partnership communication, and lateral thinking by one partner and ‘message received’ by the other partner.

Board 1. Dealer N Nil Vul

	T2 KQJT97 Q63 K4
KQ8754 J5 JT963		A963 A64 942 A82
	J 8532 AKT87 Q75

This deal comes from a recent X-Clubs session which was used as one session of a Swiss Pairs series at our club. In this form of the game both the contract and the opening lead could have made a huge impact on the result of an 8-board match. That is because of the possibility of a slam being bid, and the opening lead if the slam was played by either North or South. But the events that I expected to see did not eventuate at our club, with nary a slam bid anywhere. Even across the whole of X-Clubs the 6S slam was only bid four times, with surprising results. But more of that later. Let’s have some guessing practice to see what we can learn about leads against small slams.

Dealer N NS Vul
You are WEST and pick up this hand:

3

KT9762

KT

JT72

This was the bidding:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1NT	Pass
3	Pass	4	Pass
4NT	Pass	5	Pass
6	Pass	Pass	Pass

If only we could make the sort of opening leads that Deep Finesse always manages to find! Unfortunately we don’t have the capacity to see the full deal a priori, nor the time to work out our best attack even if we saw all the cards, but sometimes it can be a good exercise to try and think like Deep Finesse. There was not one opening leader against a 5C contract who found the ‘killing’ lead, so let us try and go through some ‘Deep Finesse’ thinking without the benefits of seeing all the cards. This deal comes from an X-Clubs session which was played as part of a Swiss Pairs event at our Hutt club. I believe the fact that this was, in effect, teams play should make the killing opening lead much easier to find.

Board 13 from Tuesday 4/03/2025
Dealer N ALL Vul

	8753 652 AQJ65 4
JT9 K94 KJT9832		AKQ4 AKQT T73 76
	62 J98743 82 AQ5

The temptation of bidding a slam is something that leads many of us astray. It is a double edged sword and one that has to be handled with great care. To make slam bidding easier, the experts have added the ‘super accept’ to the standard repertoire of transfers. The problem with that is that the super accept can carry a weak hand too far, to the extent that a perfectly good (and weak) two-level contract becomes difficult as a three level one. The following deal may or may not have resulted in a slam if the players were playing the ‘super accept’ but I have a better suggestion for anyone interested, one which we have been using successfully for some time. Let’s look at the deal first.

Board 24 from Tuesday 18/02/2025
Dealer W Nil Vul

	T962 6 954 AJT52
K85 K843 A8 K983		A4 AJT9752 QJ7 6
	QJ73 Q KT632 Q74

I have always been an advocate for playing slams with a trump suit and not in No Trumps but there is clear evidence that, if bid properly, this one should be played in 6NT rather than 6S with a 5-3 spade fit, or clubs with a six card club suit headed by AKQ.

Board 10 from Tuesday 11/02/2025
Dealer E All Vul

	Q42 JT872 T6 T75
963 K AJ7 AKQ942		AKT75 AQ6 K983 8
	J8 9543 Q542 J63