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
When West opens 1C it looks impossible for East to stop lower than 7NT. All East has to do is bid a quiet 1S and when West rebids 2C, ask for aces and kings and count tricks. When West shows two aces and one king, East can count THIRTEEN tricks, unless West has a singleton ace of spades and one opponent has all four spades. An eight card suit to the king-queen opposite the ace can be counted as eight certain tricks if partner has the ace and another; so, two aces and one king in the West hand adds up to thirteen tricks even in primary school maths. Yet, simple maths escaped most of the EW pairs, in fact out of 142 pairs, only five managed to get to 7NT. But at least they made their contract, unlike two hapless Easts who bid to what was a ‘safe’ small slam in spades until....you guessed it. South led the king of hearts, declarer won the ace and drew trumps, starting with dummy’s ace! After the second trump was won in hand, the reality dawned on the hapless Easts: the club void in their hand, with the ace and king sitting in dummy was not going to lead to a happy ending. Oops!
83
98764
QJ86
94